thanks trebor2880 i went with my gut and bought one, my daughter is 8 and my wife enjoys shooting as well, the looks of this thing will have my daughters eyes wide xmas morning and she loves my marlin 795, i find with this stuff the best info you can get is from someone who owns one, otherwise u just get the ford chevy conversation that goes on forever, these things whether its a ruger 1022, a marlin 795, all the semi auto 22 stuff, they are all similar, all have pros all have cons, and if they are mechanical which obviously they all are, they ALL are subject to malfunctions of some kind, most of the time though with ALL its either ammo or dirty... if you want a ton of add ons buy a ruger {be prepared to pay a premium for that feature} the marlin 795 is inexpensive, a tack driver, bolt hold open is nice and now reliable hi cap mags available, and the savage i believe is still made in canada... i say whatever you buy take care of it and so long as you dont get a lemon, {which incidently even happens with a ferrari} you should be fine, i want to have fun with one of all..