I bought my Marlin 336 in .35 Rem in October and am absolutely thrilled with it. I haven't loaded any pistol bullets in it yet but intend to try it eventually. I also plan to try cast bullets in it but that's a project for later on down the road. I don't find recoil excessive, although it's not much fun shooting off the bench for sighting in, off hand recoil is negligible for me. I find my Mosin Nagant to be much more punishing with the steel butt plate. I like the older rifles pre cross bolt safety which to me looks out of place on the rifle YMMV. Reasonably priced rifles in .35 Rem can be found here for under $400 but you'll have to shop around for one, they may be harder to come by in your area. I have absolute confidence in the rifle/cartridge combo out to 200yds. I sure with appropriate ammo you could reach out further but with iron sights I'm not sure I could and alas I have no where locally to practice such shots so I wouldn't attempt it.