Nate, I just saw your latest. Yeah, you just about have to be there to get any. I just paid my smith $60 for a brick of 500, or .12 each By comparison, I can load a .357 down to a mouse-phart for .27 each !!
Very important to know about the Marlin 1894. The way they're built, the lever can cause a feeding malfunction known as the "Marlin Jam". Not all of them get it, but one can't tell without taking the lever out. Do a google search, or go to the Marlin Owners forum and look at the pics. To tell if it has or will develop the problem, all you need is a good non-serrated blade flat screwdriver to take out the lever screw and look inside. I have had this happen to my gun, and I've engineered a fix. All things considered, I'd still take a Marlin, even with the jam that can be fixed, over the Browning clones because their shortcomings CANT be fixed; e.g. no optical mount possible, the mechanism is much more complicated and has higher parts count.
The longer barrel will almost double the energy of a .357, which will mean that a round in the center of mass will be a one-shot stop, unlike a pistol. Also, there won't be any propellant flash, and it seems to me to be a little quieter.
Best of luck and feel free to PM me if you want more info.