I picked up a Marlin 60SN at Rural King for $145 tonight. I'll clean it out real good, put a strap on it and a rim fire scope and I should have a good little squirrel rig for $200. Best of all I shouldnt have any more lead pellets in my squirrel gravy.
I've got several little 22's......all of them are ones my dad has given me, several when I was a kid, with not a scratch on them. I like to shoot them out and around the house where I know I'm not gonna booger them up. I liked this little rifle because it is light (5 lbs) it has sling mounts already on it,(I put a strap on it), tube fed (no mags to mess with) and it's stock is the composite style. I have to hike through quite a bit of brush to get to the hickory nut trees........if this one gets a few nicks on it it's no big deal.
The trigger is really nasty on it right now though......I'm gonna take out the trigger mechanism and spray it down with gun scrubber a time or two then give her a splash of CLP........see it that loosens her up a bit.