I was subconsciously wary of scratching my $1200 Uberti '73 until I scratched it. It has scratches on the barrel and magazine, dings in the wood, and a tiny bit of barely noticeable rust on the left side plate from living in a damp apartment for a short time. I take it out in the woods to shoot steel, pop soup cans, and even deer hunt(unfortunately no deer for the record). I can work the action with my pinky finger and thats how it came out of the box. I can't imagine how awesome the short stroke kit must be. I've had it since May '13 and it is easily my go anywhere / do anything rifle. 1,477 reloads and 150 factory rounds to date with no feeding, ejecting, or other problems. There are no burs, no mismatched stocks, no canted sights, no "dreaded Marlin jam." It feeds and fires as long as I feed. And at six cents a reload I intend to feed it a lot more.
If you go with Uberti I'm going to suggest one of the original calibers or a bottleneck substitute, though I've never read of problems with 357's save for a few off comments. I've seen Uberti 357's as low as $650 on gunbroker with no reserve in the past half year. If you or someone you know can slick a Marlin then go that route. If all you have is a little cash and no contacts get the Rossi. If you can handle a Uberti or Winchester then do so before making a decision because you may just decide to save a little while longer.
So go ahead and scratch that itch.... and scratch that rifle.... cause its gonna last you a loooooong time.