That's been a gun I've been interested in but the stock has been the thing that keeps me from "pulling the trigger" - When they 1st came out no one made a thing for them, and now that Boyds makes a stock I'd be more interested in it. Can we see some pics of your rifle as it is now? I'd love to see it. IIRC the Marlin XS/XL won "Best Rifle <$400" in one of the magazines. It was compared against the Savage Axis/Edge, Remington 770, Stevens, and the Mossberg 100 ATRI have a Marlin xs7(short action, not stainless) in 7mm-08. 270 otd new, boyds stock 120to my house, dnz scope mount 50 and a Redfield 3x9 for 140 to my house. 580 total and she's a shooter, I can put 4 shots touching at 100yds.
That being said if I was to get a new bolt right now I would go with a savage 10/110 or a tikka.
I've had quite positive experiences using a bone stock M91/30 for Whitetails here in MN.I would never recomend a Mosin as an all around hunting rifle, below avarage accuracy, stupid heavy, poor trigger/action...etc. By time you dress one up with a scope mount, bent bolt kit, aftermarket trigger and all those other goodies to give it almost decent egronomics you could have bought a nice modern rifle and had money to spare. They have Savage Axis rifles for $249 and Savage 110s for $299 bang for your buck no Mosin will hang with an egronomic, highly reliable, lightweight, sub MOA right out of the box rifle like that. The Mosin does make for a fun range toy though.