My AR7 is reliable. They're kinda quirky, though. The feed ramp is in the magazine and can sometime need attention if it's bent. Some folks find they need to chamfer the mouth of the chamber, but I never needed to do that. I've had a couple of 'em and they both ran/run fine. One of 'em got ripped off and I bought another from a friend.
The AR7 is a specialty, gun, though. I would recommend the Marlin first. The AR7 makes a great back pack gun, canoe trip gun, but the trigger is pretty aweful and the accuracy is about 2" at 50 yards. The Marlin will have a better trigger and will be quite a bit more accurate. You might consider a Papoose if you want a camping rifle that breaks down, too. I have a little stainless 10/22 I like a lot, among my other rimfires. It's a decent shooter, very reliable, small and handy, and quite rugged. I really like the rotary magazine over the Marlin 60's tube mag, too. They offer the M60 in stainless with a laminate stock, too. That's a VERY nice lookin' gun, quite rugged, and a lot of gun for the money IMHO.
Lots of choices out there. I also have a Remington 597 magnum that runs great and the .22 mag is pretty awesome accurate at 100 yards. Ammo's steeper, but they offer it in a .22 LR, too. It's a very accurate gun and they now come with the metal magazines which has solved some issues they had when they came out. The .22 mag I have has the plastic mags and they don't give me any problems, though. I've only read about these problems from the internet experts, never experienced any problems with MY 597. That gun is fantastically accurate, that's all I know. I also like its size, big rifle fit and feel. I practice with it at the range, mostly. It feels more like one of my hunting rifles. The 10/22 feels more like a daisy red rider.
