Bob, The Marlin era guns were manufactured in the same tired old building, and their construction supervised by the same old craftsmen as were the Hunter Arms Company era guns. The knock on Marlin era guns is two-fold 1) Marlin concentrated on volume and profits (duh?) and sacrificed fit and detail to reach that goal (and more Smith guns were shipped per year during Marlin ownership than in any other 5-year period in Smith gun history!); and 2) Marlin experimented with new finish processes designed to reduce overall hours involved (new case hardening techniques, reducing time to black barrels, etc). To my knowledge the shooting qualities of Smith guns were unchanged; as were the looks of the typical post-13 Field Grade gun, which remained quite plain and homely. What I suggest for Marlin era guns is to evaluate each example on its own merritts; and, if it pleases you and the price is fair, then don't hesitate to purchase the gun. As to holes in the bottom rib, I would not hazard a guess as to their existence; but would be suspicious of any holes visible with the fore iron attached. As Marlin was experimenting with new methods to speed the barrel bluing process, I would not be alarmed with a small hole on either side of the fore iron hanger lug; I would simply think these holes were there to insure all chemicals had been boiled out after the process was completed (and they can always be plugged if they are irritating). I would be more concerned with the integrity of the ribs themselves; if you see any evidence of a milky/yellowish powder around those holes, the rib joints, or the hanger lug, then those barrels have been hot-blued and the bluing chemicals are slowly eating away the solder holding those ribs to the barrels (at which point I walk). If you see no evidence of this problem, remove those barrels from the frame; grasp each end and slam the other end hard against the heel of your opposite hand. If you hear what I would describe as a "rattling vibration"; you have a loose rib and should probably walk (but make sure it is not the shell extractor causing the rattling sound). If you ID a rattling sound INSIDE/BETWEEN the ribs, this is most likely a loose piece of solder and is nothing to worry over (unless the fact that you know it's in there just plain irritates you personally). Good Luck