For my 'do it all' or 'go-to' guns, I've come down to my self-labeled 'Night Scout' leverguns, and the first one I made was a .357 Mag Marlin, since that's what I had available. Then I wanted a larger-hole maker for inside-the-house use for my wife, and had a .45 Colt Rossi, so I used the '92 clone' to make that one. BOTH are nice and work well day or night. I wanted to make a .44 Mag one so I'd have all the 'pistol calibers' but in the process of making one out of my old .44 Mag Marlin, I converted it to .45 Colt just because I always wanted a .45 Colt in the Marlin action (which I do like better than the Rossi/Winchester one), and came across a $100 barrel with which to do so.
So -
I have used both the 1894 and the 1892 actions as my primary/utility rifles around the home/farm, and both work well. Ease and flexibility of the sight-mounting is the strength of the Marlin, plus fewer parts that seem less individually-fitted. I'll likely not wear out any of my 92's during my lifetime though (but I do dread losing a small part if and when I actually need to take one apart totally).
Here's my three 'Night Scouts':
The first one - .357 Mag Marlin 1894 -
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=23531
The second one - .45 Colt Rossi 1892 -
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=31062
The third one - .44 Mag (at first) Marlin 1894 -
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=40663
The second picture is without the light attached (same light can go on any of the above). Folks snicker at the non-traditional sights and 'clumsy' light, but for ME it is far better than a night-sighted AR-15 for the kinds of varmints we deal with on the farm. A fancy EBR AR-15 with bulky night-sights would cost more than all three of these leverguns put together, and require hearing protectors if I dared actually fire it; I'm NOT going to go out to check the livestock wearing hearing protectors, and I want something light, compact, and durable, that won't shoot 2 miles if I did do the bad thing and take a poor-backstop shot and miss.
This was shot with the above .357 at midnight at 50 yards...
Without the 'light' all three setups are pretty compact and handy.
The .357's light mount just 'snaps' on and off, as it is made of plastic electric conduit.
I actually DO have a similarly-set up (for 'night' use) Ruger 10/22 that does work well when I know the only varmint I may encounter is a raccoon in the chicken-coop, but for coyotes or 2-legged predators I'd want one of the leverguns.
Again, it "looks funny" and reminds me of the geeked-out stuff you see guys set up who don't actually shoot anything but imaginary zombies, but it has accounted for many, many possums and raccoons and feral canines at ranges out to 75 yards that I encountered at night, and would never have been able to humanely eliminate (one shot kills 90% of the time, rapid followup easy if needed) with ANY other setup I've tried. The lights I use are now Lowe's building supply store bought 'Coast' brand LED ones that I lock on 'spot' instead of 'flood' (by positioning the front 30mm ring so it keeps the sliding lens forward), and at
500 lumens for the larger-bell ones, or 280 lumens for the more compact ones, they will make a raccoon easy to see at 100 yards).
While if you can afford it, I'd keep an EBR around, since they do have more 'firepower' and are definitely going to appreciate in value as trade items, your choice of an 1892-clone levergun is PERFECT for most real-world scenarios right now. As to the Marlin vs. Winchester/clone, (or don't forget Henry, Savage, Ruger, etc...), both work fine. The 92's are probably 'slicker' and the Marlins are easier to put different sights on.