I'd get either a 357 or a 44 mag depending on the distance you plan on shooting. My Marlin out of the box was around 4" but after a little work I had it in the 2" range. I have since put about $200 of parts $100 of which was a trigger with a 3# pull. I'm now getting 1.5-1.75" at 100 with the 44 mag. If you are primarily going to be plinking and varminting under 75 yards I'd go with the 357 in a 1894 Marlin.

That is a great group, looks like everything fell into place when shooting it. Keep up the good work.
I enjoy shooting lever actions and shoot and reload for 5 of them.
I keep track of the better targets I've gotten with them over the years.
Now, just about any gun can do a target like these once in awhile through luck with both the gun and shooter, but I've had enough of these targets to believe a good lever gun with good reloads and a shooter who's doing everything right at the time should be able to get good groups on a regular basis.
Top left, Savage 99 in 358, top right, Winchester Model 88 in 338-08, bottom left, Winchester Model 88 in 308, middle right Winchester Model 94AE in 30/30, and bottom right Marlin 336 in 35rem ( 4 shots showing).
I can't find any targets for the real tack driver 've I owned (Savage 99 in 300sav.) but that gun would go up against any bolt action I owned and was a true consistant MOA rifle.