Looks like Marlin has decided to put out Project Appleseed edition 795’s. Oleg has a post up about them here that includes close up pictures that would put anything my hamfisted attempts at photography could produce (there’s a reason he gets paid for his stuff, and I don’t).
The Appleseed edition is essentially the same setup as I took when I participated in it. From the pictures, it looks like a stock 795 .22 semi-auto with Tech-Sights and a GI sling. What I took differed only in that I used a different kind of sling that frankly didn’t work well as a shooting aid. Oh, and mine didn’t come with a certificate good for one Appleseed shoot.
I know everyone loves the Ruger 10/22, but I’d wager that the Marlin 795 is just as good of a rifle (some say better out of the box), and costs significantly less. The base 795 goes for around $150 these days, and it looks like the MSRP for the Appleseed edition is $299, which isn’t far off what it would cost to buy the base, Tech-Sights, sling, second mag, and membership to Appleseed. For that money, you’re looking at not much more than a base line Ruger 10/22.
Of course, I’ve gone a little further in tricking mine out for the next time I head to Appleseed in hunt for that patch, but that set up will do great for most folks.