6gunr,
Tough call! Cosmetically, the new guns are shure sweet, the cut checkering, the nice satin finished wood, and ballard cut rifling make them a very attractive package.
Except, <span style='color:maroon'>I HATE THOSE CROSSBOLT SAFETIES ON LEVER GUNS!!!</span> They are the perfect solution to a non-existant problem! I think that I would surely opt for the older gun without this abomination if it were available! You could always call Marlin and buy the new, nice wood for it, and upgade it very easily. Also, you should be able to buy that gun for about 趚.00. Do some haggling with them, it's not like hunting season starts next week, Christmas is over and business will be slow for quite a while... bet he gives in!
As for backing down from Roosevelt elk with that carbine and a 280g+ bullet... NEVER! You have plenty of venim for any elk out to 150 yards with reasonably placed shots and stout charges of W296/H110! In fact, those .44-280's can be launched at nearly 1700 fps out of that little carbine!
You must be in Oregon or Washington to be hunting Roosevelt elk... where abouts are you from?
Remember, these are only my opinions, but I think I'd rather take the older gun, talk the seller down to 趚, then spend ๖ or so and get new wood for it, and have a nice looking gun without the crossbolt safety!
God Bless,
Marshall