The .30-30 / .45-70 length cartridges are essentially controlled feed in the Marlin's. The pistol cartridges as mentioned above require gravity to maintain position, so if you were ever down or in a compromised position, and really needed it to work, it might not.

Fitting the .357 to the Marlin pistol caliber frame required a spring Steel guide be integrated into the ejector to align the cartridge with the chamber. In my opinion, the .357 Marlin is the least inherently reliable Marlin, but one of the most fun for plinking.
The 158 gr bullets can be very accurate, adding to the fun.

From memory, factory Federal 125 .357 would run 2150fps and might make a good ground hog caliber within range. Hornady 140 XTP's would run 1860fps, I always wanted to test that load on deer. Corbon .38 Special +p+ 115gr Sierra JHP would run over 2000 fps and would crater Steel (to my disappointment - "oh crap, check this out").

The .44 Magnum out of a carbine will kill deer decisively, more so in my experience than a .30-30.