Thinking about buying one of these rifles for my wife and sons to shoot small game. Done some research but can't find much on the 223. Fairly impressed with the 204, but still undecided. Any ideas or opinions.

I have a 204 for my encore. I do think you will like it very much. I will out perform the 223 without a doubt. It is a very nice round, do a search on some of the varmint forums.
Good luck

See this an older posting but was thinking about this gun. Has anybody had any experience with it.

Marlin 17HMR 917VS Heavy Barrel SS Laminated

Looking for something fun to shoot and can be used on everything from squirrels to varmits.

I do have a new Encore and notice you mentioned the extra barrel for the 204. Better choice??

Don't know a whole lot about either the .204 Rem. or the .223WSSM, so I can't comment on the performance. I can say that they will be considerably more expensive to shoot than a standard .223 or even a
.22-250, and may not offer a great increase in performance.

why will the 223 wssm be more expensive than the conventional 223 a sthe only difference os a few grains of powder?

differant case. Not as common so more expensive to shoot!
Midway shows 129 differant .223's and 3 for 223 wssm!!!!
as cheep as 5.99 for 20 rds. on .223 and cheepest is 17.99 for 20rds of wssm!