the 10/22 has the best mag design and the Ruger American shares mags with it a flush fit 10 round rotary
our youth program has 8 of the Rugers they run well for me
I don't care so much for how we have the scopes mounted , if it were a personal gun I would have a EGW rail mounted on it with the lowest bases I could get the scope on with and have clearance.
my son has a Savage MKII-FV it is the heavy barrel and it does shoot very nice and is lower cost. the FV is a heavy barrel and lugging it around the woods gets a little old.
if it is a hunting gun either will do the MKII-F or the Ruger American 18 inch barrel
https://ruger.com/products/americanRimfire/specSheets/8305.htmlwith an EGW rail and a 2-7 scope would be how I would outfit it
if it were just a tap line gun to dispatch and not much longer shooting I would skip the rail and scope.
other thoughts would a 22wmr be more versatile
it depends a little on planned use
for an all around handy length gun the Ruger American 18 inch barrel is good
as for the threaded barrel , find a bird cage flash hider chances are some one has one laying around for free or near free put that on the end and it protects the muzzle crown heck they are only 10-12 dollars new then when your in and out of the truck laying the rifle across the bench seat so that the muzzle is in the foot well of the passenger side you are not messing up the crown.
my trap line gun is a marlin bolt action with peep site when it isn't a 10/22 however Marlins are not being made currently. so so as much as I like them , I can't recommend them unless you find a nice used , but like you said that isn't happening much these days