I think you will find the 981 and the mod 60 equal in accuracy; if there is an edge i will give it to the 60. I have shot so many of both over the years, and this is just my opinion. Also the stainless is a nice model, with good sights as well, are they not? firefly type? the 60 bbl is a bit thicker than a 10.22, but not by much- has a very slow taper to it. The 60 has been made continuously ssince...well... 1960, and before that, it was the 99, and it's variants. Mostly all steel, steel receiver, walnut wood, fancy italian swivels- like that.
So it has been a long time semi auto, and is done very well, from an accuracy and reliability standpoint. the 981, has been around even longer, it has been the model 80 and 81, since about 1935 or 37. The DL version came out in 38, then they stopped making any rimfires during the war years, and immediately started back up, in either 44 or 45.
The older 80/81's could fire short, long and long rifle, and with the dl version, you got a killer peep sight.
If you wanna get either version, new, go right ahead, they will both be great.
if not, get used, an 81 dl, the older the better, preferably before microgrooved bbls; they just have a cool factor to them.
As for a used mod 60, look for one made between 85 and 88, the holygrail years. They had a 22 inch bbl, and a feed tube that went almost to the end of the bbl. It will hold 17 or 18 rounds in the tube, and these years also had the Last Shot BHO lever. These 3 years were the only years the mod 60, had the lever, and the long feed tube, with the long bbl.
new ones look similar, and have a feed tube pretty close to the end of the bbl, but the bbl is only 19 inches long, plus instead of the very cool and comfortable half moon shaped bolt lever, the new ones use what looks to be a knurled bolt handle for the bolt. Yecch in my opinion.
