I went to the range today with my Marlin 917V.

[DalesCarpentry]

I waited all day today for it to quit pouring down rain so I could take the new toy out. It finaly quit around 3:00 Pm so off I went to the range. It was still windy even though it quit raining. I think that is why some of my earlier groups were about an inch. Toward the end of the secission the wind about quit for 10 minutes or so and I shot a couple real nice groups then. Below is one of my targets shot at 100 yards. I was shooting 17 Gr. Hornady VMAX. Dale

[DalesCarpentry]

In this picture believe it or not that is 3 bullets in 2 holes. It is hard to tell from the picture but the top hole is just slightly larger than a 17 caliber hole. The blocks in the targets measure 1" Dale

[DalesCarpentry]

Here is a 4 shot group with a flyer. Dale

[ice]

Dale, it will only get better.
Those Marlin 917V s will shoot.
I have a 917V and a Savage 17BVSS and both are shooters.
On calm days with a good lot of ammo, it is not too difficult to have three and four shot groups touching or almost touching at 100 yards. For modest priced rimfire rifles, thats pretty darn good.
Below are some average groups with my Marlin and Savage. I have shot some better than these and some worse but, these are about average.
100 yd groups.