[72Camaro]

I have a Savage 93 in .17hmr but have been interested in the Marlin 917. Does anyone have one and if they do how do you like it? Also, I really like the Savage Accutrigger, does Marlin have something similar to get the pull down to about 2.5lbs?

 

[duster066]

I was considering a Savage 17 with Accutrigger in 2009, but bought a Marlin 925M instead. I liked the ballistics of the 22mag inside 100yards and it remains very useful out to about 150. I love the gun. I floated and bedded it. It shoots very well, but has a fairly typical Marlin trigger, from my experience not great. It's gritty but not terribly heavy and breaks OK. I haven't shot it enough for wear to help it much, and will one day go in there and polish and break the edges. It was also kind of rough in fit and finish, which also seems to be a Marlin condition these days. But it does shoot very well.

 

[wjjones]

Doesnt Marlin have a newer 22 mag auto loader?

 

[dks7895]

As Duster mentioned the factory trigger on the 917V is not the best. I would suggest looking at the XT-17 with Pro-Fire trigger.

 

[72Camaro]

What's an XT-17? You're going to make me google it.

 

[jpatm2]

72Camaro, I see you live in Graham, I am on Ft. Lewis. If you want to get together so you can shoot my 917, let me know.
jpatm2

 

[hunter5567]

I had a 917VS and it shot great. It would put 5 shots into less than a dime at 100 yards. There are mods you can do with the trigger.
I shoot 22 magnum now mostly. the 17 was destructive on rabbits and squirrels that I shot. It was before they came out with the FMJ bullets.

I also like the fact that i can get Winchester 22 mag ammo for 7.99/box at walmart and CCI Maximags for 8.99/box.

 

[72Camaro]

72Camaro, I see you live in Graham, I am on Ft. Lewis. If you want to get together so you can shoot my 917, let me know.
jpatm2

I would like to take a try at that. I'm in the middle of a wedding that is happening in two weeks, I've got a pass not to go to the inlaws at the end of this week because I'm going to try and finish getting the house ready for guests. After that, I would like to fit it in.

Remind me if you don't hear from me in a couple weeks, actually I'm going to write it on the calendar to remember.

 

[axxe55]

72Camaro, I see you live in Graham, I am on Ft. Lewis. If you want to get together so you can shoot my 917, let me know.
jpatm2

I would like to take a try at that. I'm in the middle of a wedding that is happening in two weeks, I've got a pass not to go to the inlaws at the end of this week because I'm going to try and finish getting the house ready for guests. After that, I would like to fit it in.

Remind me if you don't hear from me in a couple weeks, actually I'm going to write it on the calendar to remember.

you know when i see posts like this, i know we have some great people becoming members here on this forum. one member wanting to help another one out to see if that's the rifle he might be interested in. Jpat, my hat's off to you for making the offer to 72Camaro on trying out your rifle. you sir are an asset to the shooting community. very nice offer.

 

[72Camaro]

Jpat, my hat's off to you for making the offer to 72Camaro on trying out your rifle. you sir are an asset to the shooting community. very nice offer. Axxe55

Well, another daughter's big wedding out of the way, Jpat and I are trying to find similar time to shoot. 3 weddings for 4 daughters, one to go.

 

[72Camaro]

Jpatm2 let me shoot his Marlin today and I brought my Savage 93 out to compare since I've heard a lot of good things about the Marlin .17hmr. The accuracy, I thought, was probably a bit better than my Savage until Jpatm2 took a couple 5 round clips out of mine and nailed a couple good groupings. Operator error on my part, Jpat is a good shot and made my shooting look not quite as good. His two targets with my Savage 93 on 16 power at 100 yds:

 

[72Camaro]

My grouping had a flyer you can see on the bottom left that actually put me at just over an inch, but if the flyer (operator error I think on that shot) is thrown out it is not too bad at .607, but really it was my grouping so I've got to own up to it at just over an inch. A bit hard to like someone else out shooting you with your own gun.

The Marlin is an 11 shot grouping, one magazine at 7 and another that held 4. This is with a 12 power scope and for me being the old guy I could have used just a bit more scope but this is still not bad when you realize that the white square in the center is 1" and 7 shots are in it at roughly a .75 spread and I was fussing at where center was because I need more cowbell, oops, I mean I need more magnafication.

 

[72Camaro]

It was good to try the Marlin and the Savage side by side. The Marlin is a nice looking gun and shoots well and before Jeremy shot mine I thought it was grouping better. It took me a little to get use to the trigger since it is a bit harder than the Savage Accutrigger and I'll have to say I'm partial to the Accutrigger since having it for a while and I had a tendency to pull the Marlin a tiny bit because of the trigger when I first started shooting. As mentioned earlier I like a little more scope for my eyes and a 14 power for me is about the minimum at 100yds to try to put it into a 1" square, and mine was set on 16 which also makes it so you can about see your .17 hole at 100yds, but we used a spotting scope to get a better look.

Both guns occaissionally had a problem with the eject of spent casings, though rare. Mine, one time, did not pull it out of the barrel the first time and that is usually a sign it needs to be cleaned but this time it really shouldn't be dirty enough yet for that to happen, and the Marlin at times would not flip the casing off the grabber but that was infrequent too. The Marlin you could install your magazine with the bolt open or closed, mine it is easier if it is open and a bear if the bolt is closed and usually will not seat. The Marlin had 7 and 4 round magazines, the Savage has a 5 only for stock though I've heard a 10 is just now available. I had to buy the stainless ones since the standard steel magazines for the Savage never seemed to work right, so that is now all I have, stainless.

The bolt action, the Savage was smoother but that may be because I messed with it quite a bit trying different grease and other lubricants till I found what I liked that made it feel the way I like the action to feel. Now if only I could remember what I did last to make it that smooth.

We took a couple shots at 200yds but I wouldn't say that we would be slaying any ground squirrels at that distance but a bigger animal like a large rabbit or raccoon may be in trouble.

If I was to buy again, I would go for the best price for the features I wanted on the rifle as I think they are both very comparable.

Thanks to Jpatm2 for letting my try his Marlin .17hmr, nice gun. I appreciated it.

 

[greyhawk50]

That is some pretty impressive groups considering that it's at 100 yards. I would be tickled pink if my groups were that small.
Great job. And thanks, we like pictures. They are easier to read than words.

 

[Hyphenated]

Great write up and great pictures Camaro. Those little tiny groups should make some small critters nervous.

 

[jpatm2]

It was a good day shooting, and has made me think that I need a Savage 93 to go alongside my Marlin. That was a sweet shooting gun, but I really like my Marlin.