Before you get too discouraged with your new investment, remind yourself what you're shooting...Many shooters don't think that leveractions are very accurate, for a variety of reasons...No, they aren't capable of being as accurate as a bolt action is, but in that case we're talking about top of the line guns, not the capabilities of the average hunting rifle...I've got two Marlin 1895's, one is a stainless guide gun = stubby, the other is a Cowboy = really long... I've also got two Marlin 1894 .44mags, one about 25yrs old and the other about a year old...Beside those I've owned two others, and a 444, not to mention a few Marlin 336's and 30A's, oh yeah, a few, very few Winchester 94's, aka Win POS's. I've owned and handled a few repros of 66's and 73's, so I've gotten used to shooting leverguns....Most shooters are not!!!

My Marlin 1895 cowboy shoots between three quarters of an inch and 1 and a half depending on what factory load I run through it at 100yrds...My handloads are considerably better.

My Guide gun isn't quite that good, but it's very good for a factory rifle of any make, about 2" at 100yrds, which for a 22" bbl, that's dang good!!!

I've had a 336 (.30-30's) that shot one ragged hole at 200yrds off shooting sticks sitting.

BTW, I don't honestly believe in shooting rifles off a bench unless you're ONLY going to shoot it off a bench, it's just not realistic to shooting form.