Savage A22 Precision Semi-Auto Rimfire Rifle. Are they any good?

[dan.humes]

I have been shooting an Anschutz 64MPR at local metallic silhouette matches, but because of back problems the weight of the rifle has become an issue.
I want to transition to a light autoloader. How good are the A22 PSRs? How accurate are they?
What are your thoughts???

[J.Baker]

Firstly, welcome to the site!

As to your question regarding the A22's, I'm not a big fan of them having now tested 3 or 4 of them now for review articles on this site. It's not that they're bad gun or that they're inaccurate, but rather that they tend to be very inconsistent in terms of feeding reliability and overall quality. Each one I spent several months with and the feel of the trigger on each was persistently inconsistent in both feel and pull weight. Additionally, the first one I received (an A17) I sent back to Savage to be replaced because it wouldn't feed from the magazine hardly at all without jamming, and if it did feed it would sometimes discharge 2-3 rounds at a time on a single trigger pull.

I also just didn't like how much plastic they chose to use in some key places (trigger housing being the main one, but also the bolt cover at the rear of the receiver). It just came off as very cheap to me, yet Savage wants to charge a premium price for them - especially for the Precision model.

With that said, for the game you are paying I would be more inclined to recommend the Pro Varmint or the BNS models over the Precision as there's nothing special about the Precision model other than the MDT chassis. The wood stocked options would be more ergonomic for both off-hand shooting and shooting from the bench than the MDT chassis would be given it's odd buttstock design that isn't bag friendly. The Pro Varmint has the same no-taper barrel contour as the Precision, while the BNS has a medium contour that would shave a little weight and shift the balance rearward a bit to improve the balance when shooting off-hand.

Personally though, for a semi-auto I would just go the Ruger 10/22 route and be done with it. It's a proven design, there's a huge amount of aftermarket support for it so you can easily modify it to meet your needs, and it's going to be a LOT more reliable with it comes to feeding from the magazine. Other than an expensive Jard trigger and laminate stocks from Boyds, I don't know of much aftermarket support for Savage's A-series rimfires.

If you're willing to consider the 10/22, there's distributor exclusive model that I would highly recommend as it's by far the most popular model we see guys buying for competing in the Auto Bench Rest Association (ABRA) matches for the factory class. It has a medium heavy barrel (around 0.670-80" at the muzzle IIRC) and a nice sporter-style hardwood stock with a slightly wider forearm that rides well in a medium from bag. It's offered in both blued or stainless steel finishes. Here are the links:

Blued: https://ruger.com/products/1022Sporter/specSheets/31166.html
SS: https://ruger.com/products/1022Sporter/specSheets/31167.html

[GaCop]

Welcome to the forums.

[dan.humes]

Firstly, welcome to the site!

As to your question regarding the A22's, I'm not a big fan of them having now tested 3 or 4 of them now for review articles on this site. It's not that they're bad gun or that they're inaccurate, but rather that they tend to be very inconsistent in terms of feeding reliability and overall quality. Each one I spent several months with and the feel of the trigger on each was persistently inconsistent in both feel and pull weight. Additionally, the first one I received (an A17) I sent back to Savage to be replaced because it wouldn't feed from the magazine hardly at all without jamming, and if it did feed it would sometimes discharge 2-3 rounds at a time on a single trigger pull.

I also just didn't like how much plastic they chose to use in some key places (trigger housing being the main one, but also the bolt cover at the rear of the receiver). It just came off as very cheap to me, yet Savage wants to charge a premium price for them - especially for the Precision model.

With that said, for the game you are paying I would be more inclined to recommend the Pro Varmint or the BNS models over the Precision as there's nothing special about the Precision model other than the MDT chassis. The wood stocked options would be more ergonomic for both off-hand shooting and shooting from the bench than the MDT chassis would be given it's odd buttstock design that isn't bag friendly. The Pro Varmint has the same no-taper barrel contour as the Precision, while the BNS has a medium contour that would shave a little weight and shift the balance rearward a bit to improve the balance when shooting off-hand.

Personally though, for a semi-auto I would just go the Ruger 10/22 route and be done with it. It's a proven design, there's a huge amount of aftermarket support for it so you can easily modify it to meet your needs, and it's going to be a LOT more reliable with it comes to feeding from the magazine. Other than an expensive Jard trigger and laminate stocks from Boyds, I don't know of much aftermarket support for Savage's A-series rimfires.

If you're willing to consider the 10/22, there's distributor exclusive model that I would highly recommend as it's by far the most popular model we see guys buying for competing in the Auto Bench Rest Association (ABRA) matches for the factory class. It has a medium heavy barrel (around 0.670-80" at the muzzle IIRC) and a nice sporter-style hardwood stock with a slightly wider forearm that rides well in a medium from bag. It's offered in both blued or stainless steel finishes. Here are the links:

Blued: https://ruger.com/products/1022Sporter/specSheets/31166.html
SS: https://ruger.com/products/1022Sporter/specSheets/31167.html

Thank you for your insightful and honest response.
It has been very helpful, and I will keep your information in mind as I look for alternatives for the A22.
Again thanks for your help.