A-22 Magnum vs Rossi RS22M

[J A XSP]

A while back I had bought the Rossi semi-auto 22 mag because I couldn't find availability on the A-22Mag. I've shot it a bit and enjoyed it but when I got a chance to buy an A-22M, I took advantage of the opportunity, even though the price has gotten pretty steep.
After a lackluster first outing with the A-22, I decided to take both rifles to the range and do a little side-by-side comparison. As equipped, the A-22 has the advantage with a 4-12x Vortex Copperhead scope while the Rossi currently sports an inexpensive Simmons 4MOA red dot sight. On the other hand, the Rossi is definitely more broken in and is more familiar in terms of shooting characteristics.
At first glance, the A-22 looks better on paper in terms of features and in general has a nicer aesthetic but the Rossi has some features that allow it to stand up to scrutiny. I'll go through a point-by-point comparison but price, ease of loading, and a few other things definitely give points to the Rossi in a head-to head.


-Basic looks: The A22 wins if you want a hunting rifle with clean lines. The flush rotary mag and generally nicer looking synthetic stock give it a classic look. The fairly bulky mag of the Rossi gives it a more "tactical" look and the shorter stock makes it seem a little easier-handling. The matte finish of the Rossi holds up better than the just-okay gloss bluing of the A-22.

-Trigger and function: The A-22 sports an adjustable Accu-trigger but I didn't find it to be particularly impressive. The lightest adjustment leaves it at maybe 3.5 lbs and there seems to be a few intermittent catches and rough spots that make the trigger pull less than clean. The Rossi isn't adjustable but seems to be 4 lbs or less and has a fairly clean pull so that it doesn't distract and is pretty easy to get used to. To be fair, it's likely that the A-22 will break in and be cleaner and lighter-feeling. Both rifles seem to function fine in terms of cycling and shooting most ammo. Initially the A-22 didn't like the Hornady 35-grain V-max ammo but seems to have gotten over its aversion.

-Magazine and feeding: Both rifles feature 10-shot factory mags. The Rossi definitely wins the magazine comparison. Even though the "military" style single-stack extended box mag seems bulky, it loads like a dream. Availability seems to be spotty but I bought a couple from the Rossi website. The A-22 rotary mag is sleek but is definitely a bit of a PIA to load. The plastic internal mechanism has a notch for each bullet so it's necessary to jigger each round a little and use some force to get everything lined up. Once loaded, the mags seem to function just fine. Availability for the A-22 mags seems pretty good from several sources and there's a 25-round option from Butler Creek that's probably very handy and loads easier, to boot. Feeding and cycling on both rifles is reliable and clean for the most part with the exception of the V-Max ammo in the A-22 as I noted earlier.
Mag release and replacement is clean and easy on both but the rear thumb lever and hang-down style on the Rossi makes it a little handier. The Rossi holds the bolt open on the last shot which seems handy but makes mag handling a little stiffer. Using the bolt lock to hold the bolt open while replacing the mag is an extra step but makes it really smooth. The A-22 doesn't hold the bolt open but it behaves more consistently when the mag is inserted with the bolt held open with the bolt lock on the trigger housing.

-Other features: The A-22 comes equipped with a split scope base instead of a rail which I think is a definite disadvantage on a semi-auto action. Things slap around pretty hard and it puts some stress on the scope mount. The Rossi comes equipped with a grooved rail base but the mounting screws are pretty small and a little flimsy. Care in tightening is really important.
Both actions have front and rear mounting bolts but the A-22 has a goofy system of removing a "dust cap" to access the rear bolt from the top - very unhandy. Other than that feature both rifles break down in a pretty straightforward way for cleaning.
The stock on the A-22 seems a little sturdier and seems to fit a little better but neither is particularly strong or stiff and accuracy would benefit from a good-fitting laminate stock. That option exists for the A-22 (expensive) but not for the Rossi.

-Price and availability: Hands down, the Rossi is a better buy. I'll show some accuracy results below which nominally favor the A-22 but it's not blowing away the competition out of the box. It's likely that the varmint or target version of the A-22M is more accurate than the cheaper synthetic-stock version but at around $500 all in for the cheapest A-22M which is still a rare commodity vs the Rossi at less than $300 "TTL" from numerous sources and available pretty much on any given day either online or at a local dealer, it's hard to justify waiting around for the A-22M.

_Accuracy: I tried 5 different ammo choices in each rifle. As noted, I shot the Rossi with a 1x red dot sight but using a 3" black sticky target at 50 yards provides a good enough sight picture to get good accuracy from this rifle. It would have been a more fair comparison if I'd had a scope on both but as can be seen, the Rossi held its own pretty well. All groups were shot at 50 yards indoors.
I tried these ammos, all of which have been at least pretty good in my experience.

The Rossi's best 4 out of 5 groups averaged 1.16". Removing a couple of fliers shrinks the average to essentially 1".

The A-22M groups were better but the average including fliers the difference wasn't particularly significant...right 1" average for best 4 out of 5 groups. Removing a couple of fliers show a significant gap in performance...without fliers in just a couple of the groups gave a .66" average.

Both rifles seemed to like the Hornady 35 grain V-max ammo and I suspect that with a decent scope, the Rossi would get very close to 1 MOA performance with that ammo. It looks like the best ammo of the day was the old box of Winchester Super-Speed. I don't know how old it is but the hand-written price looks like $2.29! :)

All in all, I think the A-22M, with some break in and accurizing might be the 1MOA rimfire that I was hoping it would be. It's not there yet, at least not with any consistency. I think it'll be a worthy project and prove its value as a great target/plinking gun as well as handling small-game/predator hunting duties with authority.

The Rossi, for the money, is a no-brainer, no-nonsense, very capable and handy firearm. With the red dot, it has the feel of a tactical firearm, if that's your thing. I can see it being extremely handy as a ranch rifle or basic small-game/survival gun, though open sights of some sort might be a good choice for those uses.

[J A XSP]

Savage A-22M groups:

Rossi R22M groups:

10 shot groups with CCI Gamepoint ammo:


Average for best 4 out of 5 groups overall both with and without flyers was better with the Rossi this time. The scope definitely helped it meet its full potential. On the other hand, the A-22 did worse by a small margin during this session than it did last time which says that my shooting probably wasn't up to the task of really wringing out all the accuracy that the gun is capable of.

Conclusions: 1) A-22 trigger is way better (assuming that I can get it to reset consistently. 2) Vertical stringing with the A-22 points to stock fit so bedding will probably really dial it in. 3) Rossi with a scope definitely holds its own in terms of accuracy with preferred ammo. 4) The red dot sight on the Rossi is extremely close in accuracy to the scope, at least at 50 yards - very good to know because it's such a handy gun to shoot with that set-up.

[PhilC]

Nice review, thanks for posting it!

[Josh0808]

I have found the A22 ammo does not only function the best but gives me the best accuracy. I have the pro varmint so bit more rigid stock but found groups similar to yours with the A22 coming in under 1" at 50 but again the cycle rate was hands down the winner.

[Grumpy Old Vet]

I realize I'm late to the posting here, but I do appreciate finding your review. Thank you.