I just recently purchased another Savage A22 because it was on sale (this is a common theme for me, I buy when things go on sale). This one came with a scope, 10 round mag, and a 25 round mag while my original review was on the basic model so I thought I’d get it and give an update. I’ve seen some failures with the first gen since my first review and I noticed a few updates with the A22 design that look to address these failures. I also noticed that I forgot to finish and publish my original article on this rifle, so here it is. A22’s are $350-600 depending.
The Savage A22 is a semi automatic 22LR rifle. Savage already has a semi auto 22, the Savage 64 (review), but it was terrible to take down, not super accurate, and in desperate need of upgrades. Is the A22 any better?
Specifications
- Sold as a regular version with iron sights, with as scope and no iron sights, A22 Precision in an aluminum chassis, A22 Target thumbhole in a laminate stock, and a few other versions
- Weaver 46 bases (46M is matte, 46S is stainless) or EGW makes a one-piece pic rail base
- 10 round or 25 round mags (this one came with 1 of each)
- Bolt hold open (but does not hold open on last round)
- Cross bolt safety
- 21″ barrel
Upgrades, Downgrades, and Compromise
Instead of talking about the Savage 64 vs A22, let’s talk about the competitive world that the A22 finds itself in.
In 2021, most popular semi-auto 22’s are easy to scope and have gone from 3/8 dovetail to weaver mounts for a more solid scope mount. Most have a bolt hold open and some even hold the bolt open on the last round. Most 22’s are a pain in the ass to take down to get the bolt out. A few use flush mount mags, which are really nice for Mapleseed/Appleseed.
The A22 does bring some interesting features: the disassembly to remove the bolt is kinda sorta like a cheap AK47. Push in the grey pin at the back, remove the dust cover, pull out the recoil spring and guide, remove the charging handle, and the bolt comes right out the back. It’s pretty good, only second in convenience to the fantastically fast to disassemble Winchester Wildcat.
The cross bolt safety makes sense, the bolt hold open is much easier to use than the bad bolt hold open on the Ruger 10/22, the accutrigger has a pretty long reset, and the stock is a good fit for an adult. And speaking of the stock, it has real, steel sling studs which is a refreshing departure from the rush to make everything as cheaply as possible.
The bolt cycles kinda weird because the travel is really long and it feels slow. It doesn’t affect functioning whatsoever, just feels a bit weird.
The rotary 10 round mag is really nice for shooting with a flat bottom to the stock, which I really like for shooting while standing. The mag itself is a a pile of compromises: half pot metal and half plastic. I ran into some fail to feed issues that stemmed from the 10 round mag failing to push the next round up. Because the mag release is built in to the mag, you won’t get any go-fast mag releases for this rifle. Ultimately, the mags just don’t measure up to the Ruger 10 round rotary mags which is sad because those were designed while the Cold War was still a thing.
The 25 round mag also has a few compromises, but I mostly liked it. It has a side lever that you can press down on to make space for rounds and quickly reload. This is especially handy on mags that have sharp maglips and overly stiff springs: but the A22 has neither of those issues. The entire top of the mag is also just 1 slug of pot metal which I prefer to the weird half-half design of the 10 rounder.
Some changes to the A22 design:
- Takedown plastic bit at the back is now rounded instead of pointed (shouldn’t break/bend as easily)
- Firing pin retaining pin: was a roll pin, then solid (was solid on my last one), but this one is back to a roll pin….?
- Magazine catch went from a bendy plastic bit to a rotatey plastic big (better)
Accuracy
Most ammo I tried gave me around 0.75-1″ at 50 yards. Pretty typical fare for semi auto 22’s.
Savage A22 Issues
- The firing pin fouls easily and can gum up. I’ve seen 2 A22’s do this.
- The firing pin retaining pin is a roll pin, and roll pins can peen and bend/break with repeated abuse. I’ve seen 3 or 4 A22’s fail on this pin.
- The rotary mags jam up once in a while, especially when new.
- If you get the scoped version, check the tightness on the base and ring bolts: they will probably be loose. Not really an issue, but it’d be cool if they tightened these properly at the factory.
- There’s a lot of flashing on the stock so the part line is kinda sharp and annoying.
- The plastic “checkering” is not grippy at all. Might make it harder to handle in the rain or mud
Savage A22 vs Ruger 10/22 and Conclusion
Straight up: I don’t think it’s a better or more compelling rifle than the Ruger 10/22 that it’s trying to mimic and beat. The reliability isn’t great and the rotary mags are worse. Out of the box, the accuracy is better, the bolt hold open is better, and the takedown is sublime but I’m not sure that’s enough. They’re similarly priced to the 10/22 and I think they need to make better quality, more reliable mags if they want to compete.
And then there’s the platform inertia: you can mod a 10/22 six ways from Sunday and the Savage A22 will never get to the aftermarket that the 10/22 has. Still, you can get things like an MDT chassis for it.
But if you can get it on sale and you don’t want to mod the rifle at all, they are nice shooters. You can wear-in and tune up the mags and maybe you won’t have the firing pin retaining pin break on you.
