Thread: Quick Review: Savage A22 LR

Good to read the in-depth review Viper. Yep the Savage has rather average ratings overseas and your experience bears this out.

Good to see your 10/22 shooting well. Gundoc has obviously sorted out the model's issues - usually centering round loose barrel fitting, sloppy chambers, and inconsistent rifling. I would just suggest be wee bit wary of single good groups, and 3 shot groups - too easy to pop an occasional good one. Whenever I'm bench testing a 22 its always 5 shots and four consecutive groups to get the exact story for a rifle's accuracy.

Some words of warning here - the ruger is a nice little carbine but has always been let down by inaccuracy. It's no myth. From bench testing round 100 sporter standard barrel 22LRs, the ruger 10/22 proved the least accurate make and model. We owned 5-6 of them and benched more, old models and new, standard through to highly modified - and only the highly modified model shot well. It had only one genuine ruger part left. Best of the standard 10/22s averaged 1.04" over set of 5 shot groups at 50 meters - most around 1.5". That's not acceptable. 1 MOA or approx 0.5" groups at 50m is the standard for accurate hunting out to 100m, and there are plenty of other 22s that will do it. When shooting heavily - over 1000 bunnies a night at times - we discarded the rugers and went to other makes. Simply not sharp enough from 60 to 100m - though we may well have kept them if we'd had gundocs mod available.

The 10/22 is the most popular 22 on the planet for aftermarket modding, and if you want to spend the coin you can have an absolutely delightful little rifle. Green Mountain/Whistlepig/Kidd/Volquartsen etc parts can transform it into a very sharp little unit. Nice options there - but be prepared to spend 2-3 times the price of a stock 10/22. After some fairly comprehensive testing we dropped the rugers and went with marlin semis - much better accuracy. From testing about 12 marlin semi models, all could touch 0.5" or better at 50m, averaging close to that. To my huge surprise off the bench the best of the 100 sporter 22s at 50m were two marlin 60s - stock standard and with rather crappy triggers. One averaged 0.29" for 4 x five shot groups at 50, and another averaged 0.39". That's astonishing for a cheap entry level 22LR. Best stock 22LR at 100m was a Norinco EM332 which averaged 0.6" for consecutive groups.

So if you want an efficient and accurate 22 semi out to 100 meters, the best we found is the Marlin 60 or 795. Basic entry level rifles only, and need the Mcarbo trigger spring mod ($50-60), but sooner or later every hunter starts to prize accuracy and these simple wee semis deliver it. Tommy's 795 in a Boyds stock makes a sweet option. If you do want a 10/22 and can get Gundoc to do his mods, that offers another excellent semi option.