New for 2016: Savage Arms A22 Semi-Automatic .22 Magnum Rifle

(photo courtesy of Savage Arms)

New for 2016, Savage Arms is releasing a semi-automatic .22 Magnum rimfire rifle called the A22. The A22 sports an ultra-light synthetic stock, a unique delayed blowback action for reliability, and a removable 10 round rotary magazine. 

Here are some photos I took at SHOT Show 2016 Range Day:

(Photo credits: Rocky Mountain Bushcraft, ©2016)

While there, I got the chance to shoot several magazines through it at the 100 yard rifle range:

The target was a small metal AR500 plate: 

(click to enlarge)

Using CCI's new A22 .22 Magnum ammo, I was able to easily hit the small metal plate over and over again without even trying. The A22 was definitely capable of good accuracy.

Overall, my first impression was very good. The A22 was a lot of fun to shoot owing to it's low recoil and light weight (5.5lbs). It was also powerful enough to easily smack the metal plate at 100 yards without any holdover. The A22 worked smoothly with no failures to feed or extract.

As some of you may know from my previous writeups, I consider the .22 Magnum to be an excellent wilderness survival cartridge. It is only slightly heavier than the .22 Long Rifle cartridge, but has more than twice the power, noticeably better penetration, and longer range. 

Depending on its ability to reliably digest standard .22 Magnum ammo such as CCI Maxi Mag 40 Grain, as well as an option for open sights, the A22 could prove to be an excellent wilderness survival rifle.

This rifle has definitely piqued my interest. Hopefully when summer rolls around, I'll be able to give it a full field review and will post my findings here. 

Cheers, Jason

For more information visit: 

www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/A22Magnum

About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft and a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor. He has also written for the The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)