Before I even start the review let me make my stance very clear, I do not like Savage Rifles. I am a Remington and Steyr Loyalist through and through so it took a lot to purchase one of these, mainly because Remington nor Steyr make a Bolt Action .22LR with a Heavy Barrel.

That left me 2 Contenders
Marlin XTZ22R
Savage Mk-II FV-SR

When We ordered 2 of the marlins 3 weeks ago, I though I had found the perfect suppressor host for whacking gophers and yard pest in my Garden. When the Marlin arrived I quickly realized I was wrong as it was not threaded properly nor was it concentric to bore both of which can cause baffle strikes which will ruin a suppressor. So I re-started my Hunt for the Savage Mk-II and was fortunate enough to find 1 on Gunbroker for not much more than I would pay had I found it at a distributor so I dropped the hammer on getting it.

When it came in I was really impressed, fit and finish was great, bolt lockup was tight, and the trigger was great for a .22, Threading was perfect with proper pitch and concentric to bore, they even included a nice thread protector.

Although it is a great thread job, you will want to check and verify that your suppressor bottoms out against the barrel shoulder as mine stopped a couple thousandths short. This is common when mounting adapters or suppressors and the fix is easy just use a spacer, I opted to permanent mount my spacer using rocksette so it would not get lost.

Little about the Rifle
OAL - 35.25" (40.25" w/ AAC Prodigy attached)
Barrel - 16.5" Heavy barrel w/light fluting.
Weight - 5.5lbs.
Synthetic Stock, Tactical Bolt Knob, 1 Piece Scope Rail, Acu-trigger, Blued Finish, 5rd Detachable Magazine.

I decided to Test the Rifle a little different than what most are accustomed to, I did shooting at 50yds then backed in to 25yds.

On the Fifty Yard Target I fired all shots in pretty rapid succession to see how bad heating the barrel would cause flyiers.

Top Row = 4-5shot Groups of Remington 36gr Plated Hi-Vel HP
Center Row = 4-5 Shot Groups using the same ammunition only I attached the Suppressor to show POI Shift.
Bottom Row = With the Suppressor still attached I switched to Remington 38gr Subsonic HP 3-5 shot groups, Then Removed the Suppressor and Fired one last group using Remington 36gr Plated Hi-Vel HP to see how much if any attaching an removing the suppressor and changing ammunition would affect Zero.

On the 25yd Target I did the same test only I would let the rifle cool between groups.

Target on the left is 50yds, Right is 25yds. I'm sure the rifle is capable of much better but I was contending with changing winds and gusts in excess of 20MPH at times.


I aimed for vermillion triangle on the Gnomes, so you can see a pretty good POI change when attaching the suppressor to the hot barrel then firing on, although I didn't expect that. POI shift when going to the subsonic was in a different Direction and was what I expected due to a slower bullet.

You will notice less change on the 25yd target as that backer was less affected by the wind and I was letting the barrel cool so groups where less affected by outside influences.


Final Thoughts:
I think for the money it is a decent rifle, again I think it should have been just a little better in the accuracy department but conditions hindered that. Fit and Finish was great and the attention to detail in the threading really impressed me as it seems most manufactures building rifles in this niche category are not doing a good job in the threading. I think it will make a great suppressor host for the purpose I will use it for (25yds and closer shooting Garden pests) and was worth the money. I just Wish Remington would make something along these lines.

Cool, good write-up. I was wondering how these rifles would work with a 22 suppressor. I just wish it was semi-auto.

I'm pretty sure Savage Makes a Version of this in their Semi Auto Model 64 Platform. I opted for the Bolt gun as I'm going to use primarily Subs and Shorts so they would not cycle my Semi Auto Remington.

nice review, thanks

Gotta love a savage

Sig worthy

Very good review

Good write up. Thanks for sharing.

Oh no you didn't!


Good review. Looks like it was giving you a little bit of trouble feeding.

For some reason that magazine started acting up as soon as the camera clicked on and was fixed as soon as I stopped rolling.

BTW Thanks for the positive response guys, I figured with everybody posting about getting there Suppressors that there would be some interest in a Review of a suppressor ready .22 Rifle.

AS soon as My Remington 597 AAC Edition gets here I will do another one.

Well done.

Oh, yea this thread has great pics and video

Never mind....


Seriously,

THAT was fun to watch!

Good stuff. I wasn’t aware that Savage made a nice .22 RF.

Thanks for posting.

I love my 597, I don't have the AAC, just a 2 basic models, but they are great. Can't wait to see pics.

May be waiting awhile on that one, I have been searching for this elusive Rifle for 5 months. I have one of the regular 597's and want this as a compliment to my 700 AAC-SD.