Accurate .22 Magnum Bolt Gun

I’ve long been a fan of the .22 Magnum round. I know some folks don’t see the point and are either just going to go .22 LR or jump up to a .223, but I like the middle ground that the .22 Magnum provides. It has more oomph and better bullet designs than a .22LR, a bit more range, and can be chambered in lightweight rimfire rifles.

I’ve had an old Marlin 25m in .22 magnum for a couple of decades at least. It’s a good rifle, but pretty basic. I wanted the option to add a suppressor, and it wasn’t really worth the cost of having my existing barrel threaded and having the sights moved. So I started looking at new guns with factory threaded barrels. After doing some research, I settled on the Savage B Series FV-SR. It offered everything I was looking for in an affordable, optics ready .22 Magnum bolt gun as well as features I didn’t expect for the price.

B Series FV-SR Specs

The Savage B Series FV-SR in .22 WMR is a compact, accurate bolt-action rimfire rifle designed for small-game hunting, varmint control, and target shooting. It features a heavy 16.25-inch carbon steel varmint contour barrel with a matte black finish, threaded muzzle, and a 1:16″ twist rate. The rifle is fed from a 10-round rotary detachable box magazine. It’s built on a black matte-finished carbon steel receiver topped with a one-piece scope rail.

The B Series FV-SR uses an ergonomically designed stock with a higher comb, top tang safety, and target style, vertical pistol grip. It has a 13.25″ length of pull and dual sling swivel studs. The FV-SR features an adjustable AccuTrigger that allows trigger pull weight to be set anywhere between 2.5 and 6 pounds.

The rifle measures 34.75 inches overall and weighs just 5.6 pounds, making it a light, maneuverable package. Savage’s FV-SR has an MSRP of $419.

Accessories

I outfitted my FV-SR with a Vortex Crossfire II Rimfire Rifle Scope 2-7x 32mm V-Plex Reticle and Vortex 1-inch rings. I picked the scope up at Midway, and it’s been a good fit for this rifle. It was $130 at the time I ordered it and another $25 for the rings. For an inexpensive scope, the optics quality was quite good. The basic V-Plex reticle is all that I wanted for a .22 Mag plinker/varminter, and 2-7 power works just fine for my typical 100-yard and under shooting.

I also added a Savage bipod to the .22 Mag. Savage makes two models, one with an MLOK attachment and a sling swivel mounting model. I chose the later for this rifle. The bipod is made from high strength polymer and weighs only 12.5 ounces. The legs fold and are adjustable from 7.2″ – 10″ and the whole unit allows for a 50° cant from side to side. The bipod mounts securely and fells solid. It’s easily adjusted and would work just as well on a high-power rifle as the .22 Magnum. MSRP is $119.00.

Quieting Things Down

The last thing I added was the Savage Accucan A22 suppressor that I reviewed back in January. I initially bought this suppressor to use with this rifle but it took me a little longer to get the rifle so it wasn’t used in that initial review.

I quick recap of the A22 is that it’s an aluminum suppressor with a monocore design. It has built-in self-cleaning carbon cutters, and is fully user serviceable using common tools. The external finish is a black hard-coat anodizing. Savage lists the sound reduction at 114 dB with subsonic rounds and 135 dB with supersonic rounds.

The A22 has a 1-inch diameter, is 5.9 inches long and weighs just 3.5 ounces. It uses a 1/2x28mm direct thread Titanium thread mount. The A22 is full-auto rated for .22 LR, and semi-auto rated for .17 HMR and .22 Magnum. It has an MSRP of $449. Check out the initial review for full details.

Range Time

I’ve had my FV-SR out to the range a number of times over the Spring, Summer, and Fall of this year. I did my initial sight in with CCI’s A22 .22 Magnum load. It’s a 35-grain jacketed hollow point that was actually designed in conjunction with Savage for their A22 semi-auto rifle.

I don’t see it listed currently on CCI’s website, but I still had some in my ammo locker. It’s given me good performance in a number of semi-auto .22 Magnums, as well as my old Marlin .22 Magnum bolt action rifle.

Subsequent accuracy testing was done with Winchester Varmint HP, a polymer tip 30-gr V-MAX load, Remington Premier Magnum Rimfire with a 33-gr AccuTip-V bullet, Hornady 22 MAG 30-gr V-MAX, and CCI’s 40-gr TMJ Maxi Mag load.

I’m going to say up front that this may be the most accurate rifle I on. Or it shoots so easily that it allows me to do better than average shooting with it.

The Accutrigger is crisp and light right out of the factory. I measured it at 2 pounds 11 ounces on my Lyman trigger pull scale. There’s a bit of take up, then a smooth release that was conducive to excellent accuracy. Bolt throw is short and smooth, and feeding was reliable regardless of bullet profile from the rotary magazine.

The FV-SR is an easy handling gun with on the shoulder and off of the bench. The tang-mounted safety is intuitive with a push-forward-to-fire design. It works the same as my Mossberg shotguns and my old Ruger M77 that I grew up with, so it’s familiar too.

Accuracy Results

I shot my test groups from a sandbag rest but did much of my other shooting from the bipod. While the sandbag was obviously the most stable I still achieved similar groups using the bipod as well.

So what kind of groups are we talking about? At 50 yards, everything was well under an inch. Most groups were 1/2 inch or less. My best groups were a a 5 shot 1/4 inch group that looked like a cloverleaf (but did have all 5 rounds in it!) with the CCI Maxi Mag load. I had a group with the Remington Premier load that was similar in size and one ragged hole.

My “worst” groups were with the Winchester Varmint load and even those were barely over a 1/2 inch. Creeping out to 100 yards I opened up some but was still keeping things in the 1 inch range. Better when I did my part.

A Suppressed Magnum?

You might ask if there’s much point in suppressing a .22 Magnum. It’s a supersonic round so you’re still going to have the crack of the bullet. It’s never going to be as quiet as a subsonic .22LR, but that wasn’t the point for me.

While you do still get a crack from the round, it makes the .22 Magnum hearing safe. That makes it a lot more pleasant to shoot at the range, and especially out in the field.

My Perfect Pest Gun

I can’t say for sure if the Savage FV-SR in .22 Magnum is the perfect pest gun, but it is my perfect pest gun. The .22 Mag gives me the bump in power and option in bullet design over the .22LR that I wanted, but without the blast and penetration of a .223. It’ll work just fine on anything from rabbits and rodents up to coyotes.

For my typically sub-100-yard, suburban use, particularly when paired with the A22 suppressor, it checks all of the boxes I was looking for. Caliber, ability to be suppressed, accurate with a good trigger, and light and easy to handle in the field.