Last year, the Tikka T3x TAC A1, the little brother of the SAKO TRG 22A1, impressed all of the evaluators and placed in the top three for Ballistic’s Best thanks to its effortless action and equally effortless accuracy. This year, the SAKO TRG 22A1 stepped into the ring and muscled its little brother out of the way.
The TRG platform has an impeccable reputation, and the 22A1 is a robust, well-built robust system designed to deliver accuracy through hard use. It’s uncannily similar to the MRAD, with a full-length top rail, a luscious sniper gray color and a folding stock that allows you to adjust the length of pull and cheek height. You can also adjust the pistol grip’s backstrap, and the forend is covered in M-LOK slots. The action is what you’d expect from SAKO—buttery smooth—with a comfortable bolt handle. Altogether, while the SAKO is a tactically slanted rifle, it’s refined in nearly every way imaginable. It’s sleek, simple styling belies its adjustability.
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Accuracy is one of the SAKO’s strong points, with several evaluators posting their best groups at the range with the rifle. In fact the groups ranged from 0.47 to 0.62 inches for three of the evaluators. All these groups were produced with Federal’s 140-grain Gold Medal SMK ammo. If anything worked against the SAKO, it was its price, which is quite high at $6,400. The safety inside the triggerguard didn’t win much respect, either.
