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SAKO TRG 22 A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor

SAKO has produced a multifunctional sniper rifle that does everything well. Here's a full review.

June 17, 2025

SAKO’s TRG 22 A1 is a sniper rifle designed for military and law enforcement use that is a ton of fun for just about anyone interested in robust precision rifles. Sometimes folks get bent out of shape about calling a rifle a “sniper rifle,” unless it is issued to a “sniper.” However, there are specific design features that distinguish sniper rifles from other precision rifles, and everyone should know what those features are. Those features might be meaningful to any number of civilians, so there’s no reason to be elitist about it.

The two characteristics that separate sniper rifles from precision rifles are durability and ease of maintenance at the rifleman level. Both are capable of exceptional accuracy. Having a high-performance and accurate rifle is great, but being able to throw it off the roof of the house without worrying about hurting it, and being able to take care of it without the services of a gunsmith, are valuable features to people other than snipers.

Sniper Rifles Stay Together

Making connections tight on a sniper rifle means they won’t work loose over time. However, you can’t just over-tighten regular fasteners on regular sporting rifles and expect better performance because of it! What you’ll likely end up with is stripped screws and sadness. Sniper rifle manufacturers have to design these rifles around tight fasteners with lots of engagement. That’s what SAKO did with the TRG-series of rifles from the beginning.

Guns & Ammo’s TRG 22 A1 test sample was chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. It follows SAKO’s tradition of press-fitting the barrel into the receiver. This causes some frustration among the American precision-rifle crowd, but the former-sniper in me appreciates SAKO’s process and hopes it never changes.

The junction between barrel and receiver must be kept tight and concentric to get the most performance out of these rifles. While threading a barrel onto a receiver has been done for decades here in the U.S., there is a lot of debate concerning how tight that connection needs to be. SAKO removed all doubt by using a hydraulic press to push the barrel into the receiver, the equivalent of a couple hundred foot-pounds (ft.-lbs.) of torque. No matter how much you shake a TRG, or drop it from high places, this guarantees the barrel will never come loose. There is also anecdotal evidence that suggests the plus-100-ft.-lbs. of torque helps to eliminate cold-bore shots that stray from the rest of the group. SAKO also uses hammer-forged barrels on all of its TRG rifles, a process that work-hardens the bore and gives longer service life.