Savage’s hiatus from the lever gun scene lasted about 25 years. Their last model made in the 90s, the Model 99, was hailed as both a commercial and technical success, with many calling it “The Jeep of the Gun World” or sometimes “The King of Lever Guns.” Now, more than 25 years later, the company is three models deep in its rimfire lever comeback, and the newest one is one I think has been long overdue in the rimfire industry. The Revel Tactical was announced on October 8th, and it replaces the walnut of the Revel Classic and DLX with an MDT synthetic stock, a factory Picatinny rail, and functional M-LOK slots. After a handful of range sessions and several bulk boxes of ammo through the rifle in this month alone, I can say Savage got most of the fundamentals, and the requests we’ve all had right. So let's dig into Savage’s new tiny tactical lever gun.
The Rimfire Report: Savage Is Back(wards) With the Revel Tactical
The Revel name is "lever" spelled backwards, which is a pretty clever way to relaunch a lever gun line that is entirely modernized. Savage launched the platform in late 2024 with the straight-grip Classic and followed in 2025 with the pistol-grip DLX. All three models are offered in .22 LR, .22 WMR and .17 HMR, and every Revel is built at Savage's rimfire plant in Lakefield, Ontario, Canada. It’s not every day I get to shoot a Canadian-Made firearm.
The Tactical is listed for an MSRP of $629 in .22 LR and $659 in .22 WMR or .17 HMR, the same money as the walnut DLX. That price puts it $39 above its most direct rival, Henry's threaded, synthetic-stocked H1 X Model. Since it is relatively new, I haven’t seen any deep discounts on it yet, but my sneaking suspicion is that this will come down in price eventually. But what does that $650 get you out of a modernized “tactical” lever gun?
Specifications/Features
Product Link: https://savagearms.com/firearms/model/revel-tactical
- Action: Lever, under-barrel tubular magazine
- Calibers: .22 LR, .22 WMR, .17 HMR
- Capacity: 12 rounds (.22 LR), 9 rounds (.22 WMR, .17 HMR)
- Barrel: 18" medium profile, threaded 1/2x28, 1:16" twist (.22 LR)
- Receiver: Aluminum, matte black, one-piece Picatinny rail
- Stock: MDT Tactical synthetic, redesigned pistol grip, M-LOK fore end, clip-on cheek riser, recoil pad
- Length of Pull: 14.75"
- Trigger: 2.5 lbs
- Sights: Adjustable open V-notch rear, hooded post front
- Overall Length: 36.75"
- Weight: 6 lbs
- MSRP: $629 (.22 LR), $659 (.22 WMR, .17 HMR)
Out of the box, the Tactical keeps the Revel's lever-gun outline but has replaced its softer, classic wood furniture in favor of black polymer furniture. The MDT stock has a redesigned pistol grip, heavier texture at the grip and fore end, and M-LOK slots along the fore end. The texture feels like it's mostly there for visual appeal, but thankfully the stock and forend all feel very solid without any wobble or rattling. I’d expect nothing less from anything that MDT puts their name on.
With the Picatinny rail already on the receiver, the rifle is ready for a scope straight from the box, and I had a fun time toying around with the rifle with one of Chestnut Mountain Manufacturing’s reproduction OKP-7s mounted to it. The suppressor I’ve decided to pair with the Revel Tactical is Angstadt Arms’ featherweight Reticent-22 suppressor.
What Makes It “Tactical”
Like most guns that have different versions, the tactical variant of the Revel is mostly unchanged from its parent gun, but does have a few major distinctions. The Tactical uses the same aluminum receiver and takedown action as the Classic and DLX, with a steel barrel, magazine tube, lever, bolt, and hammer. The aluminum receiver keeps the rifle at 6 pounds with an 18-inch medium-contour barrel, still a pound heavier than Henry's 5-pound H1 X I saw earlier this year at SHOT Show. The ejection port is extra wide at about 1¾ inches, longer than a .22 LR needs, so I think what Savage is doing is using one-size receiver for all 3 of its caliber offerings. This way, Savage can build all three chamberings on one receiver and keep the cost of a brand new gun much lower from the outset.
Takedown requires no tools (if you have strong fingers). With the action open, two captive pins push out from left to right, the same motion as splitting an AR-15, which is a nice touch for the modern or newer gun owner. The stock, lever, and trigger group slide away from the barreled receiver, leaving two halves that fit in a daypack or a short case if you’re trying to pack this away for a hike. The Picatinny rail sits on the receiver, so the scope stays on the barreled half when the rifle comes apart. Henry doesn't advertise takedown on the H1 X, which means the Revels has a pretty neat packability bonus against its main competitor.
What is familiar is the manual of arms. Loading follows the familiar under-barrel pattern. Turning the knurled cap at the muzzle unlocks the brass inner tube, which slides forward to expose a loading port in the outer tube. Drop rounds in, push the inner tube back home, and lock and load. While the Reticent is pretty slim as a rimfire suppressor, other, larger suppressors might not clear the loading tube.6
On a slightly related note, I discovered that if you unload by pulling the inner tube and tipping the muzzle down, the first round you loaded stays in the outer tube, which I’ve read before happens on earlier iterations of the rifle like the Classic. Cycling the remaining rounds out, however, should be standard practice for anyone who’s trying to service or unload a firearm.
The Revel Tactical still features a crossbolt safety that blocks the trigger, plus a half-cock notch on the hammer. While I personally think the safety feels like it's in the wrong place (it sits right above and behind the trigger), it's easier to get to than a safety forward of the trigger (like on a 10/22) and is easy enough to use a pinching-style grip to toggle it.
The factory irons are an adjustable V-notch rear and a hooded post front. Classic and DLX owners have to buy a scope base for the drilled-and-tapped receiver, and early adopters of the Classic and DLX models found that Savage's rail with low Weaver rings put a 3-9x scope high enough to break cheek weld on the walnut stock. The Tactical has thankfully been updated with a paired factory rail and clip-on cheek riser. I mounted a Maven CRS.1 3-12x40 to the rifle to accuracy test it and found the cheek weld to be comfortable.
First Impressions on the Range
A rimfire lever gun wins or loses people on the lever, and the Revel's stroke is short and smooth straight out of the box, with no grit or hang-ups at either end of its travel. The oversized loop leaves room for a gloved hand, and I could run the action quickly from the shoulder without short-stroking it. A full tube goes by faster than you'd expect from a lever gun.
Savage rates the trigger at 2.5 pounds, and reviewers measured the Classic and DLX between about 2.0 and 2.6 pounds. Mine averaged a little heavier than that, at just a couple of ounces under 3 pounds over 10 pulls on my Lyman scale. There is a little take-up before a clean break, and for a hammer-fired lever .22 at this price, it is one of the better factory triggers I've used. I’m sure a gunsmith could really clean this up given that it’s a pretty simple single-action setup.
The Revel fed and ejected (almost) every .22 LR load I put through it, including CCI Standard Velocity and Aguila Super Extra, and spent cases cleared the long ejection port with room to spare. Armscor .22 Short was the exception. The shorter cartridges jammed up and often failed to feed up the ramp without some percussive encouragement. Savage lists the Tactical's chambering as .22 LR and makes no mention of Short or Long, while Henry rates the H1 X for all three, so the Revel's trouble with Shorts falls outside what Savage claims for the rifle, but I think I am at least a little bit entitled to feel like any 22LR lever gun worth its salt should be able to feed any 22 rimfire cartridge from CBs to Longs.
Accuracy
I shot the Revel Tactical off a fence post over a weighted bag at about 25 yards, with the Maven CRS.1 on top and 10 shots per group. While I’d typically do this at 50 yards, I felt like 25 was a much more practical application for this particular rifle setup. I zeroed with CCI Standard Velocity, my go-to for sanity checking a rifle's out-of-the-box accuracy. It was also the most accurate load I tried, giving me a group of just under an inch. Aguila Super Extra came in nearly as tight, which surprised me since Super Extra has been pretty hit or miss in my experience. Following that, 10 rounds of Remington 22 Cyclone kept things nice and supersonic, with a decent group of about 2”.
Both dedicated CCI Suppressor loads (CCI Clean-22 Suppressor & CCI Suppressor) performed about the same, each grouping under 2 inches. CCI Suppressor was obviously the quietest of the bunch, with its ultra-slow sub-1,000 fps muzzle velocity.
Armscor .22 Short never produced a usable group. Between the feeding failures, the few Shorts I got to fire landed all over the target. I'll run that box through a rifle rated for .22 Short to see whether the ammo or the Revel was to blame. Outside of that, the 22 Short from Armscor is also pretty loud, even out of a suppressor. With standard-velocity and high-velocity .22 LR, the 1:16-twist barrel on the Revel Tactical shoots consistently enough that most owners won't need to hunt for a favorite load, but I’d still always highly recommend you use plain old CCI Standard as it hits the sweet spot in terms of reliability, accuracy, reliability and overall sound.
Final Thoughts
Savage spent more than two decades away from lever guns and came back with a rimfire that handles, cycles, and comes apart the way a modern lever .22 should. The Tactical adds the optics rail and adjustable comb the walnut Revels lacked, and with CCI Standard Velocity, it printed under an inch at 25 yards. It may have taken a few years, but I think Savage finally gave rimfire lever gun owners what they’ve probably been asking for for decades.
If you’re already sold on the idea of a factory tactical .22 LR lever gun, the Revel Tactical's only real competition is Henry's H1 X Model. I haven’t had a chance to get the H1 X in my hands yet, but on paper the two rifles are close. Both are threaded 1/2x28, hold 12 rounds of .22 LR, and come with synthetic stocks, M-LOK slots, and a Picatinny rail. The Henry costs $39 less at $590, weighs a pound less, and adds fiber-optic sights, length-of-pull spacers, .22 Short and Long compatibility, and a magazine tube canted to clear suppressors up to 1 inch in diameter. The Revel counters with a barrel 1.5 inches longer, an adjustable comb for scope height, and a tool-free takedown that keeps the optic on the barreled half and adds some much-needed user-friendliness to an antiquated platform. However, it pans out once I get my hands on the H1 X; I think it's pretty safe to say that the Revel Tactical is a pretty safe buy if you’ve been waiting for Savage to build you a factory Tactical Rimfire Lever gun.
Interested to hear your thoughts and experiences, if any, on the Revel Tactical or its predecessors in the modern Savage Rimfire Lever Action lineup. Thanks as always for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report, and we’ll see you all again next week!
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