Fudd Friday: Savage Revel Classic Review

I was pretty excited to see the Savage Revel when it debuted in late 2024 for two reasons. First, there’s nothing more Fudd-coded than a lever-action rifle, despite the current space cowboy creations that are taking the design into the 21st century. Second, I’d seen design drawings of this rifle a long time ago and after it hadn’t been released to market for years, I thought I’d never get my hands on one.

But Savage did release the rifle eventually, and I did get my hands on one for a test—but it didn’t quite work out how I hoped, due to a batch of bad luck in hunting season. That wasn’t Savage’s fault, though; here are my impressions on the rifle after having one for a few months.

Lever-actions return @ TFB:

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A modern lever gun

Lever-action rifles were once Savage’s bread-and-butter; in fact, the company was founded to manufacture them. But Savage canceled its legendary Model 99 in the late 1990s, and it hasn’t made a lever gun since—not until the lever-action Revel was released in 2024.

The Revel shares nothing with the Model 99, not even an exterior resemblance. The Model 99 was a centerfire hammerless lever-action that fed from a rotary magazine or a detachable box mag for later-production models. The Revel is a rimfire, available in .22LR, .22 Magnum or .17 HMR (my test rifle was chambered in .22LR). The Revel feeds from an under-barrel tube mag like many traditional rimfire repeaters, and the action features a hammer. Take a few steps back and squint, and it looks a lot more like a classic Winchester or Marlin than it does the Model 99.

The Savage Revel is a takedown rifle, like the popular repeater .22s of old—sort of. Knock the captive pins on the receiver lower from left to right and you can pull the stock and half the action away from the barrel, forend and the other half of the action. This lets you clean some of the internals, but if you want to clean the barrel from the rear or clean or work on the feeding path, you have to remove the receiver cover.

This requires the removal of four Allen-head machine screws. Take ‘em out and then the receiver cover comes off, allowing easier access to the front half of the action, and allowing you to clean the barrel from the rear. This is not hard to do, although I wonder how well the screws and their threads would hold up over a lifetime of use. Best not to do this too often, I’d suspect.

But compared to the lever guns of old, which typically came apart with the removal of pins that were difficult to reassemble, the Savage Revel is much easier to work on. It’s a modern rifle made with modern design ideas.

In the field

The Revel Classic is a joy to carry in the field. Hold it on the bottom of the receiver and it balances nicely in your hand, with a bit of forward bias. The straight stock comes to your shoulder quickly; the modern machining means there are no sharp edges to catch you while loading or working the action, unlike a janky post-’64 Winchester. The action itself is delightfully smooth.

With no hood on the front sight, I suppose it could perhaps get dislodged while tramping through the brush, but I doubt that would be much of a problem in the real world.

The powdercoating on the receiver seems robust and hasn’t scratched or chipped on me yet; the bluing on the barrel and mag tube is that weird matte modern finish that many budget firearms come with. It seems better than the low-quality finish found on a lot of modern el cheapo bolt-action hunting rifles, but I’d have to spend a few days hunting with it in the rain to judge that for sure.

Given how much I enjoyed carrying the Savage Revel in the field, I gotta confess that I didn’t get much chance to do so. A horrible motorcycle crash in the opening days of the 2025 hunting season completely ruined my chances to go shooting snowshoe hares and ruffed grouse this year.

Shooting the Savage Revel

Shooting the Savage Revel before my crash was a lot of fun. Blasting away in an unscientific manner in my local gravel pit, I was surprised at the rifle’s long-range accuracy, but didn’t get a chance to put that to test on small game as I’d planned due to the crash.

But I think the target proves the rifle is more than capable of handling small game at the ranges we hunt around here, as long as the shooter is capable.

It took a few rounds to get elevation sorted on the Revel, and frankly, I’m not a huge fan of the semi-buckhorn flat-top rear sight. Over multiple shooting sessions, I did find a few rounds impacted to the right of my point-of-aim; it would be worth adjusting the sights to match, if you found a round you otherwise liked that behaved like this. For what it’s worth, the best-shooting ammo I tried in the gun was CCI Velocitor. CCI Standard Velocity was OK. Winchester M22 didn’t feed super-well. Federal’s 38-grain copper-plated hollowpoints worked well. Don’t try .22 Shorts in the mag tube like I did, unless you want to clear a jam that requires you to take the receiver apart.

The Revel is drilled and tapped for scope mounts, and I suspect a decent red dot would be the perfect practical complement to this rifle—but I’d prefer a peep sight, like this one from Skinner. I would prefer that option to adding the bulk of an optic.

The bottom line

I really like the Revel and I’m keen to put more rounds through it when I’m healed up properly; I’d like to try a receiver sight on the rifle as well.

I think this is a great rifle for anyone who wants to relive the lever gun fun of the past without the expense of pricey centerfire ammo; it’s a great rifle to get a kid started in lever gun handling; it’s a great rifle for hunting small game. Savage’s MSRP of $499 is a bit higher than competing lever-actions from Henry (made in the USA) and Winchester (made in Turkey), but well under the Browning BL22 (made in Japan). I think Savage will sell a lot of them, especially if they ever come out with a space cowboy version … not that I want to give the designers any ideas. See specs below, with more details here.

Savage Revel Classic Specs:

• Caliber: 22 LR
• Purpose: Small Game, Target Shooting
• Firearm Type: Rimfire
• Action Type: Lever
• Handed: Right
• Availability: International, North America
• Exclusive: No
• Price: $499 (North American pricing only. For international pricing, contact your dealer.)
• Barrel Color: Black
• Barrel Contour: Medium
• Barrel Length: 18" (45.72 cm)
• Barrel Material: Carbon Steel
• Rate of Twist: 1:16"
• Barrel Threaded: No
• Pistol Grip: No
• Interchangeable Grip Panel: No
• Magazine Capacity: 12
• Receiver Color: Black
• Scope Mounted and Sighted: No
• AccuStock: No
• AccuFit: No
• Stock Color: Brown
• Stock Finish: Satin
• Stock Fixed: Yes
• Stock Pull Length - Min.: 14.5" (36.83 cm)
• Stock Material: Turkish Walnut
• Stock Thumbhole: No
• AccuTrigger: No
• Trigger Pull Force - Min.: 2.5 lbs (40 ounces)
• Length: 36.5" (92.71 cm)
• Weight: 6.1 lbs (2.77 kg)

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