The Rimfire Report: Franklin's F22-V SBR - Is Two Stamps The Way?

I'll admit up front that I've become one of those guys who can't stop doing math on the amount of money I haven’t spent recently on tax stamps, which is a strange sentence to type, but here we are. For the last two weeks, I've had a Franklin Armory F22-V SBR on the bench and at the range for a while now, and today I want to share my experiences and thoughts with you, sor far, on this unique platform that just a year ago would have been an extra 400 bones just for the permission to enjoy the 10/22 in what I think is one of its most enjoyable forms - a two stamp SBR.

More Rimfire Report @ TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: Celebrating 75 Years of CCI — A Trip to Lewiston 
• The Rimfire Report: Do You Have The Green For This Historic Henry? 
• The Rimfire Report: The Quackenbush Safety Cartridge Rifle 

A factory-integrally suppressed SBR used to be quite rare, even in the NFA-only world. But today, it might as well be considered an off-the-shelf item with a bit of extra paperwork tied to it. The F22-V SBR pairs Franklin's F22 receiver, the same 7075 aluminum unit with the enhanced firing pin system that I liked on the original F22 Pistol we reviewed a few months ago, with a 10.5-inch Vanquish 22 barrel built by Angstadt Arms and a Magpul MOE X-22 stock. That barrel is where all the magic happens and, I think, the “core” of what sets this rig apart from other homebrew SBR-10/22s.

Because you're combining a short barrel with an integral suppressor on one receiver, you're still unfortunately looking at two separate NFA items, hence the two stamps. As of January 1st this year, the federal tax on both of those stamps dropped to zero dollars, which is the whole reason I think this conversation is even worth having again, even though you’ll still have to go through the trouble of filling out the Form 4 paperwork if you’re buying this direct from Franklin.

On The Range

For this specific configuration, I chose to mount a Maven CRS.1 3-12x40 SFP on the SBR for testing, which is a genuinely good, relatively inexpensive scope, although I’d likely just run a red dot or a more compact fixed prism scope on this particular build for the long term. At 50 yards, the F22-V SBR was consistently putting together groups at or under an inch with a variety of ammo (CCI Standard, ELEY, Remington Subsonic, CCI Suppressor MAX), which is excellent for a rimfire gun in this price range, let alone one with a permanently attached suppressor riding on the barrel.

I've shot plenty of threaded-can setups that lose a bit of precision once you hang extra weight and length off the muzzle, and I went in expecting the ported design to maybe cost a little accuracy in exchange for the noise reduction. That's not what happened here. The rifling, porting, and the Angstadt quality of construction seemed to do their job without robbing the gun of consistency downrange. Even budget-tier ammo like Remington Yellow Jacket and Federal Champion ran just fine, if not a bit loud, out of the F22-V SBR.

Sound-wise, we are dealing with a bit of a compromise here, and this is not necessarily a knock on the suppressor's design itself but rather a fact of physical limitations we have by having a much shorter barrel. When compared to any configuration of Vanquish barrel, length is always the determining factor when it comes to how well the round is going to be suppressed; this is doubly true when you’re choosing to use hot ammo with the Vanquish barrel system. While you do get less sound suppression out of the 10.5” barrel, when you’re using anything subsonic, like CCI Standard, Suppressor Max, or Remington Subsonic, you’re still going to get a majority of the suppression benefit, just in a much more compact package.

In terms of reliability, the Franklin receiver and parts mean that once again, this is a build that is built from the ground up to work well. The action in particular is not only much smoother and lighter feeling than a factory Ruger 10/22, but it also seems to stay a lot cleaner through high-volume fire compared to my other 10/22 pattern guns. I presume this comes down to the quality of the coatings, internal components, and the precision-machined receiver. It’s worth noting that while the higher-quality components and coatings will typically net you a longer interval between necessary cleanings (when the gun starts to choke), they won’t prevent the need for it. There is just no way of getting around the absolute filthiness of rimfire ammo.

The Takedown’s longer 18” barrel is noticeably quieter and gives you a small bump in velocity over the 10.5-inch SBR barrel. This is thanks to a bit more barrel length and suppression volume to work with. Fully assembled, it's also a larger overall package than the F22-V SBR, but because it's a takedown design, it actually wins in the storage department once you break it down, packing into a smaller footprint than the SBR ever will since the SBR is a fixed, one-piece rifle from stock to muzzle. The F22-V SBR gives up a bit of that ultimate quiet and that packability, and it's a touch louder at the muzzle than the Takedown setup, but it doesn't give up anything in reliability or accuracy. The shorter, ported 10.5-inch barrel kept right up with its longer sibling in terms of group size and consistent function through everything I fed it. With the amount of varminting I’ve been doing recently, I do find that having a “ready to go” SBR on the ATV or in the truck rather than a packed-away takedown is not only much faster to deploy, but also much more maneuverable in the confines of a truck or side-by-side cab.

So the choice between the two really comes down to what you're optimizing for. If ultimate suppression and the ability to break your rifle down into a backpack are the priority, the Takedown platform is kind of a no-brainer, especially if you hate doing the extra paperwork for the SBR portion of the deal. If you want a single, ready-to-go short-barreled rifle that's about as compact as an integrally suppressed 22 gets without any assembly required, the F22-V SBR is the more purpose-built choice, and you're not sacrificing accuracy to get there.

Final Thoughts: Is Two Stamps The Way?

Here's where the tax stamp conversation comes back in. Two stamps that used to cost $400 combined now cost nothing but time, and surrendering your dignity to an alphabet agency, since the federal tax on Form 1 and Form 4 submissions for suppressors and SBRs dropped to zero as part of last year's reconciliation bill. The paperwork, fingerprints, photos, and ATF wait times are all still exactly what they've always been, and if anything, wait times have stretched out just a tad this year simply because everyone who was on the fence when the stamp cost $200 decided this was finally their moment. I don’t necessarily blame them in this economy.

Where I'd slow you down is the assumption that two stamps are automatically the right call for everyone. If you don't need the compact, all-in-one footprint and you're comfortable with a slightly larger overall package in exchange for even quieter shooting and better storage, something like the Vanquish Takedown setup might serve you just as well, or better, depending on what you value. For me, this just means that the 10/22 takedown can now live 100% on backpack duty, and leave the pest control to my other .22 LR.