Mossberg Blaze-47 Semiauto Rimfire with 25-Round Mag: Full Review of a Fun Gun

When you can shoot a semiauto rimfire with a 25-round magazine, it's just fun. This is what you get with the Mossberg Blaze-47, an AK-47 lookalike for just $370.

Mossberg Blaze-47 Semiauto Rimfire: Full Review of a Fun Gun — Mossberg Blaze-47 FDE Semiauto Rifle with 25-Round Mag (Photo courtesy of RifleShooter Magazine)

May 13, 2021 By Stan Trzoniec

The Mossberg Blaze-47 semiauto rimfire rifle is available with a traditional wood stock or a flat dark earth polymer stock. The AK-47 Blaze feeds from either 10- or 25-round magazines. My FDE polymer-stocked model shipped with the latter.

Checking in at 4.5 pounds, it’s light but feels good in the hands. The buttstock is a six-position adjustable. Length of pull is 12.25 inches with it pushed all the way in; the midpoint is the common 13.5 inches, and all the way out it’s 15.5 inches. It’s easily adjustable via a locking device on the bottom, and once released it locks into detents along a bottom rail. The stock is capped off with a rubber buttpad to prevent the gun from slipping off your shoulder.

The plastic halves of the receiver and fore-end show a gap, but they are otherwise well fitted top and bottom. The fore-end is comfortable to grip, with square-patterned impressions to secure the gun in your hands. There are vents near the top of the barrel to mimic the AK.

The well-proportioned pistol grip has a palm swell that will work for both right- and left-handed shooters. The grip can be removed by a screw that runs through the center.

Mossberg Blaze-47 25-Round Magazine — Trzoniec’s sample shipped with a 25-round magazine, and between its capacity and great trigger, he found it a joy to shoot. (Photo courtesy of RifleShooter Magazine)

The barrel is 16.5 inches long. At the muzzle is a faux flash hider, atop which sits the front sight assembly. It is a tall fixture, and while it looks ungainly, it matches up perfectly with the rear sight.

The red front sight blade is easy to acquire through the twin green fiber-optic rods on the plastic rear sight. It is adjusted for windage and elevation via large plastic knobs, so you don’t have to carry any tools in the field for adjustments.

The long receiver houses a rugged steel bolt and operating handle. The handle sticks out about an inch and is curved, making it easy to cock. To keep the bolt open, pull it back and push the operating handle inward. Inside you’ll find a heavy-duty extractor with the mechanical ejector that operated flawlessly no matter the ammunition.

The trigger has a wide face, and I was surprised to find it broke at only four pounds. There’s just a bit of take-up before the sear let go, and it behaves almost like a two-stage. I think this trigger beats others in guns of its price range by a wide margin. Although many of the parts on the gun are plastic, the trigger guard is steel.

Mossberg Blaze-47 Semiauto Rifle Stock — The full fore-end gives the gun a solid feel despite its light weight. Together with the adjustable buttstock, it’s a gun anyone will find easy to handle. (Photo courtesy of RifleShooter Magazine)

I know many shooters out there will not be too happy with the plastic safety lever. However, it is ambidextrous, and the positions are clearly marked on both sides. Pushing it forward places the gun on Fire; pushing it up puts it on Safe.

Magazines seat easily in the mag well. The magazine includes what Mossberg calls a “loading assist button”; pushing it down allows fresh cartridges to be inserted easily.

The magazine release drops unloaded mags without effort. Because of the length of the 25-rounder, if you are going to benchrest the gun to test various types of ammunition, bring something to raise the fore-end for better results.

At the time I tested the rifle, ammunition was hard to find. Federal graciously helped out with a few 500-round boxes of Champion ammo in its value pack, which certainly helped the cause. I had some Federal Target and Winchester Power-Point already on hand.

When it came to accuracy, the gun lives up to the standards set by Mossberg over the years. You can see the averages in the accompanying chart, and as is almost always the case, one group stood out. In this instance, the prize went to the Winchester brand coming in at 0.72 inch at 25 yards with open sights.

I got addicted to this gun after shooting just a few magazines, reloading the magazine numerous times while plinking at downrange targets. With the more-than-acceptable trigger and great sights and its ability to digest ammunition without a hitch, the gun came away with high marks.

The only fault I could find is that there should be some kind of a rail installed on the gun for a scope because, with its short barrel, some folks will find it hard use the front and rear sights. I know the gun’s plastic construction can be a problem in terms of torqueing down a scope mount, but if the factory does it and secures the mount with a good thread cement, I think it would be good addition.

Mossberg Blaze-47 Semiauto Rifle Accuracy — Mossberg Blaze-47 Semiauto Rimfire Rifle Accuracy

No question, the Blaze-47 FDE is entertaining to shoot and handle. Mossberg did one heck of a job with this rifle. It’s a gun the whole family can enjoy shooting, and it would also serve as a survival tool or even a hunting rifle.