The civilian variant of the Canadian Rangers’ new C-19 bolt action rifle has finally been formally announced, with a projected release date in October. Canadian gun blog TheGunBlog.ca reports:

The civilian version of the new military rifle for the Canadian Rangers will be in stores from October for about $2,700.

It’s being made by Finland-based Tikka and named “Arctic,” said George Wallace, sales manager for Stoeger Canada, which is distributing the rifles.

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“The first deliveries to retail are likely to be the second week of October,” Wallace said Aug. 26 by e-mail. “These are being produced for us in the month of September.”

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The Tikka Arctic rifles, like their military counterparts, will be .308 calibre. They’re being made in September, and deliveries to stores in Canada depend on the production schedule, Wallace said. The price could change in case of fluctuations in the currency-exchange rate, he said.

“Our initial 2016 numbers will be limited to production capability at the factory in Finland,” Wallace said in a follow-up e-mail yesterday. “Having said that, this will be part of our Canadian product listing for the foreseeable future.”

Back in January, at SHOT 2016, Tikka told TFB that the new rifle would hit the civilian market, and by April of this year a Canadian firearms dealer reported that they were taking preorders for the new rifle, called “Arctic” by Tikka, but now there is a formal release date. The rifle is very similar to its government C-19 counterpart, but features a bright orange (rather than red) coloration to the stock, and lacks the cartouche of the Canadian Rangers, a feature reserved exclusively for rifles produced by Colt Canada for that contract. The Arctic evidently shares many of its features with the new T3x line of improved rifles released by Tikka at the 2016 NRA Annual Meeting. Like the T3x, the Arctic has an enlarged ejection port, reinforced scope mount, and steel bolt shroud, and the buttpad of the Arctic also appears to be of similar design to the T3x’s improved softer pad.

The Arctic is set to retail for around CA$2,700 (about $2,100 US) initially, but actual street prices could go lower than that, depending on availability.

There is no word yet on when the Arctic will come to the US, but I have no doubt it will, and likely soon.