The firearms business is booming in all corners, and that includes your basic .22s. As a sign of the times, the Savage Arms rimfire plant in Canada is expanding in the coming months—and one of the reasons is that Savage needs the space to build new lever-action rifles. They’re also starting a centerfire production line in Canada.

Savage Arms @ TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: Single Shot “Revolver” – The Savage 101 Story
• Savage 110 Ultralight Elite Rifle ft. MDT & Proof Research
• TFB Behind The Gun Podcast #106: Talking Shop With Savage Arms’ Beth Shimanski

A report from broadcaster Global News gave the news earlier this week. According to their report, Savage says it will bring 49 new jobs to the factory in Lakefield, Ontario. The expansion will cost more than $3.3M CAD (about $2.4M USD). As per Global’s report:

The company just north of Peterborough on Tuesday said that as part of its $3,346,206 manufacturing investment, two new product lines will be introduced: lever-action rimfire rifles and centrefire hunting rifles.

Savage Arms, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2019, says the development will support other companies in Ontario as new manufacturing and tooling equipment will be purchased to support the expansion of the product lines.

That last sentence is most interesting; despite Canada’s reputation as being a gun-free zone, there’s a considerable amount of firearms manufacturing going on in Canuckistan. Much of that production is geared towards circumventing Canada’s strict gun laws, but some of it is also focused on export, Colt Canada being perhaps the most famous example, except for the Savage Arms rimfire plant.

The Savage Arms rimfire plant itself is quite historic, as the Lakefield factory was basically a continuation of the Cooey business, which built an estimated 12 million firearms (including many for other brands) over its 1919-1979 history. That Cooey heritage lives on in the Savage 64 (originally a Cooey design).

There’s still demand for budget-priced bolt-actions and semi-autos from the Lakefield factory in the 21st century, but apparently, the lineup is growing. I first caught wind of this lever-action rimfire from Savage when I saw blueprints about three years ago, but hadn’t heard anything since, and assumed it was dead in the water. The story from Global seems to indicate otherwise.

Sorry, Model 99 fans. Don’t expect the iconic lever-action centerfire rifle to return to production in Canada, although the new lever rimfire is interesting.

What of the new centerfire rifle from the factory? Will Savage Arms be selling more Fuddware, or branching out with a new tactical design made in Canada? Could this finally be the re-introduction of the Savage 99 lever-action centerfire, to go with the new rimfire lever? Sadly, a new 99 seems very unlikely. An AR-style rifle also seems unlikely, but since Canada isn’t known for budget-friendly bolt-action hunting rifles… that leaves this as a mystery. We’ll let you know more when we can.