October is not just Pumpkin Spice month this year. A major shift in the American firearms industry has taken place in about the last 8 days. First, Ruger announced they were dropping 20 guns from their production line. About ten minutes after that announcement hit the stands, word came through Beretta has secured about 25% of Ruger stock- a controlling interest. Beretta also owns Benelli, Franchi and Stoeger.
Yesterday, Oct 21, 2025, Smith & Wesson and Savage Arms announced Smith has acquired Savage for a seeming bargain price of $160 million over a company with about 500 employees. While the Beretta/Ruger issue is huge, this Smith & Wesson and Savage merger is even bigger- S&W combined with Savage Arms is now the biggest firearms production company in the United States!
Smith & Wesson has been around since 1852 and generally producing pistols and revolvers. Along the way they also produced a few shotguns and rifles, but their bread and butter have always been handguns. Their revolvers are icons and the M&P pistol line is a huge current seller. They also produce M&P AR rifles, a line of folding PCC carbines and even some relatively new lever action rifles. Smith also bought out Gemtech in 2017 and sells suppressors under the S&W name.
Savage was founded in 1894 and is one of the pre-eminent producers of bolt-action rifles. Savage barrels are among best in the world. Savage’s current line features the Model 110 and Axis bolt action rifles as well as their A-series rifles in a huge variety of calibers and stocks. Savage is also active with shotgun sales, has produced a couple of recent pistols and is known as a hunting and competition company.
Why scoop up Savage Arms? S&W has stated they intend to extend their position across nearly every major firearms category and shooting disciplines. Also, both companies already sell through the same distributors and dealers, so this transition should be a smooth operation without having to forge new distribution networks.
Will S&W initiate immediate changes in the Savage production line like the Ruger announcement a week ago? Probably not. Savage Arms seem to be doing well in the market and may just benefit from the bigger parent company having oversight and shared R&D and production facilities. Having Smith’s big pockets behind it does not harm the future of Savage either.