Smith & Wesson Buys Savage Arms in $160 Million Deal

Two of the oldest names in American gunmaking now answer to the same company. Smith & Wesson Brands closed on its acquisition of Savage Arms on October 21, buying the Westfield, Massachusetts rifle and shotgun maker from an affiliate of Houston investment firm JDH Capital in a stock-and-cash deal valued at $160 million. Smith & Wesson was founded in 1852 and Savage in 1894, so this puts more than 300 years of combined history under one roof in Maryville, Tennessee.

“The acquisition of Savage is transformative for Smith & Wesson and contributes to our objective of becoming the undisputed market leader in the firearm industry,” said Mark Smith, president and CEO of Smith & Wesson Brands. “With this transaction, we have significantly expanded our presence in the hunting category, particularly in bolt-action rifles, which will enable us to better serve our customers.”

The Missing Piece Was a Bolt Gun

That last part is the heart of the deal. Smith & Wesson’s long gun lineup covers the M&P15, the Model 1854 lever-action, and a handful of rimfires, but it hasn’t had a real bolt-action rifle in years. Savage brings exactly that. The Model 110 has been in production since 1958 and is one of the most widely sold hunting rifles in the country, and Savage’s AccuTrigger, introduced in 2003, pushed the whole industry toward user-adjustable factory triggers. Beyond the 110 family and the Axis, Savage also brings the Impulse straight-pull, its rimfire bolt guns and autoloaders, the REVEL rimfire lever-actions, the Renegauge semi-auto shotgun, and the Stevens value line.

Smith & Wesson’s investor presentation puts product overlap between the two catalogs at less than 1%. The biggest exception is handguns. Savage entered that market with the Stance pistol in 2022 and followed it with a line of 1911s, so those now sit next to Smith & Wesson’s own pistols. The company hasn’t said what happens to them.

How the Deal Works -Smith & Wesson Buys Savage Arms

According to Smith & Wesson’s SEC filing, the company issued just under 9 million new shares at $13.62 each and paid the rest in cash, with the total adjusted to roughly $165 million after accounting for Savage’s cash, debt, and working capital. That share count lands at 19.99% of Smith & Wesson’s pre-deal stock, just below the 20% line that would have required a shareholder vote under Nasdaq rules.

• Purchase Price: About $160 million, adjusted to roughly $165 million
• Structure: Just under 9 million S&W shares at $13.62, plus cash
• Seller: An affiliate of JDH Capital, now S&W’s largest shareholder at 16.7%
• Board: JDH Managing Director Michael Fertitta joins a seven-member S&W board
• Savage Net Sales: About $160 million for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2026
• Savage Workforce: About 500 employees
• Expected Contribution: About $18 million in annual EBITDAS, plus about $2.5 million a year in early savings
• Combined Company: About $711 million in annual revenue, 1.6 million guns shipped, more than 2,200 employees across five plants in Tennessee, Massachusetts, Maine, and Ontario

JDH’s shares come out of lockup in thirds over the next year, so the seller now has a direct stake in how well the combined company does. Using GearFire sales data, Smith & Wesson says the new combined company now ranks second in bolt-action rifle unit share and first among commercial firearms producers in the U.S.

Savage Has Changed Hands Before

This is the third owner for Savage in a little over a decade. Alliant Techsystems (ATK) bought Savage in 2013, and the brand moved into Vista Outdoor when ATK split up its sporting businesses. Vista then sold Savage in 2019 for $170 million to a management-led group headed by longtime president and CEO Al Kasper. Seven years later, Smith & Wesson paid less than Vista got.

Smith & Wesson has also been down this road with hunting rifles. It bought Thompson/Center Arms in 2007 for $102 million, then divested the brand roughly 15 years later to focus on its core Smith & Wesson products. The difference this time is that Savage arrives as a full-scale rifle manufacturer with its own factories rather than a niche brand, and Smith & Wesson is buying it specifically to fill the gap it left behind.

What Happens Next -Smith & Wesson Buys Savage Arms

For now, not much changes on the shelf. Smith & Wesson points out that the two companies already share most of the same distributors, dealers, and retail partners, which should keep the transition quiet for shoppers. The company hasn’t said whether anything will change at Savage’s Westfield headquarters or its Lakefield, Ontario plant, which builds a large share of Savage’s rimfire rifles. Savage’s full financial statements are due to the SEC by early January, and the full investor presentation is posted on Smith & Wesson’s investor site.

The timing adds to an already busy week in the industry. The day before Smith & Wesson closed on Savage, Beretta Holding finalized its tender offer for Sturm, Ruger & Co. shares, picking up about 2.4 million shares at $44.80 each and bringing its stake in Ruger to roughly 25%. Between the two moves, the ownership picture for America’s biggest gunmakers looks a lot different than it did a month ago.

For Savage owners, the Model 110 and AccuTrigger aren’t going anywhere. They just have a new parent company in Tennessee.

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