Good question, wish I had a good answer.

Perhaps because now as well as 100+ years ago it is a novelty? A refreshing change from the ho-hum commonality of the .300 Savage?

I know my reason: a lifelong fascination with things .22 made it a foregone conclusion when I developed a fondness for Savage lever guns.

"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz
"Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty