M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon

Last updated
M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon
M6 Survival Rifle.jpg
Original USAF M6 Survival Rifle/Shotgun
Type Combination gun
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service1952–1970s
Used by United States Air Force
Production history
Manufacturer Ithaca Gun Company, Springfield Armory, Inc.
Specifications
Mass4.5 lb (2.0 kg)
Length28.27 in (718 mm) overall, 15 in (380 mm) folded
Barrel  length14 in (360 mm)
Cartridge .22 Hornet
.410 bore shotgun
Barrels2
Action break action
Muzzle velocity 2,740 ft/s (840 m/s) (.22 Hornet)
1,130 ft/s (340 m/s) (.410 bore)
Maximum firing range109 yd (100 m) (.22 Hornet)
27 yd (25 m) (.410 bore)
SightsIron

The M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon was a specially-made .22 Hornet over .410 bore combination gun issued to United States Air Force aircrews to help forage for food in the event of a plane crash. [1] It was issued from 1952 until the early 1970s, in conjunction with the M4 Survival Rifle. Plans to replace both with the ArmaLite AR-5 (aka: MA-1) never came to fruition and in 2018 was instead replaced with the GAU-5A Aircrew Self Defense Weapon in some instances. [2]

Contents

History

The M6 was originally developed in 1946 for the Air Materiel Command of what was then still the United States Army Air Forces by the United States Army Ordnance Corps. Its official designation was Rifle-Shotgun, Survival, Caliber .22/.410. It was designed to fit into the standard USAAF (later USAF) survival kit issued to all pilots flying over Arctic and other uninhabited regions.

Design

The M6 is made of stamped sheet steel, with a forged steel removable barrel assembly. The barrel assembly is connected to the stock/action group by means of a removable hinge pin. Unlike nearly all other firearms, there is no "furniture" on the M6 like a butt stock or a forearm, the only parts which are not steel are the rubber butt plate and cheek rest. Aircrew were instructed to wrap the barrels with parachute cord as a field expedient fore-stock. [3] [4]

The M6 was a superposed ("over-under") combination gun, with a .22 Hornet rifle barrel located above the .410 bore shotgun barrel. It has 14-inch barrels and folds in half to a minimum size of 15 inches. [5] A storage compartment in the stock held nine rounds of .22 Hornet ammunition with four shotgun shells. [6] A firing pin selector allowed the shooter to choose which barrel would be fired. [5] Because most bomber crews operated in the Arctic region during the Cold War, a trigger bar was used that could be depressed while wearing mittens as opposed to a conventional trigger. [5] The M6 was never intended as a weapon with which to engage hostile troops. Instead it was designed so that a downed aircrew could forage for wild game, as well as defend themselves from more hostile wildlife. Its rifle element was considered to be accurate up to 200 yards. Overall weight of the initial version, including stored ammunition, was around 3 pounds.

Other versions

Springfield M6 Scout Springfield M6 Scout.jpg
Springfield M6 Scout

Being a military firearm, the originals were sold only to the US military. [7]

The Springfield Armory M6 Scout is virtually identical to the original M6 and was made in three versions, a .22 Hornet over .410 gauge, a .22 Long Rifle over .410 gauge and a .22 Magnum over .410 gauge. [4] The Scouts were also made with 18.25" barrels to comply with the National Firearms Act. The later models had large oversized trigger guards [8] and Picatinny rails for mounting a wide range of sights and scopes.

In 2010, Chiappa began marketing a version of the Aircrew Survival Weapon called the Chiappa M6 Survival Gun. The Chiappa has a 12 gauge shotgun or 20 gauge barrel over a .22 Long Rifle or .22 Magnum barrel. [9] In addition, it comes with "X Caliber" adapters sleeves that fit inside the 12 gauge barrel allowing it to fire: .380 ACP, 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .40 S&W, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, .45 Long Colt, .410 bore and 20 gauge ammunition. [10] It has a similar appearance to the original M6, however it's a unique design that uses a skeletonized metal buttstock that surrounds a polypropylene foam insert. It also uses double triggers and an enclosed firing mechanism.

In 2019, a version began to be produced by TPS Arms. While very similar to the Springfield version, it added a cross bolt safety and removed the hammer selector safety. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

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A shotgun is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small spherical projectiles called shot, or a single solid projectile called a slug. Shotguns are most commonly used as smoothbore firearms, meaning that their gun barrels have no rifling on the inner wall, but rifled barrels for shooting sabot slugs are also available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.410 bore</span> Shotgun bore designed by Charles Eley and William Eley

The .410 bore (10.4 mm) is one of the smallest caliber of shotgun shell commonly available. A .410 bore shotgun loaded with shot shells is well suited for small game hunting and pest control. The .410 started off in the United Kingdom as a garden gun along with the .360 and the No. 3 bore (9 mm) rimfire, No. 2 bore (7 mm) rimfire, and No. 1 bore (6 mm) rimfire. .410 shells have similar base dimensions to the .45 Colt cartridge, allowing many single-shot firearms, as well as derringers and revolvers chambered in that caliber, to fire .410 shot shells without any modifications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.22 Hornet</span> Rifle cartridge

The .22 Hornet or 5.6×36mmR Hornet is a varminting, small-game hunting, survival and competition centerfire rifle cartridge commercially introduced in 1930. It is considerably more powerful than the rimfire .22 WMR and the .17 HMR, achieving higher velocity with a bullet twice the weight of the .17 HMR bullet. The Hornet also differs significantly from these in that being a centerfire cartridge makes it reloadable, and thus more versatile. It was the smallest commercially available .22 caliber centerfire cartridge until the introduction of the FN 5.7×28mm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire</span> Rimfire cartridge

The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, also called .22 WMR, .22 Magnum, .22 WMRF, .22 MRF, or .22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. Originally loaded with a bullet weight of 40 grains (2.6 g) delivering velocities in the 2,000 feet per second (610 m/s) range from a rifle barrel, .22 WMR is now loaded with bullet weights ranging from 50 grains (3.2 g) at 1,530 feet per second (470 m/s) to 30 grains (1.9 g) at 2,200 feet per second (670 m/s).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ArmaLite AR-7</span> Survival rifle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Combination gun</span> Type of firearm with at least one rifled barrel and one smoothbore barrel

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfield Armory M6 Scout</span> Survival gun

The Springfield Armory M6 Scout is a .22 Hornet over .410 bore combination gun that is virtually identical to the original M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon. It is also made in .22 Long Rifle over .410 bore and .22 Magnum over .410 bore. The Scouts are made with 18.25 inches (46.4 cm) barrels, as opposed to the original M6's 14 inches (36 cm) barrel length, to comply with National Firearms Act. The later models have large over-sized trigger guards and Picatinny rails for mounting a wide range of sights and scopes. They come in stainless steel or with a Parkerized finish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TP-82</span> Weapon carried by cosmonauts on Soviet space missions

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">M30 Luftwaffe Drilling</span> Combination rifle/shotgun

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">M4 Survival Rifle</span> Rifle

The M4 Survival Rifle was a .22 calibre bolt-action rifle developed after World War II as part of the survival gear stored under the seat of American military aircraft. It was designed to give downed aircrew a survival weapon for foraging wild game for food.

Chiappa Firearms, Armi Sport di Chiappa, is an Italian firearms manufacturing company based in Brescia. It was founded in 1958 by Ezechiele Chiappa as Armi Sport. Total unit production is around 60,000 per year. Its U.S. headquarters are in Dayton, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Savage Model 24</span> Savage combination gun

The Savage Model 24 is an American made over-and-under combination gun manufactured by Savage Arms. The basic .22LR over .410 gauge model weighs 7 pounds, has 24-inch barrels and an overall length of 41-inches. It may also be disassembled for ease of storage.

The Chiappa Little Badger is a family of Italian-made survival rifles and shotguns manufactured by Chiappa Firearms. The three basic models are chambered for .22LR, .22 WMR, .17WSM, .17HMR, and 9mm Flobert.

The Chiappa M6 Survival Gun is an over and under combination gun that comes in four versions; 12 gauge over .22 LR, 12 gauge over .22 WMR, 20 gauge over .22 LR, and 20 gauge over .22 WMR. It has a similar appearance to the original M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon, with a skeletonized metal buttstock surrounding a polypropylene foam insert. It uses double triggers and an enclosed firing mechanism.

The Chiappa Double Badger is an Italian made over and under combination gun manufactured by Chiappa Firearms. It comes in four versions: .22 LR over .410 bore, .22 WMR over .410 bore, .22 LR over 20 gauge, and .243 Winchester over .410 bore. It's marketed as "a great choice for hunting, survival, or fun recreational shooting".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiappa Triple Crown</span> Italian triple-barrel shotgun

The Chiappa Triple Crown is a family of Italian-made triple-barrel, break-action shotguns, chambered in 12-gauge, 20-gauge, 28-gauge, and .410 bore. The barrels have a triangular arrangement with one on top and two below. This gives the Triple Crown a single-barrel sight picture.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/09/23/original-m6-aircrew-survival-rifle/ The Original M6 Aircrew Survival Rifle
  2. ↑ "The Air Force is arming pilots with this longer-range, stand-off rifle to use if they're ever shot down" . Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  3. ↑ McCann, John D. (31 December 2013). Build the Perfect Survival Kit. Iola, Wisconsin: F+W Media. pp. 198–199. ISBN   978-1-4402-3805-5.
  4. 1 2 http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/v-shrake/m6.html Archived 2021-04-25 at the Wayback Machine The M6 Survival System
  5. 1 2 3 Thompson, Leroy (20 August 2013). US Combat Shotguns. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 28. ISBN   978-1-78096-016-6.
  6. ↑ http://www.military-today.com/firearms/m6.htm M6 Aircrew survival weapon
  7. ↑ "Military Survival Rifles". Archived from the original on September 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ↑ S. P. Fjestad. Blue Book of Gun Values, 13th Ed. Blue Book Publications.
  9. ↑ https://www.chiappafirearms.com/f.php?id=35 Archived 2019-03-11 at the Wayback Machine Chippa M6 Survival Gun
  10. ↑ Cassell, Jay (6 October 2015). Shooter's Bible: The World's Bestselling Firearms Reference. Skyhorse Publishing. p. 777. ISBN   978-1-5107-0192-2.
  11. ↑ "TPS Arms, LLC - Powered by Network Solutions". TPS Arms, LLC. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
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