M6 Scout | Folding Double Barrel Survival Rifle

m6 scout rifle
November 9, 2016  
|  5 Comments
Categories: Guns

A number of unusual firearms were developed as survival rifles for aircraft crews by the US Military. Not intended as fighting weapons, they were more or less designed to help a downed pilot or crew forage for small game. One of our favorites has always been the M6 Scout, aka “M6 Aircrew Survival Rifle”.

Basically it’s a superposed combination rifle barrel mounted atop a shotgun barrel. The rifle was chambered in .22 Hornet and the shotgun was designed for a .410 shotgun shell. Each barrel measured 14″ in length. The M6 could be folded in half for compact storage with nine rounds of .22 Hornet and four shotgun shells stowed in the butt stock.

More thought went into this simplistic design than you might think.

For instance, during the Cold War, many air crews found themselves flying over the Arctic. Extreme cold weather dictated the wearing of mittens as opposed to gloves. Not because zoomies could easily clip them to their parkas and not lose them, although that may be part of the equation, but because mittens keep your dick beaters warmer. Your booger hooks generate more heat when they are not separated from each other by fabric, as they are with gloves. You may give up manual dexterity, but can still maintain a firm grip on your fleshlight.

In the case of the M6, the engineers anticipated this and incorporated a trigger bar which must be depressed as opposed to a conventional trigger.

Again, these were non-CQB types and the rifle was intended more for small game hunting.

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Having 14″ barrels made it a no-go as a Title 1 firearm (Non NFA), and prior to around 2005 everyone and their mother thought that having a dealer complete a single-sided federal form was a paperwork hassle. So Springfield armory Inc. had a replica made in Czechoslovakia with 18″ barrels and called it the M6 Scout. The M6 could be had in either stainless or the original stamped steel and parkerized finish, and offered the rifled barrel in the cheaper .22 lr as well as .22 Hornet.

Possibly for liability reasons Springfield added a trigger guard, through which only a child’s hand will fit. For another unexplained reason they made a smaller diameter sling swivel at the front with no provision for attaching a sling at the rear of the stock.

Should you run across one, we recommend drilling out the front swivel mount to accept a standard sling swivel. We attached a spare M1 Garand swivel on the butt stock and removed the unsightly and useless sheet metal trigger guard. You can buy scope mounts for this piece, but the only other addition we made was a nylon sling.

Shooting the M6 Scout is a challenge if you are used to using your trigger finger. You can set the hammer manually to the correct height depending on which barrel you wish to fire, but a precision shooting stick it is not. Still, its compact size and lightweight make it a no-brainer to tote as a small game piece if you’re a backpacker, cross country skier, hiker, rider, or even a bush pilot.

It may be tempting to add a red dot sight or attach a light, but this is not meant as a primary hunting rifle/shotgun or an entry gun. This is a basic survival kit with enough onboard ammunition storage to score a few meals off the grid.

-RK

Swingin' Dick

Swingin' Dick

About the Author

Richard "Swingin' Dick" Kilgore is half of the most storied celebrity action figure team in the world (and the half that doesn't prefer BBWs). He believes in American Exceptionalism, America, holding the door for any woman (lady or whore) and the idea that you should be held accountable for what comes out of your fucking mouth. Swingin' Dick has been a warrior gyrovague for many years now and is, apparently, impossible to kill -- he once had a complete body transplant after an IED hit the gun truck in which he was riding. True story, one of the Cav guys mailed his head and arm home. Swingin' Dick comes from a long line of soldiers and LEOs (his Great Uncle commanded an Air Cav battalion in Vietnam and his many times removed great grandfather was one of the few original Burt Mossman era Arizona Rangers). Swingin' Dick detests Joy Behar and Chris Matthews almost as much as he enjoys traveling the world to crush crime vice and evil. He believes the opportunity to lead eeeelight team of Breach Bang Clear minions is the most improbably awesome thing an action figure has ever done and he's immensely proud of his perfect hair. Loyalty and respect should start from the top down.

5 Comments

  1. Billy Club

    So where can I get one online?

    Reply
  2. Ztuz

    I’ve owned Mine since 1996. It’s Springfield arms 22 hornet/ 410
    Mine came with an Aimpoint optic from the Factory. The Optic is also Labeled
    “M6 Scout”
    Out of All My firearms, if I could only keep 1, It would be My Scout.

    Reply
  3. Phil B.

    YMMV, but I’ve found that using the arcuate depression at the rear of the trigger bar as the trigger, while positioning your hand and using your trigger finger accordingly, you get much better accuracy than attempting to use the whole bar.

    Reply
  4. Daniel E. Watters

    A while back, I found some numbers for the procurement of the USAF’s M4 and M6 survival weapons. There were 34,910 M4 acquired between 1950 and 1951. In contrast, 66,000 M6 were acquired during roughly the same period. The M6 was officially considered standard, with the M4 as a limited standard. Between the two, 10,934 survival weapons had been lost in combat, crashes, or fires by early 1954.

    Reply
  5. Jerry Sullivan

    I had a late 70s SA model of this piece and it was quite accurate. It was in 22Hornet..the ones I saw and and played with back in the 60s were USGI , SA mfg in 22LR whih was more common as I never saw an issue one in 22H. My neighbor was a SSG at the USAF survival school nearby, and the M6 was one of the few items that were WELL secured, along with their AR15s, so other than those items, we local boys were also WELL prepared.My skills transferred nicely nicely when I joined the INFANTRY in ’68.. great memories!

    Reply

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