The M6 Air Crew Survival Weapon was a specially made firearm issued to the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 aircraft crews to help forage for food in the event of a plane crash.

The weapon was a superposed ("over-under") combination gun

Combination gun

A combination gun is a break-action hunting firearm that comprises at least two barrels, a rifle barrel and a shotgun barrel, often but not always in an over and under configuration; side-by-side variations are known as cape guns. A ' refers to a combination gun that has three barrels...

, with a rifle barrel located above the shotgun barrel. The rifle barrel fired a .22 Hornet

.22 Hornet

The .22 Hornet is a low-end vermin, small-game and predator centerfire rifle cartridge. It is considerably more powerful than the .22 WMR and the .17 HMR, achieving higher velocity with a bullet twice the weight. The Hornet also differs very significantly from these in that it is not a rimfire...

 bullet and the shotgun barrel was chambered for a .410 bore

.410 bore

.410 bore, commonly misnamed the .410 gauge, is the smallest gauge of shotgun shell commonly available. It has similar base dimensions to the .45 Colt revolver cartridge, though the .410 is significantly longer, up to , allowing many single-shot firearms and some revolvers chambered in that...

 shell

Versions

Being a military firearm, a number of manufacturers have made versions of the M6. The originals were made by the Ithaca Gun Company

Ithaca Gun Company

The Ithaca Gun Company is a manufacturer of shotguns and rifles originally established in Ithaca, New York in 1880.-Production:Ithaca became famous for building firearms based on expired patents owned by Remington Arms...

, and sold only to the US military. The standard version, as used by the military, has a 14-inch barrel version, and folds in half to a minimum size of 15 inches. The 14-inch version is federally registered and taxed in the United States as an Any Other Weapon by US federal law

National Firearms Act

The National Firearms Act , 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as , is an Act of Congress that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. The...

.

Most notable of the civilian manufacturers is Springfield Armory, Inc.

Springfield Armory, Inc.

Springfield Armory, Inc. is a firearms manufacturer and importer based in Geneseo, Illinois, founded in 1974. It is one of the largest firearms marketers of imported firearms in the United States and is a four-time recipient of the National Rifle Association Gun of the Year Award.-Formation:After...

, which made three versions. Versions made by Springfield include a 12-inch barreled pistol

Pistol

When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...

 and a 18-inch barreled rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 version called the M6 Scout

Springfield Armory M6 Scout

The M6 Scout is a multipurpose firearm, combining rifle and shotgun. It has been in and out of commercial production several times since the late 1970s . The latest models were manufactured by Česká Zbrojovka Uhersky Brod and sold by Springfield Armory. Other variations of this firearm are the...

, both of which are free from special restrictions. The Springfield Armory M6 Scout and pistol has been made in .22 Hornet/.410 bore calibers and alternately in .22 Long Rifle

.22 Long Rifle

The .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as .22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have...

 with .410 bore. The short-lived M6 pistol built by Springfield Armory was a version of the M6 which could fire a .45 Colt

.45 Colt

The .45 Colt cartridge is a handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It began as a black powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver, but is offered as a magnum level handgun hunting round in modern usage. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as the...

cartridge in the .410 bore.

External links

• The Athens Arms & Ordnance M6Scout
• The M6 Survival System
• New Survival Gun, Combines Rifle and Shotgun 1951 article at bottom of page 107