Emergency Survival Rifle

Thinking about getting an AR-7 Henry Survival Rifle. Anyone heard anything extremely good or bad about it? I know it's a niche gun, and that's what I'm buying it for. Not a "defend yourself in a SHTF scenario", but rather to drop in the backpack or keep in a vehicle along with a GHB (Get Home Bag) in the case of some emergency.

I've started watching a Nat'l Geographic show about survival in Alaska. One of the team members has a lightweight, all-metal, folding aviator's rifle. It also shoots more than one caliber. I plan to look it up.

Chris and I were looking at rifle forget the details but its barrel folded back. What caliber is it?

Is a GHB different than a bug-out bag?

I would say a BOB would basically be the same as a GHB. Trying to think of anything that might be different based on direction of travel...

Semantics strike again!

joecool wrote:I've started watching a Nat'l Geographic show about survival in Alaska. One of the team members has a lightweight, all-metal, folding aviator's rifle. It also shoots more than one caliber. I plan to look it up.

In the 1950's-1960's the Air Force had the M-6 Survival Rifle. It was all-metal, folded over itself, and had a .22 Hornet barrel over a .410 barrel, and there was room in the stock for several shells.

Since .22 Hornet will cost between $20.00 and $30.00 for a box of 20, civilians opted for the .22 L.R. over a .410 or a 20 gauge. Currently they are being manufactured by Savage and by Rosssi. But they demand a dear price, starting at $375.00.

Our Hunter Safety Instructors were given (Lend/Lease) a Savage .22 over/under. I found the action to be terrible for kids to open, the trigger pull was tug-&-jerk, and accuracy was not target quality. We turned it back in, as it did not fit our requirements.

You can find the going prices for the Rossi and Savage guns at www.gunbroker.com.

Best searches to find them are "Savage 24 Rifle, Savage 42 Rifle, .410 Rifle, and 20 Gauge Rifle" in the "Firearms" section.

But for the money, think about it. You could get a H&R Handi-Rifle with a spare shotgun barrel and get whatever caliber/gauge combination that you like.

I do like the H&R pardners that you can swap for other rifle/shotgun calibers and guages. They are single shot though.

The folding Rifle I think was a Keltec sub-2000 that was chambered in pistol calibers and used Glock magazines. Nice having interchangeability with your pistol.

Claymore wrote:

joecool wrote:I've started watching a Nat'l Geographic show about survival in Alaska. One of the team members has a lightweight, all-metal, folding aviator's rifle. It also shoots more than one caliber. I plan to look it up.

In the 1950's-1960's the Air Force had the M-6 Survival Rifle.  It was all-metal, folded over itself, and had a .22 Hornet barrel over a .410 barrel, and there was room in the stock for several shells.

That's exactly it! Nothing wrong with your memory.

I was thinking of the Keltec sub-2000 too because it's chambered in 9mm and I have thousands of rnds of that, but I like that the AR-7 is waterproof (when stowed away) and floats regardless.

AR's float and are waterproof?

The AR-7 does float. The hollow stock is filled with foam.

AR-7's have had a problem with feeding. It has been a combination of there being virtually no feed ramp up to the barrel and the magazine lips. I don't know if the newer ones have that worked out.

I had an AR-7 back in the 1980's. This is stretching my memory, but I believe that it gave me an occasional Fail-to-Feed. I think that I kind-of had to tip and hold the magazine forward, to point the bullets at a higher angle toward the chamber for maximum reliability.

The sights on an AR-7 SUCK. The rear sight is virtually a piece of sheet metal with a hole drilled through it. Also, being peep-type sights, they are not effective in low-light. One thing good about "buckhorn" style sights is that you can look over them in darker conditions - you cannot do that with a peep.

If you put optics on the AR-7, then you cannot put it inside of its own stock.

The barrel is also pretty flimsy.

Personally, if you want a real workhorse in a magazine-fed .22, the Ruger 10-22 is right up at the top of the list. I know that it does not break down into its own stock, but you can put it in a soft case and clip it to the outside of your rucksack, and it's not much more trouble (and a lot more available than apart in the bottom of your pack).

joecool wrote:

Claymore wrote:

joecool wrote:I've started watching a Nat'l Geographic show about survival in Alaska. One of the team members has a lightweight, all-metal, folding aviator's rifle. It also shoots more than one caliber. I plan to look it up.

In the 1950's-1960's the Air Force had the M-6 Survival Rifle.  It was all-metal, folded over itself, and had a .22 Hornet barrel over a .410 barrel, and there was room in the stock for several shells.

That's exactly it! Nothing wrong with your memory.

Yeah. But I can't remember what I had for lunch YESTERDAY!

Claymore wrote: Yeah.  But I can't remember what I had for lunch YESTERDAY!

All you have to do is check the NSA's hotline...1-666-KNOW ALL.

Oh, I'm sure that I'm on a Couple of Lists.

It's the Government's own version of "Secret Santa":

"He sees you when you're sleeping; He knows when you're awake"