This is my "Holy Grail" of guns. Just to me, maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I have always dug the hell out of over and under combo guns.
The M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon or, for us civilians, the M6 Scout. The Internet has some information on these that is scattered, some true, some not. I have done a lot of poking around to get the facts as true as I can, so I will only talk about what I believe to be true. You can check out the Wikipedia article about this gun. What is there seems to be correct except for one thing...the omission of the most rare combination. .22 magnum over .410. This combination seems to have came about early on in the civilian production of this gun from the late 70s/early 80s. The earliest examples were made without a trigger guard and without the removable pin attaching the barrels to the receiver and stock assembly at the hinge point, using a pin slotted on the ends and secured with a retaining ring on both sides. These early examples also had a push button safety just above the trigger. All of these early and later examples shared the same trigger bar, designed to be fired more easily in cold weather should the operator be wearing heavy mittens or gloves.
The other offerings were in the more common .22 LR and the less common .22 Hornet (center fire cartridge). The military versions were noted for their 14 inch barrels and were sometimes chambered in the above rifle calibers as with 45 long colt being an option for the lower barrel. This made them necessary for classification as an "AOW" (any other weapon) with the appropriate forms for civilian ownership.
My example is an early one, no trigger guard, .22 magnum/.410 shotgun without quick detach pin and parkerized finish. Later examples had the option of stainless steel as well, some coming in a package with a blue plastic storage case and soft case that housed the gun broken down. Interestingly enough, I was fortunate enough to have the original box with paper work and soft case for mine, the soft case being a straight case that doesn't require the action open and the gun folded, or the removal of the pin. I have all the paperwork and original warranty card with a date of September 1st 1985 as the time for when the warranty would be effective from. There's also a page of options you could purchase from Springfield, like a cleaning kit, different cases, and interestingly enough, a quick detach pin. This optional pin being available during this time makes me think some folks may feel they have a later version if the pin was replaced when they in fact have an early gun.
Also I might add, sometime after 1985, these were no longer made in the US. Springfield had CZ of the Czech Republic making the gun, with the gun labeled as "Springfield M6 scout" on one side of the receiver and "CZ Czech Republic" on the other side. Mine is of course the US made version.
Haven't fired this yet. Planning to later this weekend. As usual, I will post back my findings and feelings towards the performance after a run at the range. Take a look at the pics and if you are interested, do a little Google. Fun guns to research and whatnot. Lack of serial number/date information makes it difficult to know just exactly when a particular example was made...but they ceased production of these guns in 2004.
Will have to post pics in another post
The M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon or, for us civilians, the M6 Scout. The Internet has some information on these that is scattered, some true, some not. I have done a lot of poking around to get the facts as true as I can, so I will only talk about what I believe to be true. You can check out the Wikipedia article about this gun. What is there seems to be correct except for one thing...the omission of the most rare combination. .22 magnum over .410. This combination seems to have came about early on in the civilian production of this gun from the late 70s/early 80s. The earliest examples were made without a trigger guard and without the removable pin attaching the barrels to the receiver and stock assembly at the hinge point, using a pin slotted on the ends and secured with a retaining ring on both sides. These early examples also had a push button safety just above the trigger. All of these early and later examples shared the same trigger bar, designed to be fired more easily in cold weather should the operator be wearing heavy mittens or gloves.
The other offerings were in the more common .22 LR and the less common .22 Hornet (center fire cartridge). The military versions were noted for their 14 inch barrels and were sometimes chambered in the above rifle calibers as with 45 long colt being an option for the lower barrel. This made them necessary for classification as an "AOW" (any other weapon) with the appropriate forms for civilian ownership.
My example is an early one, no trigger guard, .22 magnum/.410 shotgun without quick detach pin and parkerized finish. Later examples had the option of stainless steel as well, some coming in a package with a blue plastic storage case and soft case that housed the gun broken down. Interestingly enough, I was fortunate enough to have the original box with paper work and soft case for mine, the soft case being a straight case that doesn't require the action open and the gun folded, or the removal of the pin. I have all the paperwork and original warranty card with a date of September 1st 1985 as the time for when the warranty would be effective from. There's also a page of options you could purchase from Springfield, like a cleaning kit, different cases, and interestingly enough, a quick detach pin. This optional pin being available during this time makes me think some folks may feel they have a later version if the pin was replaced when they in fact have an early gun.
Also I might add, sometime after 1985, these were no longer made in the US. Springfield had CZ of the Czech Republic making the gun, with the gun labeled as "Springfield M6 scout" on one side of the receiver and "CZ Czech Republic" on the other side. Mine is of course the US made version.
Haven't fired this yet. Planning to later this weekend. As usual, I will post back my findings and feelings towards the performance after a run at the range. Take a look at the pics and if you are interested, do a little Google. Fun guns to research and whatnot. Lack of serial number/date information makes it difficult to know just exactly when a particular example was made...but they ceased production of these guns in 2004.
Will have to post pics in another post
