This is a subject dear to my heart! Before I get right to the P-Man's excellent challenge, I hope you don't mind if I give some back up for why I want, what I want. The defunct M6 has whetted the desire in many for something new that should be possible to achieve. I think the M6 was a great concept as a survival firearm and had very useful components for a purely survival firearm to have on hand. It's alien qualities and uniqueness of design impressed us, in the use of new metals and means of construction, its lack of ergonomic design in favor of utility, its ultra lightweight, its shortness and the fact that it was a combination firearm were eye opening. But from its inception, many felt it was weak and did not have enough "oomph" to truly be useful to take most available game.

And if anyone is hoping this thing we are talking about is a firearm intended as some sort of doomsday survival, bad guy killer that really only Delta force dudes would salivate for, such thinking means that you are not on track. Second Amendment believing Americans have weapons for that purpose that will take care of that kind of business. Man killing weapons are just not multipurpose or truly for hunting, so cannot qualify.

The drilling concept is not a bad one, though lugging around three full length barrels (or more in some cases) plus the heavy wooden stock is just too much weight to be practical and most folks just cannot afford firearms for any purpose that go up to $10,000 and beyond. All my guns together are not worth that much money! But I think what many want is a firearm that can be a "survival" firearm or a "carry anytime you go into the woods kind of firearm" that almost anyone can afford. There is some duality in what I am describing that shows that a purely designed survival firearm is not the exact thing hunters and adventurers are really wanting so I am trying to define that closer.

What I hope discussions online of this type can accomplish is that someone in the gun design business will notice the goal that many are interested in. And that this will get a gun manufacturer to actually produce a viable, well thought out, general use firearm that will probably have to be a combo type to achieve these purposes. With the new metals and materials and means of construction we have seen in new firearms of all types, this is not beyond reach.

Here is what I have to offer to the discussion:

a. The "survival" constraint of what is desired needs to be thought of a little more broadly than that, though. I would love to see a firearm of a combo type that is capable of taking small game up to about deer. If you live in the north part of the U.S. or in Canada game is large and often threatening so a large bore rifle is really required. You can drop a moose or a bear with a big magnum pistol and that is what I suggest you carry in addition to our project here. The big bore rifles are dramatic and it must be great to shoot meat animals that give you hundreds of pounds of meat. But I am one of many millions who grew up in the South and East and Southwest of the U.S. and generally, subsistence game animals to me are cottontails, jackrabbits, squirrels, quail, dove, pheasant, ducks, geese, turtles, snakes, alligators, deer (small white tail mostly, once in a while mule deer which are larger) varmint animals like coyotes, raccoons, possums, armadillos, and a few others. No need for most of these to require a heavy caliber, high powered rifle. No need, either, for exotic special loads. What most folks want is ammunition you can buy at Wally World right off the shelf. Really, for a survival firearm I think it should be very lightweight and pack able and so must be able to be broken down into parts and easily reassembled or to fold in some way. But wouldn't it be great to have this firearm fully assembled all the time, with a nice sling on it ready to just throw on your shoulder and go out with any time, just in case, you know. I can envision a firearm a little shorter than the typical carbine with a nice sling, and the package light enough to reach for every time.

b. I think it almost has to be a combo; shotgun-rifle. When I was growing up the only firearm I had was a hand-me-down 20Ga break action single. My grandfather shot two deer with that old gun using slugs before giving it to my dad who gave it to me. As a youngster I shot hundreds of quail, dove and rabbits with that thing. And I shot a couple of coons out of the tops of trees in the middle of the night with that gun, too. A 20GA is not a 12GA which is what I usually hunt with now but the thing about a 20 is that it is not as heavy as a 12. The shells are close to half the size and wt of the 12, too. The thing to realize about this fairly unappreciated gauge is that it will drop birds or game just like a 12 at much less weight to carry in the field. And it does not abuse your body like a 12 often does. The other side of the combo should probably be a 22 Caliber because of its universality, best economy, variety of types of ammunition, "lightweightness," etc.

c. What I think the AR7 had going for it other than it would float was the magazine clip and semi auto fire. What I would like to see is a break action single shot 20GA mated somehow with a semi-auto 22. The same action as the AR7 would be fine, I guess but there are some inexpensive 22 Caliber, bolt action, tube fed rifles out there that might have very simple actions and feed designs to put into a combo type firearm.

d. Different models in the same design are possible aren't they? Savage Arms offers their 8lb combos in several configurations. I think the most popular combo will be a 22/20GA. But for those who must have 30 Caliber (30-30, 308, 3006, etc.) it could be mated with a 20GA or a 12GA. I might want one of those myself!

e. To be truly lightweight the newest materials should be part of the design just like the S&W and other manufacturer's models which use titanium, aluminum and stainless steel. I am not against a flat black finish but camo or even traditional blued barrels would be fine. Also the rubber grips and very tough polymers we are used to now can be employed. Even some wood if well thought out would be welcome for a traditional firearm look and feel. But I think ergonomics should be fully involved in this design so that the gun feels good as possible in the hand and in its use. I like trigger guards and think they are safer than not having them.

f. I like open sights. But it might be possible to have the sights be readily replaceable with many different designs. Also a low power scope or red dot system that hugs closely to the firearm would be great.

g. Break action single shot for the shotgun but if something innovative can replace that like a sliding cover for the firing chamber or something like that would be good. I like either a magazine feed or a tube fed action. The bolt action single shot fire for the rifle part is fine if you have tube fed so you can get additional shots up quickly.

h. I guess a sling would probably fit the bill for what I have in mind. However, if the overall length of the gun is not much more than the length of the M6 it would be easy to carry on a sling.

i. To me, the overall look of the thing should be smooth lines with not much sticking out to catch on clothes and underbrush. And the weight should not exceed 4 or 5 pounds. Although I wish some whiz kid designer could come up with something so lightweight it would blow our minds. Again, it would be really wonderful and very marketable if owning one of these fantasy firearms would be the one of choice to have with you every time you walked in the woods. And it would still be firearm of choice to pack away in your trunk or backpack for survival purposes.