The M4 Survival Rifle was a .22 calibre bolt-action rifle developed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as part of the survival gear stored under the seat of American military aircraft. It was designed to give downed aircrew a survival weapon for foraging wild game for food.

History

The M4 was developed from the

Harrington & Richardson H&R 1871, LLC, or more commonly known as Harrington & Richardson, is an American brand of firearms and a subsidiary of JJE Capital Holdings. H&R ceased production February 27, 2015. History The original H&R firm was in business for over a cent ...

bolt-action M265 sporting rifle, adapted to a sheet metal frame with telescoping wire buttstock, a 14-inch detachable barrel chambered for .22 Hornet and the 4 shot detachable box magazine of the

Savage Savage may refer to: Places Antarctica * Savage Glacier, Ellsworth Land * Savage Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Savage Ridge, Victoria Land United States * Savage, Maryland, an unincorporated community * Savage, Minnesota, a city * Savage, Mi ...

Stevens M23D .22 Hornet sporting rifle. The M4 weighs approximately four pounds and with barrel detached and

telescoping stock A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attached ...

closed makes a ~14 inch overall package. Due to the possible use of the M4 by downed aircrew as a combat weapon, the military issue soft point ammunition in .22 Hornet carried a prohibition against this on the cartridge boxes: "Under no circumstances is the ammunition to be used for offensive or defensive measures against enemy personnel. This ammunition is provided for use with your emergency survival rifle for the killing of game for food under emergency survival conditions only." This was to comply with the Hague Convention barring the use of expanding bullets in warfare. It was later self-determined by the USAF that exigent circumstances and self-defense would have exempted soft point ammunition from that provision. In the 1950s, the M4 was supplanted by the

M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon The M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon was a specially-made .22 Hornet over .410 bore combination gun issued to United States Air Force aircrews to help forage for food in the event of a plane crash. It was issued from 1952 until the early 1970s, in conj ...

and the M4 was phased out along with the decommissioning of the aircraft containing M4 as part of their survival package. The

Armalite AR-5 The ArmaLite AR-5 is a lightweight bolt-action takedown rifle chambered for the .22 Hornet cartridge and adopted as the MA-1 aircrew survival rifle by the United States Air Force. It was developed by ArmaLite, a division of Fairchild Engine and A ...

(MA-1) was approved as a replacement for the M4 but no significant quantities of the AR-5 were procured, as there were sufficient numbers of M4 and M6 in inventory to meet

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

needs.

Users

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References

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Survival guns Bolt-action rifles of the United States United States Army Air Corps United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force

History

Users

See also

References

External links