US M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon - Cartridge Box - .410 and .22 Hornet

Description

Original shoulder stock ammunition box for the M6 US Military Survival weapon.   Very nice condition, and very rare.   It holds .410 shotgun shells and .22 hornet cartridges.   Steel shell with plastic liner.   It would insert into the butt of the rifle.
The rifle and shotgun shells in the pictures are not included, and are just for visual info.
The M6 Air Crew Survival Weapon was specially made and issued to the US Air Force aircrews to help forage for food in the event of a crash.   It was issued from 1952 to the 1970s.
The M6 is made of stamped sheet steel, with a forged steel removable barrel assembly. The barrel assembly is connected to the stock/action group by means of a removable hinge pin. Unlike nearly all other firearms, there is no "furniture" on the M6 like a butt stock or a
forearm
the only parts which are not steel are the rubber butt plate and cheek rest. Aircrew were instructed to wrap the barrels with
parachute cord
as a field expedient fore-stock.
[
The M6 was a superposed ("over-under")
combination gun
, with a
.22 Hornet
rifle barrel located above the
.410 bore
shotgun barrel. It has 14-inch barrels and folds in half to a minimum size of 15 inches.
[4]
A storage compartment in the stock held 9 rounds of .22 Hornet ammunition with 4 shotgun shells.
[
A firing pin selector allowed the shooter to choose which barrel would be fired.
Because most bomber crews operated in the Arctic region during the
Cold War
, a trigger bar was used that could be depressed while wearing mittens as opposed to a conventional trigger.
The M6 was never intended as a weapon with which to engage hostile troops. Instead it was designed so that a downed aircrew could forage for wild game.
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