Design renderings of the Multi-Caliber Scavenger 6. (Photo Credit: Tim Ralston/Texas Fish & Game)
The multi-caliber Scavenger 6 rifle is a survivalist’s dream gun. It’s a stocked revolver with each chamber cut for a different cartridge. By using multiple cylinders, it’s possible to have one design fire a dozen and half or more cartridges.
The Scavenger 6 is the dream child of Air Force veteran Tim Ralston. In development for more than a year, Ralston plans to have a working model on display at the 2017 SHOT Show. Ralston had non-working Scavenger 6 components at last year’s industry expo.
The core of the Scavenger 6 is the CB, or Cylinder Barrel. The CB is an extended, rifled multi-barrel cylinder, like a pepperbox but of modern construction. The rest of the “barrel” forward of the frame is a fixed muzzle shroud that may help guide gas away from the cylinder gap but it is really there to comply with legal barrel length requirements for rifles in the U.S.
Each cylinder measures in at 7 inches long — enough to stabilize a projectile but not weigh a ton, either. Like with a lot of survival gear, some performance is sacrificed for portability and versatility. The cylinders can be swapped out at a moment’s notice to ensure that users can fire the ammo they have that’s right for the purpose needed.
When the Survival 6 was first announced Ralston predicted that the design could fire as many as 23 different cartridges but for now it looks like it’ll be closer to 18. Three cylinder barrels each with six different chambers. Some of the chambers can fire multiple cartridges but they are duplicated on two of the CBs.
A rapid prototype proof-of-concept cylinder barrel or CB. (Photo: Jeremy S./YouTube)
The first CB is the “Hunting” cylinder barrel, with chambers for .243 and .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .30-30 Winchester, .223 Remington and .45 Colt/.410 bore.
The second CB is the “Battle” cylinder barrel, chambered for popular intermediate and full-power rifle cartridges. It’s chambered for 5.56mm and 7.61mm NATO, 7.62Ă—39mm, .30-06 Sprg. and .270 and .308 Win.
And finally, there’s the “Survival” CB chambered for rimfire and other small and medium game cartridges. It’s cut for .22 Long Rifle, .38 Spl./.357 Mag., 9mm Luger, 45 ACP and .45 Colt/.410 bore.
With the right loads any of these CBs would be adequate for self-defense in an emergent situation. In a without-rule-of-law/natural disaster/zombie apocalypse-type situation the Survival 6 would be the ultimate firearm for living off the land. It also looks like an extremely fun range toy for when everything’s holding together just fine.
See Also: The Ultimate Survival Rifle? Chiappa’s M6 with X-Caliber Inserts
It’ll be interesting to see if Ralston comes out with other CBs based on demand and feedback. Some users are sure to want other cylinder barrels more suited to their needs, such as a revolver-caliber only CB. Other people may want to focus solely on intermediate cartridges or automatic pistol cartridges.
Future cylinders may also be chambered for .17 HMR, .380 ACP, .40 S&W or .10mm Auto. There’s a lot of room here for development.
The Survival 6 also stands out for other non-conventional features. It has two rails at 6- and 12 o’clock for a forward pistol grip and an optic. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to put sights on the gun because they can’t possibly work with so many different loads and cartridges. If a user needs to make precision shots it would be better to install an optic that can be quickly adjusted for elevation.
This is a design with real potential. Hopefully, we’ll get to lay hands on one soon.
Here is an early video announcing the Survival 6 earlier this year.
Hmmm… I personally think that a .22LR/20ga and .22LR/12 ga over-under would be a better choice. .223/12ga over-under. As kids we hunted small game with these in the ’60’s in Michigan. We were not really “under-gunned” even tho we probably FELT under-gunned. I like the idea of a 12ga/.308 over-under or .223/12ga over-under. Multiple barrels to mount various caliber combinations on the same receiver would be even better. This has worked well for hunters in some Euro countries- only one gun on the books- perhaps a dri-lling, and multiple barrel combos for various hunting scenarios.
Problem is they most likely would NOT sell well in the States… too many other long-gun choices available. And plenty of pistol-caliber long guns available too. Should the *unthinkable* occur and the gun-grabber “progressive”- so-called- repackaged liberals gain a majority power we may be limited in what we can own, so a multi-barreled receiver may be the best choice if we want several calibers available in our gun safes…
Just thinking out load…
No way Trump will become President !BTW- Not just a 6 shot, it can be reloaded again
While we can all agree that it is a unique concept it must be also agreed that any firearms one might have to depend upon in any kind of survival mode must be accurate in any caliber. Unless you plan on eating zombie meat exclusively it seems to me that missing something you’re trying to kill for defense or for dinner would be a very serious problem in a post apocalyptic environment. I am from the school of one bullet one body so for myself, a somewhat accurate gun is simply not practical in any situation.
I can appreciate the man who thinks up things like this and makes it, however judging from the comments, I doubt he would sell many of them. I personally don’t see much use for it unless the zombie apocalypse last long enough for all the ammo supplies to dry up, several years I’d speculate, or I guess it would depend on how many rounds a person had before hand, or how many zombies one come comes across. The ballistics would be an absolute mess with rifle rounds out of such short barrel lengths. The 223 alone would lose over half of it’s velocity and accuracy to boot! Limited to very short range and then what about the recoil? I’d like to see it get produced just to try one though!
It’s a great concept, but not all good ideas are really all that practical. At first I was thinking this was a six shot revolver design where you had a different cylinder for each caliber. While someone pointed out it would be cumbersome to carry one of the long cylinders for every caliber, it wouldn’t just for the 3-4 calibers you’re likely to have other guns in. A single shot gun in a survival situation (close in defense) that isn’t very accurate (for hunting) isn’t very practical either. It’s a better than nothing weapon, and at least you CAN shoot if you find some ammo lying around that’s still viable. I don’t think ammo will be lying around that often in an Armageddon situation though… not enough that one gun that will fire just about anything is really practical anyway. Better to have more than one that fires what you have, and one that fires all of what you have might be good if you have to bug out and are limited to what you can carry. The shotgun with inserts would e a better choice. Cut an old single shot off for personal defense… in that scenario there will be no government to care!
I’d buy it for $25.
I am not going to make a comment on the possible gun. I just want to point out that there is not a different cylinder for each caliber. There are multi calibers in each cylinder.
Wow, I am impressed by the thought and talent that went into this design. I am depressed by all the psuedo-lawyers, phony-engineers and other assorted negatively charged persons beating down free thought in action. I would buy a couple of these just to have a good time plinking away with something totally different! God save us from all the “experts!”
experts and whiners. that pretty much sums up any comments section on the internet.
Why not just take a steel brick and drill a barrel in every caliber ever made?
This P.O.S. in the post is about as useful.
OK, roaming the post apocalyptic world and you run across a single round, his gun might shoot it, but seriously, why haul around that cumbersome abortion and all it’s accessories just in case you run across a different round?
This is either a short barreled rifle or a stocked pistol both still require a tax stamp.
no, it’s a rifle. the “barrel shroud” is considered part of the barrel. it’s basically a revolver with a stock, but the cylinder is longer, and includes the rifling, while the “barrel”(barrel shroud) does essentially nothing (other than meet barrel and overall length requirements. unless I missed something.
This is as dumb as a box of rocks.
May I suggest that you celebrate the defeat of the gun grabbers on the left by purchasing a real gun & some extra ammo.
This is stupid. If I want a revolver; I will buy another one. If I want an AR-15; I will buy another one. You only have six shots which is fine; but once again you can buy another revolver. It looks like you still will be required to carry all the calibers wheels around.So why not just carry more guns?
Like the old saying goes, if you don’t like what’s on, change the channel.
I don’t know which is more ridiculous, the gun or Slowik’s article about it. Survival gun with no sights, self defense gun with different recoil and point of impact on each shot, no reasonable fast reload, crap ballistics from all but standard hangun cartridges, any caliber you don’t have reduces capacity and then there are NFA requirements.
I applaud the inventor for thinking outside the box but hope he didn’t wrap up his life savings and mortgage his house to fund it.
Absolute abject foolishness! As I have said before about other designs, ‘mental masturbation’. Hopefully we will still have gun rights in another 25 years to where this bit of foolishness can be examined as one of the top ten forgotten firearms designs.
There is no way in Hell Donald Trump can win this election! PERIOD!
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Right Suzie…LOL
F’n retarded.
Thanks why I have a over/under 18″ 12ga shotgun and the x-caliber tube set. This setup shoots 12ga, 20ga, 410/45 colt, 380, 9mm, 38/357, 40cal, 45acp, 44sp/44mag and I can get .22lr/22mag, .223/5.56, .243, .270, .308, 7.62×39 and 45-70 tubes from 7″ to 18″ also. That covers just about all the normal stuff
Wait — What’s the date? Did I lose 4 Months? It can’t be April 1st already, can it?!!!
haha……
Jack of all trades, master of none. This is truly the last gun you’ll ever need. When the world truly hits the bottom of the barrel, it is highly unlikely you’ll have this gun with you in the first place.
Truly a curio in the making.
Stupid
Never saw any estimation of the cost of this thing even if it was built. If it was built will it be approved? If it went to market and people actually bought it how long will it be before the bugs are worked out? A simple semi auto with a simple new design seems to go back to the drawing boards for a fix never mind this amazing mongrel.
Even during the end times seems if people survived that far they would know how to make themselves all kinds of offensive and defensive weapons from the debris left over, not this doorstop
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Just because something can be done!–doesn’t mean that it should be done!! Applies here. How ’bout just giving the survivalist 6 fragmentation grenades instead? Or maybe a WW1 bayonet or Cavalry Sword? Should work out about as well as this funny gun!
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Nearly everyone seem to be missing the purpose of this thing. When everything has gone clear to hell and there is no source of ammunition other than what you may scrounge or steal, this gives you a close range defensive weapon with the possibility of firing whatever sort of cartridge you may find. If you stumble across a few rounds of .45 Colt, .243, or whatever, and don’t have a gun in that particular caliber, this gives you an opportunity to use it. A single-shot of limited range and accuracy is a great improvement over nothing. Unless you are able to remain in your bunker with guns of eighteen different calibers, you’re not likely to be able to use whatever you can pick up.
Indeed. And if SHTF, you may barter a chicken leg for 10 .22LR or .5 .380 shots. Thus, you are limited by what people can give you to barter with.
Seeing that this is a rapid prototype, it would be nice to see what a finished product would be field tested. Let’s hope his dream becomes a true affordable reality that takes over the market in many ways.
don’t be ridiculous… you watch too much tv. all you need are the most common calibers in a chassis that makes sense… like a pistol or two with 2 or 3 x 4″ barrels (9mm, 40, 45) a rifle or two with 2 or 3 18-24″ barrels (223, 308, 7.62×39, etc). if you feel like a shotgun then have one, they are easiest to load empty shells for but the bulk and capacity suck.
This idiotic idea will be very heavy (steel cyrlinders with 6 barrels), inaccurate, it will lack range and velocity, and it will be extremely loud with the higher powered cartridges listed. So you’re telling me you are going to lug around 15 different heavy steel cylinders in your backpack just in case you happen to find a random .243 cartridge? OR….. you could just reload your own ammo and bring one or two firearms and a full load of ammo in your pack.
YOU are the one missing the point of this…. monstrosity… the point is gullible fools such as yourself will waste your money on snake oil idiocy.
Bisley, Methinks everyone does get the point. This is gun design ” gone clear to hell”. Sorry but this is really a bad idea.
Really? I’d rather have a Nagant…..
I’ll say this one kind thing in the defense of the mad scientist that came up with this horrific concept:
ALL of you guys that are complaining of “having to carry multiple calibers of ammo” , THAT is not the purpose of this weapon.
It’s intent is to be able to use in a Survival situation. That means being able to find ammo , any ammo in any caliber laying on the side of the road or in a dead man’s pocket. In those “zombie” times you wont be able to run to Wal-Mart in your mini van to buy the one and only caliber that your nifty $4k AR-15 uses. This “concept” will allow you the one shot that could save your life or leave you standing there holding your empty 30 round mag wishing you had just one more shot left.
Now then , yes it IS a stupid gun in the law-abiding world we currently live in. In a perfect world I’ll never buy one but in that “zombie times” when the SHTF I would pick one up off the ground , you never know when you might need a club.
What?! A zombie world without Walmart or minivans? Who would want to survive through such hell?
UGH! No thanks.
I put money down back when Springfield Armory announced at SHOT that they were bringing the M-6 back with a revamped AR style grip and trigger, and to be available in .410/ .22 Hornet.
That WOULD have been a seller, but typical S.A. lack of business sense negated it’s actual delivery.
I’m with you there. I have an M6 chambered for 22 hornet/ 410 and I’m told it will safely shoot a 45 long colt. But I’ve yet to try one. For me it’s the perfect under the seat survival rifle.
I have it safely folded up under the seat of my Expedition Truck with ammo pouches strapped to its stock. Which is well stocked with different ammo loads from 410 in magnum slugs, bird shot, and flairs. And about 30 rounds of 22 hornet in varying loads. Squirrel loads, woodchuck loads and deer loads. Would like to be able to shoot .223 out of it, but the Hornet will do the job if it has to.
The only drawback is its a single shot. Unless I have a 45 LC under the Hornet to assure a kill.
As for this gun it makes little sense to me to carry all that extra weight to have basically a single shot multi caliber weapon..
If you shoot a deer and he doesn’t go down the first shot, do you reload or hope you have a round big enough in the next chamber to finish the job?
I mean, it doesn’t look like a very good club!
Now at Booth ICU812 Buck Roger\’s Space Gun ! For a pardonership please send your savings to
Ben Dover
Spell R.U.N. 3 times say all the way ! then spell it hackward N. U. R.
Why are you all putting the kibosh on this? It is not meant to be your only rifle. When you’re out of ammo for you AR, etc., if you have this rifle as a “last ditch” gun you can scrounge for whatever ammo you can find and at least have something to shoot.
How about you save the money you would spend on this abortion and buy real ammo in quantity with it? This is a solution in search of a problem.
Kinda like the grip safety on a 1911, a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.
I give this guy all the credit in the world for following his dream but I honestly don’t get it. If I understand this correctly it’s a short barrelled revolver with each cylinder chamber chambered for a different round. I don’t see how a short barreled revolver can properly stabilize all these different types of rounds. The designer can vary the twist rate but I’m don’t think that’s enough to make this work very well. I believe many of these rifle rounds would not have a chance to burn much of their powder so velocity would be terrible. It would have to be accurate enough to at least get out of the smooth bore “rifle” barrel but beyond that with non handgun and a rim-fire rounds I’d expect terrible performance.
And as the article’s author somewhat notes good luck trying to have any type of sighting system on this firearm. I can just see our fictional “survivalist” moving through the zombie apocalypse trying to keep a data book for all the scavenged ammunition. Hey what’s my windage and elevation for that 115 grain 9mm Remington. And now on to my next shot what’s the DOPE for a 230 grain PMC .45 ACP. OK. Now let’s change that up for 180grain Winchester 30-06 soft point. I teach long range and unless you have a good scope it won’t track or last very long making all these adjustments between each shot. A day at the range with this firearm would put as much wear on the scope as a day of long range rifle shooting. I’ve seen name brand scopes die after a day of heavy adjusting. They are just not made for it.
In terms of self defense this would pretty much useless outside of point shooting distances for a short barreled revolver.
I wonder if there will be a market for it. Are there enough people who don’t know enough about ballistics, firearm design and sighting systems to create a market for a firearm that “shoots” so many rounds.
I do hope he makes it. I work at a range and would love to see one up close. If it failed miserably as I expect I could actually see it being collectable many years down the road.
Interesting, but this will never be more than a novelty. Twenty years from now it will appear on some web site’s list of forgotten firearms.
What is a half cartridge ? Article states that it can use a dozen and half cartridges
A dozen and half is 18 (12 + 6). If you were trying to be sarcastic sorry I missed it.
Dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Does he really think this would be a survival weapon? How so? Trying to carry that many different types of ammo plus the funny part of actually sorting it and finding the right cylinder is just stupid! Hope the guy is not counting on retirement from trying to sale this monstrosity. I’m sure somebody will buy it but it will not be me! Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Why do people insist on using that worthless 45colt/410 chamber? The rifling ruins it as a 410, and the chamber ruins it as a 45.
Duuuuggghhhh. Your dead! Single shot! Like bringing a paper weight to a gun fight. I survived Nam but if I need to rely on this I’m dead!
Total nonsense….Ralston definitely has too much time on his hands
I urge you to wad this idea up and throw it in the garbage. Don’t waist another second or penny on this Stupid gun.No one wants a single shot and no one wants to have to carry around 6 different types of cartridges for Combat or Survival.
Are the chambers in the cylinders RIFLED? If yes, that is the right answer. If no, then I don’t see this really going anywhere. Other than to use up random cartridges that you may have laying around the house using only one firearm to shoot them. Would that mean you would have pocketfulls of differing rounds? And fish through them till you got a few of these and a few of those…. then switch cylinders… then switch back when you got a few other rounds in hand? I don’t know. I usually take a single caliber into the woods for plinking or hunting. But I hope the guy succeeds with it.
So, now we have single shot weapon that can only be a pain in the butt, OOOOh 23 calibers one at a time..and just in time for gift giving….who was hoping for this to come along……………………..?
So the barrel is nothing more than a non rifled “tube” that the bullets fly through, after leaving the rifled CB?
That will be interesting to see how the ATF classifies this weapon. If the cylinder is the only rifled section, and the barrel is non rifled, then you either have a SBR or a revolving cylinder shotgun. The last revolving cylinder shotgun was also classified as a “Destructive Device” (think Street Sweeper) by the ATF.
Is that Steve Carell on his product sheet? Woah, Carell is on board with this thing? đŸ˜‰
Shouldn’t be a problem, for years it has been a common practice to use an extra long, permanently attached flash hider to extend the length of a shorter barrel to the minimum 16″
Flash hiders are not rifled either.
An “A” for ingenuity; a “B” for future collectability as a curio; and a “F” for actual practicality..
I’ll just keep my Contender…
How about one pistol frame and eighteen cylinders, each one six shots in one caliber.
You could get rich with a mail order cylinder catalog…
And the best thing is it dosen’t look like crap…….No wait. If you have never seen a thing designed by a committee, take a good look at this. Seriously? Why? If you saw this “thing” you might think it served some useful purpose, until you think about it for a little while. And it shouldn’t take anyone more than a “little” thinking to realise that this is as useful as a football bat. Would you rather have this single shot rotary rifle or a folding 22 mag with a 10-15 shot mag and space in the stock to store 2 extra mags and 2 100rd boxes of ammo? I might have a use for the latter gun but I have no use at all for this anvil phone. They call this a survival gun? I hope the company isn’t counting on this train wreck for their survival.
…it doesn’t look like crap… Ummm, really? Well I guess that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder!
What I see is a short barrel revolver with the inherent limitations on accuracy distances. Indeed, the idea is innovative but it is beyond obvious why it has never, in all the history of firearms, been made viable. I salute the gentleman’s chutzpah but encourage him to try other avenues.