One Rifle, 23 Calibers: Scavenger 6 at SHOT Show 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBx8D2NgvNo#t=78

I would have thought that was a SNL skit - a joke - but apparently it is not.

Why would you want a "revolver cylinder" that holds one each of many calibers? The cylinder appears to be the barrel too, otherwise it wouldn't work. What's the advantage of a "cylinder" that holds one each of .45auto, .40s&w, 9mm, .38special, .380auto, and .22lr? Plus, that "cylinder" is really big! Same things goes for their other "cylinders" that hold rifle cartridges (ignoring for the moment that a rifle cartridge fired from a six inch cylinder/barrel will be significantly neutered - oh, but what a glorious muzzle flash and recoil you'd have!)

I seriously doubt this "innovation" will find much demand. A much better investment would be ammunition for a pistol/revolver/rifle that was designed for a specific caliber. That way you won't need to Scavenge for ammo and have a single barrel out of multiple cylinders that's useful. Gimmick.

If I hear right, it "only" weighs 3 1/2 pounds....better putting that weight into something more useful - water,shelter, warm clothing.

I don't understand this "scavenge for ammo" idea. I hear people talk about it, but I don't understand it. Where do they expect to "scavenge" in a short-term survival situation? The shady spot under the ammo tree? The local gun store? Wal-Mart?

Well, it's kind of horrible sounding, but a good place to scavenge ammo is off of dead guy you just shot. But it's actually more useful to just take his gun right along with the ammo. That way you have a spare. And something you know will work with the ammo you just scavenged (one would hope at least - it's possible that the dead guy finds himself in that state because he had the wrong ammo for his gun!)

Better yet, don't be an idiot and plan on scavenging ammo in the first place. Have enough on hand to get the job done from your private stock.

p.s. - You should have your own "spare" guns too, so you don't have to depend on the dead guy supply route.

WalMart will be stripped of anything useful within 3.7 nanoseconds of the start of a disaster, no need to even try looking for ammo there...

What if the dead guy had one of those useless multi-caliber rifles? Probably what got him killed.

Murder and mayhem will then decline; it will be the dawning of the Age of Aquarius....

You should've been watching The Walking Dead. It's really educational, they scavenge for ammo all the time.

On other hand, it's easier to carry a 3 pound 23 calibers thingy and scavenged ammo than the same ammo and 23 (x 3 pounds) pieces of different caliber spare guns...

But I agree with haertig, having these calibers quite neutered anyway, it could be more practical to carry a 12 ga smooth bore with a set of multiple caliber ammo holder inserts (It seems to me, I saw such a solution already marketing).

Personally, I would rather rely on reloading my .357 cartridges with any scavenged ammo components. The minimalistic pocket lee loader is under a pound + 1 pound .358x158 mold + a pound of primers should go for a long time. I understand the risks of using unknown propellant, but it is possible to figure how to ration it safely based on the scavenged cartridge size or, if time permitting, test firing varied loads. Also I've read that my Rugger GP100 is tough enough to handle load errors.

Yeah, they do that. But surprisingly, they don't have to scavenge for fully automatic weapons. They're everywhere. Everybody has one. Normal people have to be very rich and connected to obtain a full auto these days, but after the zombies come, it appears that every Bubba and his brother had a handful of 'em! And not just the little personal ones either. Belt-fed .50BMGs mounted to the back of their pickups even.

It may well be as successful as the Medusa M47. That revolver was chambered for .357 Magnum and could chamber and fire many rounds smaller than the .357 Magnum. With projectiles in the 9mm range the accuracy was acceptable according to reviews.
Having ammunition and a gun designed and zeroed for that ammo has also the advantage that you have a fairly good idea about the point of impact. My main hunting rifle does not even shoot all loads of the caliber it´s chambered for reasonably close to the point of aim for my hunting ammo.
If you are carrying a gun for a survival situation it might be useful to be able to hit something smaller than the proverbial broad side of a barn.

This sounds to me like the sort of versatile weapon that might be worth buying and storing away for any long term emergency, rather than carrying around in most situations.

Under normal conditions, including any localised or short term emergency or disaster, any standard type of rifle and plenty of ammo to suit might be better.

However in the very long term, even large stocks will eventually be consumed, but one might be able to find or barter ammunition of a calibre that does not fit your weapons.
Possession of a gun that accepts a wide range of ammunition could be literally a life saver.
Worth considering IMHO as a long term doom prep, rather than for routine hunting or defensive purposes. You might never need it, but that is true of many doom preps.

I like the notion of recycling and reloading found ammo which does require time, but which will likely result in a much better product. Besides, reloading is just about as much fun and interesting as shooting the rounds. I am sure stuffing powder X from a large caliber weapon into a 357 magnum would be very "interesting."

If your choice of firearm is of a caliber that is used by law enforcement, the U.S. military/NATO or a military caliber from the old Warsaw Pact nations you should be able to find ammo. Every firearm I own falls into what I would call a common caliber/chambering such as: .22 LR, 9mm, .357 Mag, .40SW, .45ACP, .308Win (7.62 NATO), 5.56 NATO, 30-30, 30-06 and 12 ga. There's lots of ammo for those calibers in personal stockpiles. I should add 7.62x39 which I don't have, but there should be lots of ammo floating around. My personal stockpile is in calibers used for competition and plinking.

Why have cylinders chambered for calibers you are unlikely to ever scrounge? In a rifle chambering you need a decent barrel or as has been said the muzzle flash will be outstanding -- but where did the bullet go? This is a one shot device -- one shot. It needs to be accurate and I do not see that attribute anywhere in this "rifle".

Be careful with recycling found ammo. Reloading Bullseye into a rifle casing could result in a disaster. If you cannot determine the type powder, this path may be one best left untaken. You could easily recycle 30-06 into a .308Win case, but taking shotgun or pistol ammo (relatively fast burning powder) and recycling into rifle ammo (usually much slower) could be explosive.

You mean you actually what to know what powder you are loading into a given cartridge?? What's the fun in that? Actually, I totally agree with your point. If I were ever at the point of pouring powder "X" into a case, I would go the other way round (put the powder in a large volume shell) and experiment very carefully.

It is ever so much easier and effective to keep a store of correct powder and primers for the firearms you possess.

Probably many (most?) of us already have at least one gun in each of these calibers anyway. So this new gimmick is pointless. They must be marketing it to the one-gun-solution type of buyer. But if I only had one gun, this thing certainly would not be it.

But there's good news on the horizon: If you really want one of these things, you can probably depend on the type of person who would actually buy one being the same type of person that would end up as road kill in the first wave of any attack. Then you could scavenge it off of them.

Putting the slow burning powder for rifles into pistol ammo might cause problems too. The case may not seal properly and blow back some gas. That is a common problem with CAS ammo too (I am working on a .45 Colt load that does not exceed the speed limits while sealing properly).
The only thing that seems to be universal is black powder. Full case and compressed slightly seems the way to go there.

I've seen reports that with Trail Boss powder (for handguns), you can get by with just filling the case. I certainly haven't tried that personally! I use and like Trail Boss, but I measure it, per standard reloading practice. And measured amounts don't fill the case most of the time. But they do take up significantly more case volume than other powders, sometimes to the point of almost filling the case in some calibers.

If I had to pick one handgun powder to use for everything, and wouldn't be allowed to keep anything else on hand, it would be W231. That one works with all the handgun cartridges I reload (but don't fill the case with it!)

The was a little tongue in cheek. AFAIK they built around 500 of those revolvers. The extractor was more fragile than that of regular double action revolver and definitely more fragile than the ejector rod of the SAA type.


I think that´s only true if you can actually hit something at some distance with it. That tends to be a problem with guns that accept a wide range of ammo. Twist rate is a factor here.


For long term doom prep I´d rather have a bow. The ammo can be improvised, practice keeps you fit and it may outrange a revolver that is used with the wrong type of ammo. It´s report is much quieter too.

Just stumbled upon that 12ga multiple caliber shotgun kit again: http://www.chiappafirearms.com/products/163 That's only 4 inserts, but I think, I saw 8 somewhere. Perhaps that's not the only manufacturer.

Update: found an infographics for the eight here :

Yes, you can fire the round,but to what effect? Firing a rifle cartridge from what appears to be a short barrel should not help performance in the least. Better to have one firearm with plenty of ammo, that you can shoot accurately..Still, way better than nothing

"Better than nothing" is probably what many serious shooters think about this gun. They have their tried-and-true guns, guns that they can rely on in life and death situations. They have spent many hours testing these guns, and they have accessorized them just right. They are not about to give them up. They'd probably prefer to stock ample ammunition for that one gun they can trust.

Most people would consider me a "serious shooter." I practice, I take classes, I teach classes, and I compete. While I focus on pistol, I do also shoot shotgun, "modern sporting rifle," and precision rifle (although I am fairly new to this discipline). 2015 was a light year for me, at about 5000 rounds. From that perspective, I can't see a use for this firearm. I would likely be better off if I invested in a reliable and accurate .22LR rifle and ammo rather than this.

I see you point perfectly guys. However, it's coming from the range/competition/hunting perspective exclusively. In the survival perspective the options above do have their serious place. You can stock on a ton of ammo, but you stockpile could be destroyed, stolen, unreachable, as well as your beloved zeroid in carbine. Then just dig out your hidden doomsday cash with a cheap 12 ga and these inserts. It's hard to have a lot of ammo for 12 ga in such a cash, neither carrying a lot of it out of the woods at once, but who cares - as with the inserts any scavenged or traded ammo will do just fine for the close quarters shelter defense and some hunting. Looking at the inserts length I can tell that at least they are providing noticeably longer barrel than your typical handgun, so it's probably should not shoot any worse (except that for a better gases dynamics it might be beneficial to saw off the shotgun's barrel some).

I don't see any way in which this would be better than a dedicated survival firearm and ammo for it.

The target, no pun intended, audience for this is way into the PAW. Think Road Warrior/scavenger society. Prior to that, there's not going to be much use for a glorified pepperbox revolver.

Part of the appeal if for those who think "The Walking Dead" is a real scenario and that it makes sense to be as versatile as possible while scavenging. However, for the most part these multi-ammo adapters are single shot which means constant reloading, not nearly the advantage it would be made out as.

Yep, much more useful imo is to have firearms in calibers you are most likely to find while scavenging for "stuff". Which calibers to folks tend to buy in bulk? Oh gee, how about ammo designed by and supplied to the military, I used to buy that stuff by the case, but that was when I allowed myself a lot of more trigger-time than I have time for now. I've still got a case of 9mm ball on the shelf and a lot of .38 Special -- much less in other handgun calibers.

If I had a rifle in.5.56 NATO and another in .308 Win I'd stand a chance of finding ammo to shoot. 5.56 will safely fire its .223 Win counterpart and .308 will safely shoot its 7.62 NATO counterpart. 1:9 twist in the 5.56 and 1:10 twist in the .308 and you should have a fairly accurate set-up across a range of bullet weights.

That's just my opinion, YMMV.

I'd just buy normal rifles in .22LR, .223 (5.56x45), 7.62x39, .308 (7.62x51) and 7.62x54R. Normal handguns in .22LR, 9mm, .357mag and .45auto. This probably covers most of the calibers the home stockpiler is likely to have large stocks of (your .357 will also shoot .38spl, which is more likely to be stockpiled than .357).

You might want to go 1:8 or 1:7 on the 5.56mm. The heavier bullets need a faster spin rate to stabilize.