The AR-7 adventure :or: Look it floats!

I had a AR-7 survival rifle a few years ago, it was one of the Henry variants and it worked. I liked it because it was one of my first semi auto rifles and it was unique in several ways. It broke down and completely stored in the stock, which was said to float (either assembled or dissembled, I never tried). I shot the rifle a few times and liked having it around but at some point I got bored with it and sold it off for something else. Fast forward a few years and I'm into S&P (Survival & preparedness) stuff pretty heavy, the AR-7 was pretty far down on my list of guns to get as I have a pretty good list of priorities made up in the order that I should get things based on money I save up. But when I found a AR-7 action complete with a magazine for $60 at a gun show I couldn't pass it up, The guns always seem to go for way more than they should, I know this past weekend I saw more than one priced above $220 at the gunshow this past weekend.

The guns have always had a jam feature that a lot of non mechanically inclined people just can't seem to get around. Their rifles jam at least once a magazine and they do a poor job finding the cause and effect. Of the 3 examples of this rifle I have now fired 2 of which have been Charter arms and 1 Henry I have had 2 types of jams. One I can easily fix (magazine) and the other may be more of a problem with the aftermarket barrel I obtained for the rifle. The jam with the barrel was caused when the cases bulge so much at the rear that they will not extract. Replacing the extractor spring and recoil springs may help in this but then again it may not. The magazine jam occurs when the magazine is fully loaded, the magazine allows the rim to catch behind the feed lips, not allowing the round to strip from the magazine. Bending the feed lips back further helps this problem however if it occurs all the time in your gun there is no reason why you can't just load 5 or 6 rounds. You should be hunting small game......not zombies.....just my thoughts on the whole jam issues. Not all guns will decide to work all the time, I know there are lemons made by everybody and my replacement barrel has a extraction groove cut deeper than should be allowing part of the case to expand where it should not. The gun works fine 98% of the time but the fired cases look pretty pregnant at the base.

My replacement barrel I obtained from HERE . The barrel is a little heavier than the factory barrel...by nearly 3/4 of a pound as compared with a factory aluminum barrel with liner on a postal scale. The barrel ejection slot was as I said before milled a little deep but when the rifle functioned fine I could not complain. I was also able to secure a original style stock for my rifle from a friend who had a stock in his parts bin. So I have $110 or so in the rifle total at this point. I forgot to mention the actions black paint had long been wearing away so I took a stiff steel brush as advised by my friend and cleaned off as much as I could prior to repainting the gun. Since the replacement stock I had gotten for nothing already had a sort of tiger stripe pattern painted on it and I had some dark OD green and dark tan dura coat left over I thought I would use it up to paint the action and the barrel. Camera woman is currently away so I'll try to have some pics posted later.

The Ar-7 is one option for a utilitarian take down survival rifle, they can come with problems and a word of warning, don't let the marketing hype the producing companies give the gun give you too much of a hard on for one. They shoot well out to 75', and if you are good you can take game out to 50 yards. but in the end it is a .22LR that is a crude but efficient rifle, there is nothing elegant about this gun. If you are left handed you may not like the rifle as the stock is offset at the grip to allow the barrel to store in the butt. If you see one for cheap and want one to have in your BOB/camping bag, to keep in the boat or bush plane its a fair choice. Esp since the more traditional M6 Springfield scout rifle fetches far more money for what is basically stamped sheet metal and 2 barrels. The Marlin papoose take down rifle is another one I've seen people keep in their bags, boats and planes and it looks a little more user friendly for sure. Weighs a little less than the AR-7, but it does not float which really wasn't a concern for me at all in the first place.

P.S.

The older rifles have room in the stocks for 1 magazine, the newer rifles allow the storage of 2 magazines in the stock. I want to say my Henry held one in the action and one in the stock but I can't recall. I plan to modify my stock to hold spare parts and a extra magazine. Being in Ohio and not on water I don't plan to test the buoyancy of the rifle any time soon.