An M6 Scout from Henry?

['Card]

For the last few months I've been watching the gun auction sites for decent deals on a Springfield M6 Scout. I was hoping to nab one of the stainless steel versions before the price shot up, but unfortunately (and predictably, I guess) when Springfield discontinued the line, the prices went through the roof - and I'm just not comfortable paying $400+ for a .22/410 (that I'm going to abuse the hell out of) no matter how rare they get.

So the other day I was in one of my favorite local gun shops, and I asked the owner if he'd keep his eyes open for an M6 Scout, and give me a call if one turned up - he's a good guy, and has done that for me in the past when I was looking for something odd. Normally I'm pretty skeptical about things they tell me in gun shops, but this is a very knowledgeable guy, who owns and runs one of the biggest and most well-established gun shops in central NC. He generally knows what he's talking about, and he told me that Springfield discontinued the M6 in the US because they'd lost the license ( I assume from the Czech company that made the thing) and that an identical version was going to be sold in the US next year from Henry Repeating Arms.

Now, on the one hand that doesn't make much sense to me because Henry already has one packable survival rifle in their line-up, the AR-7. On the other hand, if they offered both, Henry would pretty much own that particular niche of the market, and there are enough differences, (single-shot vs. semi-auto, .22/410 vs. .22 alone) that they wouldn't exactly overlap.

So I'm wondering if anyone else has heard this rumor, or thinks there's any credibility to it?

 

['Card]

Maybe I should have tried this in the shotgun forum?

 

[Third_Rail]

I hope you're correct - I've wanted one of those since they came out, practically.

Once I finally got the money together, they were no longer in production.

 

[rangerruck]

every now and again, at HGC show here in houston,you will see one that was a contract special m6 , made for one of the mil branches, that is 22 hornet, 410.
It is all I can do to keep walking past.

 

[mainmech48]

I hadn't heard that rumor, nor have I seen anything in the trade magazines to that effect. One can only hope that there's some truth to it.

Also don't know if Springfield discontinued the model due to slow sales or if increased production cost from the Czech contractor made it unfeasible. Those would be my first guesses, rather than "licensing", as Springfield held the manufacturing rights and made them here until they contracted production to the Czech Republic firm.

IMO, Henry would have to obtain the rights from Springfield before they could make them. There may well be some arrangement in the works for either purchase or royalty/license agreement, but so far I haven't seen any "official" announcement from either firm.

Henry's products have largely been, in essence, remakes of models discontinued by other manufacturers. The LA and pump rimfires are Erma Werke designs, the AR-7 goes back to Armalite et al, so it isn't hard to imagine that they might choose another proven workhorse to expand their line, if their market research says there's enough demand to support it.

Until we hear something concrete, your best bet is to cruise the shows for a nice used one. They're out there. Don't pass one up just because it isn't SS; the Parkerized ones are just as usefull and don't require an onerous amount of extra care to keep up. Mine shows some wear after several years, but it hasn't rusted and shoots even better than it did new.

 

['Card]

Thanks a bunch for the info, mainmech. Answered a lot of the things I'd been wondering about. Specifically, what I got from your post was "It's possible, but not confirmed, and at any rate not in the near future" - so I guess you're right. Probably time to start looking at the parkerized versions.