." What
makes the Double Badger unique is that it folds in half for easy
transport inside of a backpack, the trunk of a vehicle, or the tight
space of a small aircraft. The Double Badger comes configured in either
.22 Magnum Rifle/410 Shotgun or .22LR Rifle/410 Shotgun.
I've
been wanting to try out the Double Badger ever since I first saw it at
SHOT Show 2013. The Double Badger is the
first 22 Rifle/410 Shotgun folding combo since the demise of the
Springfield M6 Scout. The M6 was the civilian version of the Airforce's
original
The Rossi weighed in at 5 pounds 4 ounces. This makes the Double
Badger's weight more reasonable by comparison, especially considering
that the Rossi is a smaller youth model with a synthetic stock, but the
Double Badger could still benefit from a reduction in weight. With a
synthetic stock, my guess is that it would weigh a pound to a pound and
half less.
22 Magnum Rifle/410 Shotgun Barrel
The Double Badger is an over and under .22 rifle/410
shotgun, and is available with either a .22 Long Rifle or .22 Magnum
barrel. The .22 barrel sits over top of the 410 barrel.
The
410 barrel has a fixed full choke and
is chambered for either 2.5" or 3" shells. It will safely shoot slugs,
buckshot, or birdshot. Both the rifle and shotgun barrels are 19" in
length.
For this review, I chose the
.22 Magnum model, because it is closest to the original M6 Aircrew
Weapon's 22 Hornet/410 Configuration.
From left to right: 22 Hornet, 22 Magnum, 22 Long Rifle
22 Magnum vs 22 Long Rifle for Survival
Although the
.22 Magnum is less powerful than the
22 Hornet, when shot from a rifle barrel, it is roughly 2 1/2 times more powerful than the
.22 Long Rifle, having nearly the same energy as a
9mm Pistol Round.
This increase in power comes in a package that weighs just a fraction
more than the Long Rifle, yet gives the Magnum the ability to take
larger, tougher game such as turkey, geese, or even small deer in a
survival situation.
To illustrate this power increase, I tested Winchester's full metal jacket
Super-X .22 Magnum 40 grain round against a 7" pine log from the Double Badger. The full metal jacket 22 Magnum round was able to blast completely through it. That is some serious penetration from a small rimfire round.
The
downside of this increased power is that within 50 yards, standard
Magnum hollow point ammunition is too powerful for small game such as
squirrel and rabbit, destroying much of the edible meat.
There are three ways around this limitation. One is to carry lower powered ammunition such as
.22 WRF (Winchester
Rimfire). Winchester Rimfire has roughly the same energy as a .22 Long
Rifle high velocity round, yet is safe to shoot in any .22 Magnum rifle.
Another is to use a
22LR to 22 Magnum Adapter so
you can shoot 22LR ammo. The third option is to carry Full Metal Jacket
22 Magnum loads, which are less destructive than hollow point
ammunition.
The downside to .22 Long
Rifle Adapters and .22 WRF ammunition is that they are not as accurate at longer ranges as 22 Magnum loads. However, they are accurate enough for small
game targets within 20-25 yards (check out the accuracy results in the
field testing section). Full Metal Jacket .22 Magnum rounds don't have
these accuracy limitations, so they are better for 25 yard+ shots
without worrying about destroying too much edible meat.
A
mix of .22 Magnum Hollow Points, .22 Magnum Full Metal Jackets, and
either .22 WFR ammo or a .22 Long Rifle Adapter along with some .22LR
rounds would give you a nicely rounded, highly flexible selection of
ammo for wilderness survival purposes in the Double Badger's .22 Magnum barrel.
FIELD TESTING!
I wanted to field test the Double Badger with the M6 Aircrew Weapon in
mind-- 25 yards for the 410, and up to 50 yards for 22 Magnum. Open
sights only.
Photo credit: Monica Tymcio/Rocky Mountain Bushcraft
The first task was to get the Double Badger sighted in. From the
factory, the rear sight was off a bit, as both barrels shot several
inches to the left of where the sights were aimed. As shown in the photo
below, I had to adjust the rear sight right by a good margin to shoot
to point of aim. Once I got it adjusted, I used medium
Loctite threadlocker to keep it in place, and the Double Badger shot true to aim with both barrels for the rest of field test.
(click to enlarge)
22 Magnum Testing
For the 22 Magnum tests, I wanted to find out how accurate the Double
Badger would be shooting at close range and at 50 yards. Per my earlier
discussion about the problem with using hollow points at less than 50
yards on small game, I wanted to test full metal jacket rounds at
squirrel targets at close range. I also wanted to see what kind of
accuracy I could get at 50 Yards using standard hollow point hunting
ammo. I figured if it was accurate in both of these tests, the Double
Badger would have the kind of well-rounded accuracy needed in a survival
situation.
15 Yards, kneeling position- CCI Maxi-Mag Total Metal Jacket 40 grain:
15 Yards, kneeling position- Winchester Super-X Full Metal Jacket 40gr:
50 yards seated position, using my knee as a rest. After testing several
different kinds of FMJ and hollow point ammo, the Double Badger seemed
to get maximum accuracy from Remington's 40 grain Hollow Point
ammunition. This was two 3-shot groups clustered close together. The
group in the bulls-eye was made after making a final adjustment to the
rear sight:
.22 Winchester Rimfire (WFR) Testing
15 Yards (45 Feet) freestanding. These did not hit to the same point of
aim as the .22 Magnum ammo, but still grouped tightly at this distance:
25 Yards (75 Feet) freestanding. I changed my point of aim to compensate
this time. The group opened up quite a bit, but was still reasonably adequate for
most small game hunting.
45 Yards using a tree branch as a rest. With a bit of practice, I could
probably keep all the .22 WRF rounds in the target, but at this
distance, the Magnum rounds are far superior in accuracy.
15 Yards freestanding using Remington 36 Grain
Hollow Point
Golden Bullets:
25 Yards freestanding using CCI 40 grain
Velocitors.
As you can see in the photo below, at 25 yards, the groups start to
really open up, and it becomes difficult to hit small targets with any
consistency. Up to 20 yards, however, the adapter performed well, and
would be great for taking small game without destroying edible meat as
you would with a Magnum round. For shots past 20 yards, I'd use .22 WRF
or a .22 Magnum Full Metal Jacket round, but this is certainly a great
option either way.
410 Shotgun Testing
20 Yard Birdshot Pattern testing
Remington 2.5" 410 #6 Game Load, 20 Yards:
Winchester 2.5" 410 #6 Game Load, 20 Yards:
Estate 2.5" #7.5 Shot, a high value\low cost shotgun ammo made by Federal, 20 Yards:
Surprisingly, larger 3" #6 loads didn't pattern as well in the Double Badger at 20 yards.
Winchester Super-X 3" 410 #6 Shot, 20 Yards
Federal GameShok 3" 410 #6 Shot, 20 Yards
The Double Badger did however like 3" Federal Game-Shok 11/16th ounce using #7.5 Shot:
Winchester Super-X 3" 11/16 ounce #4 shot also patterned well out of the
Double Badger. A simple adjustment of the aiming point would have put a
nice pattern of shot into the target.
25 Yard Testing
At 25 yards, the 2.5" shell patterns begin to really thin out, which is
no surprise. Most 410 shotguns reach their pattern limitations at this
distance. This is where the larger 3" shells really start to dominate
over their smaller 2.5" counterparts due to their higher shot count.
Winchester 2.5" 410 #6 Game Load, 25 Yards:
Remington 2.5" 410 #6 Game Load, 25 Yards:
Estate 2.5" #7.5 Shot, 25 Yards:
3" Birdshot Shells
Remington 3" 410 #5 Shot, 25 Yards:
The Remington 3" #5 shell definitely performed well at 25 yards, but
Winchester's 3" #4 Shot, and Federal's 3" 7.5 Shot seemed to put
consistently more lead into the targets at this distance. The Federal
#7.5 Shot load in particular was outstanding, and would be a great
all-purpose bird and small game round in the Double Badger.
Champion Turkey Target pattern at 25 yards using Winchester's 3" High Brass #6 ammo, a popular 410 turkey hunting load:
The Double Badger would have definitely been effective at this range:
45 yards!
After playing around with Winchester's 3" #4 Birdshot load, I found that
it consistently patterned farther than any other load in this test,
including the #7.5 loads. I decided to test its limits by seeing at how
far a distance I could still hit a large squirrel/small rabbit sized
target. I was amazed to find that I could repeatedly hit one of these
targets at 45 yards. As shown in the photo below, the pattern is thin,
but 6 pellets still struck their mark:
At this distance, an average person with limited marksmanship experience
would have difficultly hitting a target this size with a rifle
barrel using open sights. The same person laying the bead of the Double
Badger's 410 barrel with this type of load would have a much greater
likelihood of bagging a survival meal. This is the reason most survival experts
consider shotguns, even as small as the 410, to be superior survival
weapons over .22 rifles for most people.
Slugs/Buckshot
Federal 3" #4 Buckshot
Federal 3" #4 Buckshot, 15 Yards, freestanding:
Winchester 3" 000 Buckshot
Packing a whopping 1,000 foot pounds of energy (as much same energy as a
44 Magnum round), Winchester's 3" 410 000 Buckshot shell slings out 5
individual 000 buckshot at the speed of sound, giving it enough
knock-down power to make it a viable round for
dangerous animal defense.
15 Yards freestanding (NOTE: the mark without the hole is where the wad hit the target and bounced off):
25 Yards Freestanding. The pattern is still tight enough at this distance to take a deer:
Slug Testing
The Brenneke Silver Slug is the most powerful 410 slug on the market,
and also one of the most accurate. This makes it an excellent choice for
use in wilderness survival applications. The Silver Slug packs the
energy of a 41 Magnum handgun according to this
forum discussion, will out-penetrate a 10mm handgun round.
50 Yards with open sights shooting from a kneeling position:
I was pleasantly surprised to see this kind of accuracy out of a smoothbore shotgun barrel:
TRIGGER/EXTRACTION
The Double Badger's 410 Shotgun trigger was light and crisp, with no creep.
The 22 Magnum trigger was fairly light, but did have some creep in it.
Overall, I'd say the triggers are above average as far as feel and pull
weight are concerned. As far as extraction goes, all 410 shells came out easily. The 22 Magnum shells
needed a slight effort to pull out the emptys, though nothing terrible.
CONCLUSION
So what is my impression of the Double
Badger after spending 6 months in the field with it? Outstanding. After
putting a 1000+ rounds of mixed ammunition through it without a hitch,
and seeing how effective it was shooting a variety of rifle and shotgun
ammunition, I'm happy to report that the Double Badger turned out to be a
very competent wilderness gun.
Due to
its weight, it won't be replacing the ultra-light Springfield M6 rifle
any time soon. However, the Double Badger just might be what fans of the
defunct but highly popular
Savage Model 24 22/410 Camper's Companion have
been looking for. Fans of the Camper's Companion should feel right at
home with the Double Badger, since both guns weigh virtually the same
(5.75lbs), have wooden stocks, and have a similar barrel arrangement and
overall length. Where the Double Badger improves upon the Camper's
Companion however, is that it has an easier to use double trigger system,
high visibility sights, and the ability to fold in half with just the
squeeze of a lever.
Of course, it will take many
years to see if the Double Badger has the long term durability of the
Savage, but considering the amount of rounds I fired without any issues, I'd say the Double Badger is off to a very promising start.
Improvements? Yes. The Double Badger could really benefit
from a synthetic stock to trim some of its weight (are you listening
Choate Stocks?). The Double Badger is also screaming for a soft case to
keep it protected while carrying it folded out in the field. Also, maybe
my test gun was a fluke, but based on my experience with having to
adjust the rear sight to get the gun to shoot to point of aim, I'd like
to see better a factory sight-in test before the Double Badger is
shipped.
On a side note, the
Double Badger is able to shoot both barrels at the same time. Shooting
both barrels of the Double Badger isn't quite like shooting both barrels
of a 12 Gauge Double Barrel Shotgun, but try shooting 3" 000 Magnum
Buckshot and a 22 Magnum out of this relatively light gun at the same
time, and it will give you one serious grin!
Even
shooting the barrels one at a time, the Double Badger was truly a fun
gun to use throughout testing. It was especially fun to shoot the 410
barrel right after dusk, when targets were more difficult to see. The
high visibility sights made it a cinch to consistently blast small soup
cans into the air at 25 yards even in the waning light.
I think what makes the Double Badger such a great wilderness
gun is its flexibility. With it's 22 Magnum barrel, and shooting a
combination of Magnum rounds mixed with lower powered ammo such as .22
Winchester Rimfire or using a .22 Long Rifle Adapter, you have the
potential to take the smallest of game all the way up to turkeys and even small deer.
With the
410, loaded with Brenneke slugs, the Double Badger could serve as a big
game hunting rifle out to 50 yards. With 3" 000 Buckshot, you
could defend against dangerous predators. Loaded with birdshot,
the Double Badger could be used to bag birds out to 25 yards, and small
game all the way out to 45 yards using larger #4 Birdshot.
This
awesome flexibility is what makes the Double Badger shine, and would
make it a
great survival weapon to carry on ATVs, pack horses, 4x4s, and bush planes. With a street price of between $300 and $350,
I would buy this gun for the shotgun alone. The rifle barrel is just a bonus.
4 out of 5 Stars (Highly Recommended)
About the author
Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)
