Savage 42 Takedown (.22 LR / .410)

The Savage 42 Takedown is a break-action combination gun: a .22 LR rifle barrel on top and a .410 bore shotgun barrel underneath, each holding one round. Savage pitches it as a survival, truck, and camping gun, and the layout explains why. The rifle barrel handles squirrels and rabbits at rifle distances, while the .410 barrel takes birds on the wing and small game at close range, so one gun covers both kinds of foraging without carrying two.

Takedown is a single button push that separates the barrels from the stock, and the gun ships with a bug-out bag sized for the broken-down package. Assembled, the 22440 measures 35.75 inches and weighs 6.1 pounds, with 20-inch carbon steel barrels in a satin black finish, a 1:16 twist on the rimfire barrel, a black synthetic sporter stock with a 13.5-inch length of pull, and two sling studs. Sights are a front post and an open V-notch rear, and the adjustable rifle sights come off to make room for a scope base.

The trade is capacity. Two shots before a reload is fine for a pack gun that lives in the woods, but it is not a defensive firearm, and it weighs well over the 3.5-pound Henry U.S. Survival AR-7. Choose the 42 when you want shotgun capability in the same packable footprint; choose the AR-7 or the Ruger 10/22 Takedown when you want a magazine-fed .22 instead. Savage also sells a 22 WMR/.410 version, a compact-stock version, and OD Green and Flat Dark Earth finishes.