Any interest in AR-7 "Survival Rifles"?

CPO Ted

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I'm kind of new here so I thought I'd ask before posting some stuff. Is anyone interested in AR-7 "Survival Rifles" built by various manufacturers from the 1950's to present?

I own 3 of them, 2 Charter arms and a "Gen 1" from Henry Repeating Arms (HRA). I have worked hard to understand them, make them work correctly and do some modifications. I have written a number of articles on them.

For a number of years they were pretty terrible, however, the most recent generation (there are 4 distinct generations of HRA AR-7s) are really pretty good rifles. If there is sufficient interest, I'll post some stuff, if not, I won't.

The photo below is of My Gen 1 HRA AR-7. Many years ago I upgraded the stocks and the sights as well as some of the internals to improve the trigger and it's pull as well as to eliminate failures to fire and eject.

Its a great little rifle for guys who like to tinker.


AR7 002.jpg
 
I'd never heard of it before. Interesting design, particularly broken down. I'm going to have to look into them some more.
 
I've always liked the idea of the AR-7. .22LR is a notoriously finnicky round to run reliably in semi-auto. Lots of fooling with mags and different brands/lots of ammo needed to work, which stinks, because finding your rifle's "favorite" ammo may be difficult. I've never seen a .22 that cycles every brand of ammo on the shelf. I shoot competitively more weekends than not, and have wanted to get into the steel challenge muscle memory game as a way of cross-training for USPSA. For a rifle, the AR-7 is balanced right between the hands, which is ideal for quick traverses. If the trigger can be worked and the action tuned for cycle reliability, I'd certainly consider picking one up. What do you think, can it be built for speed?
 
I've always liked the idea of the AR-7. .22LR is a notoriously finnicky round to run reliably in semi-auto. Lots of fooling with mags and different brands/lots of ammo needed to work, which stinks, because finding your rifle's "favorite" ammo may be difficult. I've never seen a .22 that cycles every brand of ammo on the shelf. I shoot competitively more weekends than not, and have wanted to get into the steel challenge muscle memory game as a way of cross-training for USPSA. For a rifle, the AR-7 is balanced right between the hands, which is ideal for quick traverses. If the trigger can be worked and the action tuned for cycle reliability, I'd certainly consider picking one up. What do you think, can it be built for speed?

I agree 100% with you about .22lr. ammo. The way that's its primed is responsible for a number of failure-to fire. Worse, the AR-7 loses a lot of firing pin energy to its wobbly and friction-filled fire control group. Finally, the striker portion of the firing pin of the AR-7 is very small. You'll note that the imprint of the AR-7's firing pin is on the top in the photo below. The imprint on the bottom is from a Ruger 10/22.

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I know it's not the size, but the energy with which you strike the primer of a rimfire cartridge that matters, but striking such a small area means you are more likely not to hit any of the primer material.

The trigger of the AR-7 has been best described as "poor, VERY poor" from the beginning. I have seen trigger pulls in these rifles as high as 7.5 pounds, side play over .017 inch and "wobble" that cannot be believed (click here) and over travel a mile long. The hammer bounces off the walls getting to the back of the the round losing a lot of energy with every bounce.

The current generation (gen 4) of the HRA AR-7 survival rifle are the best ever built. Trigger pull is down to 3.25/3.50 which is pretty good for a field rifle. Its also a lot smoother.

A mod to the mags helped a lot, but it's just a bandaid. I think the mag for a "survival rifle" should be able to be disassembled for cleaning.

The good news? the new HRA trigger and hammer will fit into all of the previous AR-7's. And the hammer and trigger can be shimmed to take up the "wobble" and over travel can be taken up ... and STILL have a very safe field rifle. I think all of this can be done for less than $25.00 including a new trigger and hammer from HRA.

A new steel barrel runs about $125 at AR-7.com. It tights up the groups a bit. And there's some stuff you can do with the peep sight.

It will never be a target rifle, and in .22lr, I don't think much of it as a "survival rifle". But if you like to tinker ... and want to learn ... a pawn shop Charter Arms or Survival Arms AR-7 could be a lot of fun.
 
Seems like the AR-7 was one of those great ideas that shoulda been more popular than it was.
Aside from James Bond shooting down a helicopter with one, they never really got their due.
Absolutely everyone, including myself, that has ever handled one has always said, "I'm gonna hafta get me one of these." Then they walk away with their hands in their pockets.
Back when they were seen more often, the Mini-14 was more of the rockstar plinker and then they were totally eclipsed by the $100 SKS and $88 case of ammo. After awhile, they just sorta disappeared. Haven't seen one at a gunshow in about forever, really.
Of course, now that they're rare and expensive, I'll probably crowbar my wallet open and get one. :wink:
 
Seems like the AR-7 was one of those great ideas that shoulda been more popular than it was.
Aside from James Bond shooting down a helicopter with one, they never really got their due.
Absolutely everyone, including myself, that has ever handled one has always said, "I'm gonna hafta get me one of these." Then they walk away with their hands in their pockets.
Back when they were seen more often, the Mini-14 was more of the rockstar plinker and then they were totally eclipsed by the $100 SKS and $88 case of ammo. After awhile, they just sorta disappeared. Haven't seen one at a gunshow in about forever, really.
Of course, now that they're rare and expensive, I'll probably crowbar my wallet open and get one. :wink:


At first Armalite built a pretty good, reliable one. Armalite sold the AR-7 to Charter Arms and after a while quality dropped off. People started calling them "Jam-O-Matics". Charter Arms sold them to Survival Arms and the AR-7's reallky went down hill. Eventaually, Henry ended up building them. The first generation was as bad as everything that came before, 3 generations and nearly 20 years later, HRA is building a much better AR-7.
 
I really love the concept of a light weight .22lr semi-auto that can be broken down to a small light weight package. I went a different direction though:

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I remember the not so great reviews of AR-7's over the years.
 
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I really love the concept of a light weight .22lr semi-auto that can be broken down to a small light weight package. I went a different direction though:

I remember the not so great reviews of AR-7's over the years.
Nice 10/22. They are great rifles.
 
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The beauty of the 10/22‘s is they can be modified, upgraded just like the AR 15 platform.
Right out of the box, meh.
In my humble opinion

The AR 7 was originally designed for the Air Force right? As a varmiint rifle for downed airmen.
 
I have two Henry ar7’s. I first got the black version about 10 yrs ago. Ive put a lot of rounds through her and haven’t had a single issue. I would be interested in hearing about the mods youve done to make it better.
My son and I enjoy the rifle so much I purchased the western viper version last year. The only bad thing is not enough mag storage in the stock. Would like to get two more in there.
I also have a few lever action rifles in 22 and a golden boy 357. Also great rifles. Love my Henry’s !
Co worker just got me on the ruger kick. Anybody have any tips on barrels? I’m debating building verses buying new and modding.
 
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