See, this is where things have gone off the rails.

The "survivalists" and preppers with their "SHTF" rifles have co-opted the term by association.

The discussion used to be based around a light, compact, easy to stow and carry rifle that could be used to help you survive in the wild by enabling you to hunt small and medium game while you either await rescue or walk out to civilization.

To a lesser extent it's also a means to defend yourself against wolves, etc, although that's about 95% hollywood BS. Unless you are in a really remote area and/or the wolves are really hungry, they are going to avoid people like the plague, since they associate humans and their smell with pack mates getting shot or trapped.

"Survival rifles" have traditionally been rifles like:

- the USAF issued bolt action telescoping wire buttstock Harrington Richards M4 .22 Hornet survival rifle that used to fit in the seat pan survival kit in an ejection seat;

- the slightly larger break open over and under M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon based on the same concept in combinations of .22 LR/.22 Hornet, ,22LR/.410, and .22LR/.45 Colt. This also includes the Springfield Armory and CZ civilian M6 Scout.

- the USAF issued bolt action Armalite AR-5/MA-1 .22 Hornet survival rifle where the components all fit in the buttstock.

- Military based civilian survival rifles like the the Armalite AR-7, subsequently made by both Charter Arms and Henry. It is a semi-auto version of the AR-5 where again the entire rifle fits in the stock, and will float in water in that configuration.

- Civilian back packing rifles like the Chiappa Little Badger or the Savage Model 42.

- And finally take down versions of a number of .22 LR and centerfire rifles - (10/22, Model 39, 9422, Model 92 and Model 94 WInchester take downs, Marlin Model 70, Browning SA22, Ruger PC carbine, etc, etc, etc.

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Then we start to have some "drift" away from what a survival rifle actually is.

The current Chiappa M6 X Barrel is a derivative of the M6 in the form of the their enlarged version of it using a 12 gauge barrel on top and a .22 LR barrel underneath. They also include their X-Caliber inserts for .380 auto, 9mm, .357 Magnum, .40 Smith & Wesson, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, 20-gauge shotgun and .410 caliber shot shells, and of course you can shoot .38 special in the .357 Mag, and .44 Special in the .44 Mag.

However, given that all those inserts weight 4.5 pounds all by themselves, it's really stepped over the line into post apocalyptic prepper territory. It's a shoot what you can scrounge approach, - except it ironically does not include inserts for the civilian/military .223/5.56 NATO, .308/7.62 NATO, 7.62x39, and 5.45x39 rounds that are likely to be most commonly found in any self respecting post apocalyptic science fiction fantasy.

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There is also the current USAF issue 5.56x45mm NATO GAU-5A, which is based on the AR-15/M4 series.

However it also deviates from the traditional definition of survival rifle. Then again the USAF is upfront about it as it is classed as an "aircrew self-defense weapon", not a "aircrew survival weapon".

It's basically an M4 carbine modified to a take down configuration with a folding pistol grip to make it small enough to fit in a seat pan sized survival kit. (You can get a civilian version of it from Midwest Industries that uses a Cry Havoc quick release barrel system.)

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Unfortunately, if you do an internet search for "survival rifle" the vast majority of hits and reviews will be for the "SHTF" flavor of mis named "survival rifle".