Italian Firearms Group has started shipping the Kodiak Survivalist, a side-by-side double rifle chambered in .44 Remington Magnum. If you’ve been looking for a packable, capable rifle that doesn’t look like it was designed by a committee at a tactical trade show, this one deserves your attention.
What It Is
The Kodiak Survivalist is a double rifle — side-by-side barrels, two triggers, two shots ready to go. That’s not a gimmick. For backcountry hunters and anyone who spends time in bear country, the manual simplicity and immediate second-shot capability of a double rifle is a genuinely practical choice. There are no extractors to fail, no magazines to lose, and no cycling to fumble when something large is coming at you fast.
Davide Pedersoli built this one to be compact and light enough to actually carry. The 18″ barrels keep the overall length to 34.25″, and the whole package weighs 6.17 lbs. The 1:20″ twist with 6 grooves is sensible for .44 Magnum, a cartridge that doesn’t need a long barrel to do its job — it runs efficiently out of shorter tubes, which is exactly why it works well here.
The Specs
- Caliber: .44 Remington Magnum
- Barrel length: 18″
- Twist: 1:20″, 6 grooves
- Overall length: 34.25″
- Weight: 6.17 lbs
- Frame: Color-case hardened
- Stock: Oil-finished walnut
- Optics: Pre-drilled rib, optional Picatinny rail available
The color-case-hardened frame and oil-finished walnut aren’t just cosmetic choices — both age well and hold up better in field conditions than synthetic alternatives that look good in a display case. The optional Picatinny rail is a practical addition if you want a red dot or low-power optic for faster acquisition.
The Case For It
.44 Magnum out of an 18″ double rifle is a legitimate short-to-medium range option for deer, hogs, and bear defense. It’s not a 300-yard rifle, and nobody’s pretending it is. What it is: a light, fast-handling, reliable two-shot platform you’ll actually want to take into the field. The double rifle format also means zero legal complications in jurisdictions where semi-autos are restricted.
The Kodiak Survivalist is imported by IFG (Italian Firearms Group) out of Amarillo, Texas, the same importer behind Pedersoli, Tanfoglio, and F.A.I.R. in the U.S. market. MSRP has not yet been announced publicly. We’ll follow up when pricing and availability details are confirmed through IFG dealers.
I love the .44 Magnum cartridge and I really love it out of a carbine or rifle. I like it so much that I bought a second break-action rifle chambered in .44 Magnum–with a threaded barrel so I can use my suppressor with it.
I have taken several white-tailed deer with .44 Magnum, my longest shot being about 95 yards.
If you select proper ammunition, it is a very respectable bear stopper. For a very large bear stopper, I would probably load full-power cartridges with 305 grain hardcast bullets. Coming out of a rifle barrel, those will have some serious velocity and energy at close range–enough for stopping even a really large bear at 20 yards I would have to imagine. (One popular “full power” loading produces a muzzle velocity around 1,800 feet-per-second and muzzle energy of about 2,200 foot-pounds.)
While I love the .44 Magnum cartridge, I am not initially loving this particular rifle as a bear-defense rifle. First of all, why not make it with 16-inch barrels for an even more compact package? Second, there has to be a way to reduce the weight to about 5 pounds. And maybe even shorten the butt-stock a bit to reduce overall length even further? (Rossi’s LWC break-action rifles are 31.5 inches long whereas this thing is 34.25 inches long. And Rossi’s LWC break-action rifles weigh about 3.8 pounds whereas this thing weighs 6.17 pounds, although that isn’t an entirely fair comparison since Rossi’s break-action rifles only have one barrel.)
As for it being a side-by-side rifle, I am having a hard time imagining being able to switch fast enough between barrels at a charging bear (if the first shot fails to stop the bear).
Having said everything above, this could be a nice hunting rifle.
Looks nice, not something I really have a use for though.
Not that I really need a use, but it’s still nice to have one.
My first reaction was, why not a semi-auto for even simpler and faster followups?
My second reaction was, what time zone was this submitted in? Was it a day early because someone misremembered that detail?
Felix,
An Italian firearm manufacturer designed this rifle. I am almost certain that many other countries ban semi-auto firearms which would limit where the manufacturer can export/sell them. If that is the case, then a side-by-side double-barrel rifle with separate triggers is the next best thing. I guess.
I agree. In Africa (where this cartridge isn’t the best choice), a double gives an immediate follow-up shot without legal hassles.
In the US, it’s basically a two-shot semiauto that costs 3-4x an equivalent ten-shot semiauto.
MSRP is up, a hefty $2705. On the upside, the official specs on both the Pedersoli and ITF websites list the weight as only 5.73 pounds, half a pound lighter than stated in this article.
I can’t help but get hung up on 18 inch barrels being considered short. I would imagine this is a concept that would be of nearly identical function in the 12-14 inch range even loaded for lever action pressures. With that said absolutely on the 305g hardcast (underwood’s version was fun), they do well even in my redhawk.
Yes and no. Yes, I would really like to have a double rifle. However, not in .44 Magnum. For $2000, a double rifle in any of the common rifle calibers would make more sense. Even at short distances, rifle caliber ammunition will provide much more potent ballistic performance. It does not have to be exotic or rare calibers. .300WM would be more than enough.
Why two triggers? In shotguns, it’s understandable, as each shotgun barrel may have a different choke installed, so you might want to choose which barrel to fire depending on which choke you wanted. In a double rifle, though, with both barrels chambered in the same cartridge, there’s no reason to need to choose which barrel to fire first.
Just keep it one trigger and have the trigger alternate between barrels automatically like Stoeger’s coach guns. Or are two triggers considered more reliable than one trigger? I never had a failure to fire with Stoeger coach guns.
Yes, they’re considered more reliable for dangerous game hunting.
In a lot of ways it’s a throwback but the idea is that if a trigger fails you have a backup, which is nice when you’re being charged by the animal, which is rather intent on killing you.
They also prevent you from accidentally firing both barrels at the same time, which would be a problem in numerous ways with big bore double rifles.
I suppose I’ve seen dumber firearms, but I don’t remember when.
two shots, then run like hell? That Grizzle isn’t going to be happy when he catches you.