Combat Shotgun - The Long, So-far Fruitless Quest To Build A Battle Scattergun

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 3/3/20 | J Trevithick

[w1n1]

The shotgun is an iconic weapon most often associated with the pump-action badassery of action films and video games. While awesome in fiction, its use in the real world is limited to close combat and breaching doors, not to mention bird and deer hunting. Despite its drawbacks, a mystique surrounds the weapon, and soldiers as well as law enforcement officers still use them. The draw of the gun is so powerful that the Pentagon has spent several decades and millions of dollars to improve on the basic design.

In the late 1960s, the military and private companies started tinkering with prototypes for a super shotgun. Three decades later, questions about the weapon’s purpose and practicality on the battlefield doomed the project. The proposed super shotguns were revolutionary, but perhaps to a fault.

Since World War I, scatterguns have been a fixture in American military arsenals. In the trenches, where fighting could be brutal and often hand-to-hand, the short-range idea wasn’t a problem. In World War II, individual soldiers or Marines, especially in the Pacific, carried shotguns to help clear out bunkers or break up ambushes. The same situation persisted in both Korea and Vietnam, but even throughout these eras, the US Army and Marine Corps mostly issued the weapons to military police officers on guard duty.

At the time, Childers was an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va., as well as an officer in the Virginia Army National Guard. In 1969, Childers started work on what he hoped would be a radical new design dubbed the special operations weapon, or SOW. Childers based his initial concept on the needs of and feedback from Navy SEAL teams and Marine reconnaissance troops. The shotgun's features made it an attractive weapon for specialized units that often had very specific requirements. Read the rest of combat shotgun.

[Big Red Badger]

A Parkerized Mossy
with a
Bayonet Lug
Is Badass!

[Red Badger]

South Africa had the “Street Sweeper”.................

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armsel_Striker

[yarddog]

I read the article mostly then skimmed the rest.

Surprised of all the shortcomings of the pump shotgun. It strikes me that they are mostly imaginary.

I do personally prefer the semi auto tho.

[cuban leaf]

AA-12

Fully automatic.
30 rounds
Can fire 30 mini-grenades.
Virtually no recoil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWUYQo4UGY

I believe that is what they were using in the first Expendables movie.

[cuban leaf]

I have a remington 500 that jams sometimes. I found out the problem and all it takes to un-jam is drop it on the end of the butt on the ground. But it is a design/manufacturing flaw.

[Disambiguator]

Remington 500? Or a Mossberg 870?

[trebb]

Nothing like the sound of a pump racking a round in it to give one pause...sometimes a shotgun is the right tool for the job and other times it takes a different weapon...weight and other restrictions make us choose what to carry with us...

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Saiga with some drum mags makes a nice home defense weapon.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/853688193

[Anti-Bubba182]

That was it! I recall a video where an average sized female was firing the 12 gauge full auto with no problem. Very impressive!

[Red Badger]

Me want!.....................

[myerson]

The US has used shotguns in combat since its earliest days. I personally know that in ‘Nam the point man with the 12 gauge and buckshot was feared and effective. The is no better short range killer.

[cuban leaf]

I looked at both and chose the Remington 500. I get the feeling I chose poorly. But it works pretty well for the most part.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

AA12 is much better but mil only. AA12 has virtually no recoil. This thing has a little kick and the barrel drifts up, but since we cant have a full auto AA12 the semi auto version of the Saiga will do.

Auto to auto the AA12 is vastly superior. Round after round right on target with little to no barrel drift.

[from occupied ga]

On a side note i don’t believe that the new Vette is available to the general public yet.

Or to identify your location and have the bad guy immediately fire on you.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Brody prefers his with the drum maggy.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I have a remington 500 that jams sometimes.

I prefer my Mossberg 500 tactical. Mine never jams. Remington never could get the 500 right. I guess that's why they delevoped the 870.   </sarc>

[WinMod70]

I might have several pump shotguns. Some might be Model 12 Winchesters that perform flawlessly. One is Winchester 1200 which is a PITA. If you are very careful when loading, you can end up with one hell of a mess. The last one up the magazine doesn’t catch if your not careful and you end up with the action closed with one in the chamber, one under the carrier and one in the magazine. That is a mess and a pain to remedy. Probably needs a good cleaning.

[Manly Warrior]

As long as TL 2A or higher wearable armor exists...

Oh, and btw, one does indeed need to aim a shotgun.

Oth, your generic thug may not have thought it through and is wearing a toy mask and a t-shirt, I think I won’t take my chances....

[catman67]

That works out well in a Benelli. 7+1+1 capacity.