Armscor VR60

     Notes: The VR60 is basically what you get when you design a semiautomatic, magazine-fed magnum shotgun and base it on the AR-15.  The result is a firearm that, while it is obviously based on the AR-15, looks a bit rounded and lumpish, almost like the rubber training-aid M16s that US troops call “Rubber Duckies.”  Armscor is a burgeoning company, but one should note that many have found its recent products wanting, and the even on its web site, many of the links don’t work.  The VR60 is an inexpensive shotgun, as I said rough in its polish which is becoming a minor sensation due to its use of the AR-15 base design.  The controls mimic those on the AR-15, it breaks down similar to the AR-15, and is taken care of similar to the AR-15.  It uses the same Stoner-type direct gas impingement system. Though it looks like it has a removable box magazine, this is simply for looks; the real magazine is a tubular magazine hidden by the lower handguards (which also explains the peculiar lumpish shape of the handguards).  Nonetheless, there is a button where the normal AR-15 magazine release would be – but it in fact allows the tubular magazine to be unlocked and removed. Except for the barrel and the working parts, the construction is largely polymer, including the proprietary magazines.  The VR60 package comes complete with three screw-in choke tubes; the base choke of the barrel is Extra Full, while the tubes are for Full, Modified and improved Cylinder.  The carrying handle is removable, revealing a Picatinny Rail; this runs up to about 5 centimeters behind the front sight.  There is another rail under the handguard, as well as short rails (about 50 millimeters long) on each side of the front of the handguards. The barrel is a 20-inch heavy-profile barrel, without a flash suppressor, and the rear sight is a simple fixed rear peep sight. The front sight is a ramped blade.  The butt does have the extra feature of a recoil pad.

Fime Group/Molot VPR-12

     Notes: This shotgun is sometimes simply called the Vepr-12, as it is based on the Russian shotgun, and is almost identical.  However, it has several differences from the standard Vepr-12, starting with it’s odd-length 19-inch chromed-bored barrel., tipped with a cap protecting threads for aftermarket muzzle devices.  The barrel is hand-fitted.

     The VPR-12-03 is very different from the Russian Vepr-12, starting with a Magpul MOE handguard and pistol grip.  Atop the receiver behind the front sight is a Picatinny rail for optics or other devices.  Under the gas block is another short length of Picatinny rail. The gas block is lower than the standard Vepr, and the shotgun has more AK-like front sights.  The rear sights are derived from those of the RPK and adjustable for windage and elevation. Like many US-made or modified AK-type weapons, the VPR-12-03 has a bolt hold-open device. The fire selector is improved and easily moved with either hand. In addition to the bore, the chamber, receiver shaft, and gas chamber are chromed. The stock is metal and side-folding, with a cheek pad to help aim the shotgun, and a pad to soften recoil.  The magazine supplied with the VPR-12-03 is a polymer 5-round magazine, though it can take any polymer, alloy, aluminum, or polymer Vepr-compatible magazine.  Like the Vepr, the VPR-12-03 uses an extended magazine well that allows the magazines to be inserted straight in, without the hooking in and canting like the AK series.

     The VPR-12-11 has the same receiver, rails. Pistol grip, handguards, internals, and barrel, but the folding stock is replaced with a fixed walnut thumbhole stock.  (It really looks good, too) The stock has a raised cheekpiece and a recoil pad on the butt.  The VPR-12-12 is the same shotgun, but has a 22-inch barrel.

Heckler & Koch M1014/Benelli M4

     Notes: The US military has used pump-action shotguns as far back as the Philippine Insurrection, when the Winchester Model 1897 was used to good effect against the Moros.  As time progressed however, the military has always longed for an accurate, reliable, and rugged semiautomatic shotgun for use.  The US military made do with the Mossberg M-590 pump-action design for almost a decade before the announcement was made of a new adoption.  Tests were held starting in 1990 by the US Marines for a combat shotgun; the first tests were held in 1996 in which the Benelli M4 Super 90 was judged to be superior to existing models in use.  However, while Benelli did not have any large presence in the US military establishment at the time, Benelli licensed the design to Heckler & Koch for sales in the US, and the US military type-standardized the new shotgun as the M1014.  Elsewhere (including among US police forces and civilians), the design is sold through Benelli and is known as the M4 Super 90.  Testing by the US military began in 1999, with first fielding in 2001.

    The M1014 is a semiautomatic, gas-operated shotgun; during the testing of the weapon during trials it fired over 25,000 rounds of ammunition without having to replace any major parts in the process.  The operating system is self-regulating, without the need for adjustment for special ammunition (though some must be hand-loaded directly into the chamber), and different-length shells can actually be loaded into the M1014’s tubular magazine at the same time.  The operating system also allows changes to the barrel length with only minimal adjustments.  (Standard barrel lengths for the US military are 18.5 and 14 inches, but Benelli says other barrel lengths are quite possible.)

     The M1014 makes use of a special telescoping stock arrangement that allows the user to use the stock retracted for close-quarters battle if needed; however, the M1014 may also use two other stocks – a fixed stock with a pistol grip, and a fixed stock with a conventional layout.  Each stock has a recoil pad.  The stocks are interchangeable without tools, but the collapsible stock is standard for the US military.  The receiver of the weapon is made with a MIL-STD-1913 rail on top so that the weapon can mount optical sights or laser aiming modules on top of the receiver rather than on the tubular magazine.  The tubular underbarrel magazine includes a speedloader to enable quick reloading. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This is an extremely rare weapon in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

HK/Olin CAWS

     Notes:  The CAWS (Close Assault Weapon System) was designed in response to a US Army requirement for a combat shotgun that blended the attributes of a shotgun and an assault rifle.  It was to provide a devastating weapon for urban warfare.  Olin designed the special ammunition for the weapon; Heckler & Koch designed the weapon itself.  The ammunition consisted of two rounds: a shot round that used tungsten pellets with some armor piercing capacity, and a round using tungsten flechettes that could penetrate most known body armor of the time as well as light vehicles and some armor plate.  Later, loadings of standard shot and lead slugs were developed, but lead slugs never functioned reliably in the CAWS, and they were replaced by jacketed steel slugs and tungsten slugs.  The loadings were put into special all-brass belted cases; standard plastic or paper cases will not function in a CAWS, but normal brass shells will. There were two barrel lengths tested, 18.63 inches and 26.94 inches; both of these used a special extra full choke designed for close combat.  To make the CAWS more unusual, it has an optical sight with a 3.5x magnification over the receiver in a carrying handle.  Unfortunately, the CAWS fell victim to budget cuts in the late 1980s and disappeared from history.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon was in limited issue to certain rear-area troops, as well as some infantry formations and special operations troops.

     Merc 2000 Notes: This weapon disappeared until after Desert Storm, when it began to reappear as a limited issue item to troops expected to do urban combat.  It was also issued to military police.

Sarsilmaz/Franchi

     Notes: Sarsilmaz and Franchi teamed up to create two shotguns, both similar in the internals, less so in the externals.  They are intended to be civilian weapons and are only moderate civilian and police usefulness.

     The Franchi has wood furniture and an alloy receiver.  The grip is via a straight-wristed neck, and the receiver is highly engraved and ornate.  The barrel has a full-length sighting rib with a front sight bead. External metalwork is largely matte black, and the shotgun has a gold-plated trigger.  The Leopard is a synthetic stocked shotgun with texturing on the pistol grip wrist and fore-end in rubber. The sighting rib is elaborate, and the front sight is a fiberoptic strip. The receiver has considerable engraving.

Omega/Norinco SPS-12

     Notes: Though distributed exclusively by Omega Weapons Systems of the US, the SPS-12 is actually built in China by Norinco. 

     The SPS-12 is sort of an enlarged M1 carbine made into a shotgun.  It is a large, heavy weapon, which makes it easy to handle recoil, but also makes it sort of a beast to tote and handle.  The action is basically a variation of the M1 Carbine action, with an enlarged AK-style magazine and an AK-style magazine catch and release.  The standard barrel is bored for Cylindrical choke, and the receiver is made to military specifications and is cold hammer-forged of steel, as is the barrel.  The standard barrel length is considered to be 20 inches, but models with barrel lengths of 14 inches, 18.5 inches, and 24 inches.  (The latter is primarily used by civilian hunters.)  Stocks are of black polymer, and may be standard-type stocks or have a true pistol grip. The safety is ambidextrous, and the semiautomatic operation is by gas.  Sights are a ghost ring rear and ramp front; the SPS-12 is not drilled and tapped for scopes or scope mounts.  Feed is unusual for a shotgun, being from a box magazine; the magazines are in fact enlarged and modified AK-type magazines.

Daewoo USAS-12/ Atchisson AA-12/MPS AA-12

     Notes:  Originally a joint design between Daewoo and the American company of Atchisson, the USAS-12 was classified as a Class III destructive device in the US and Atchisson dropped out of the partnership, feeling there would be little or no US sales.  The original design was the Daewoo/Atchisson AA-12 Assault Shotgun, a selective fire shotgun designed to fire standard as well as exotic ammunition.  This was later modified by Daewoo in the hopes of US sales and renamed the USAS-12, but the large ammunition capacity of the magazines dashed hopes of this too.  Both weapons can be fed by large capacity box or drum magazines.  The weapon is designed like an assault rifle, and bears a superficial resemblance to the M16.  The low rate of fire helps keep recoil low, especially during automatic fire. 

     Since Daewoo could not find any takers for the USAS-12 either, they looked around for someone so sell the rights to the UASA-12 to, and in 1987, those rights were sold to Jerry Baber of MPS in the United States.  He too discovered that no one actually wanted to buy the weapon (which he re-named back to the original AA-12 name) for quite some time.  (More on that later.)  Baber and his MPS team also discovered that the USAS-12 could stand a great deal of improvement, and this began an improvement, testing, and re-testing period which would stretch to almost 18 years and 200 major and minor changes to the weapon.

     Some of the major improvements included using a tougher synthetic material for the shell.  Initially, only 8-round box magazines and 20-round drums were offered for the new AA-12, but later 32-round and 40-round drums became available in small numbers.  (MPS intends to produce more of them in the future, subject to the needs of US Armed Forces.)  The magazine well now resembles an enlarged version of that of the Thompson submachinegun, and the magazine catch and trigger/selector group are similar to that of the M16 series.  Fresh magazines can be inserted with the bolt forward or back.  The charging handle was moved to the top, and the sights mounted on elevated posts to see over the charging handle; a VersaPod folding foregrip was added under the handguard.  The charging handle is non-reciprocating.  Though the new AA-12 is not now equipped with ambidextrous controls, the US military has requested them, and they are planned for future models.  The weight, straight-line layout, a large gas piston, and a special Stoner-designed “constant recoil system” combine to reduce the amount of felt recoil.  Most of the internal parts and firing elements are made from steel, though they are enclosed in a two-piece synthetic shell, and the barrel is available in several different lengths.  Except for the 12-inch and 13-inch barrel versions, the new AA-12 is able to accept a standard M16-type bayonet.

     The reason MPS put their version of the AA-12 into limited production was a request by the US military (all branches, including the Coast Guard and SOCOM) for an assault shotgun capable of automatic fire, primarily for use in house-to-house warfare in Iraq.  (In fact, the large-capacity drums were SOCOM’s idea, as were the 13 and 14-inch barrel lengths.)  Though MPS intended to produce their AA-12 in black, the US military requested gray, tan, and then ACU-pattern AA-12s, and MPS obliged.  A MIL-STD-1913 rail was also requested for the AA-12, and should appear in late 2007.  The US Marines also have produced three new rounds primarily for use in their AA-12s: the FRAG-12, HEAP-12, and HE-Blast-12, which are also being procured by SOCOM.  A top-mounted sling was also requested, also to appear in late 2007; in the meantime, Buffer Technologies has already made one compatible with the AA-12.  Though the new AA-12 does not yet have an official military designation, it is already limited use in Iraq and Afghanistan, and MPS is shopping it around to other countries.  (It will not be sold to the military or police in the US, according to MPS.)

     Twilight 2000 Notes:  The USAS-12 received a surprising amount of use during the Twilight War, not only by the South Koreans, but by US, British, Australian, and Mexican troops.  They were used mostly by special operations units and by military police.

     Merc 2000 Notes: These weapons were favorites of gangs on the US West Coast, and were also used by police and military special operations units.