Available only from K-VAR, which bills it as “the finest personal protection shotgun in the world,” the newest version of the Molot-based Vepr is built by the FIME Group in Las Vegas, which modifies the Russian gun as imported into a form that allows it to conform to federal sales restrictions in the U.S. AK shotguns from Molot and Saiga have been offered before, but this is the first time one’s been sold with a fully functional side-folding stock, and the FIME/K-VAR partnership is the only source if you want a folder on this AK variant. BATFE frowns severely on importing certain guns with folding stocks. Previously, the Molot imports were either sold with a wooden thumbhole stock or had “folders” welded permanently in the open position for U.S. sales.

• RELATED STORY: K-VAR SAM7K-02 AK Semi Automatic Pistol

The key to the whole fuss over that folder lies in the distinction between “foreign” and “domestic” manufacture. In government terminology and context, it boils down to meeting the requirements of Title 18, Chapter 44, Section 922r of the United States Code, which prohibits folders on imported non-sporting shotguns (among other things), and/or adding a folder to such an import in otherwise original form once it crosses the border.

Essentially (and confusingly), the gun has to ditch the prohibited feature to get in and remain in that “neutered” import configuration after it does, or be modified to retain no more than 10 of the original listed parts that came on or in the gun to allow a folder on it. In other words, it would be illegal to import the VEPR-12 with a functional folder, or to add one after it passes customs without swapping enough U.S.-made parts into it to be legally considered a “domestically manufactured” gun. Clear as mud? That’s your taxes working hard for you there.

In this VEPR-12, FIME replaces certain Russian parts with U.S. versions, including the RPK-styled polymer handguards, the polymer pistol grip, the trigger, the hammer, the disconnector and the gas piston puck. Those are all manufactured by Arsenal, Inc. Once installed, the VEPR-12 is considered a “domestic” product, the import-configuration stock is converted to a fully functional folder and off it goes to K-VAR for distribution and sales.

Making The Grade

The VEPR-12 is a solid piece of ordnance, and the Kalashnikov adaptation is very well done. Weighing in at 6.85 pounds empty with a stamped receiver and a 19-inch barrel, the profile is familiar, and its operation should transfer easily for any AK rifle user. If you’re not previously an AK shooter, one major advantage this design has over tube-mag semi-autos is that it offers a very non-complicated drill to run it. Insert a loaded magazine, cycle the bolt to load the chamber, pull the trigger. Another advantage is the box magazine reloading (five at once, instead of one at a time), and, of course, the compact transport that the folder adds.

With a gas-piston action modified to 12-gauge dimensions, the VEPR-12 features basic AK controls—a right-side stamped safety that swivels up to cover the ejection port when activated, a paddle magazine release between the mag well and triggerguard, and battle sights graduated from 100 to 1,000 yards at the rear to mate with the classic front post protected inside two steel ears. The gas tube rides above the barrel, the fire control group contains a single-hook trigger and

the shotgun ships with a sturdy, detachable, five-round, polymer box magazine. The breakdown process for cleaning is mostly standard AK: Open the action cover and everything that needs attention is accessible in three seconds.

Kalashnikov designed his famous rifle in an era when ergonomics were not a part of the equation. The AK is not known for speedy manipulation and conveniently positioned controls, falling far short of its arch nemesis, the AR-15, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved on, and in this military-grade shotgun that’s exactly what FIME has done. Note that I said “military grade,” not merely “military style.” There’s a world of difference between those two descriptors.

Starting up front, that chrome-lined, 19-inch barrel comes threaded for use with an optional compensator or suppressor. The weight and gas action of the VEPR-12 already work well together to make the gun a relatively soft shooter, but a compensator could come in very handy for those who like to take full advantage of the 3-inch chamber, and it accommodates other add-ons like flash and sound suppressors. A thread-protector cap is also included.

The front sight is pure AK, a post adjustable for elevation by screwing up or down for fine adjustments and for windage by using an adjustment tool to migrate it left or right in the tower. But the rear sight is a modified version with a quick-adjust rotating windage knob on the right that moves the sight blade left or right in repeatable locking increments. Pull the knob out against spring-loaded pressure, rotate to the nearest notch increment, release and it’s locked in place. No tools are needed, and it’s very fast and stays put once you find your center zero. The tangent sight base is conventional, with the usual forward slider for normal distance increments.

The steel action cover is hinged at the front and un-losable if you clean the gun in the field, and unlike most AK-pattern covers, it’s sufficiently wobble free to make an optic genuinely usable when mounted on the alloy Picatinny rail that’s riveted on top. The cover’s latch is beefed up for added insurance by a small spring-loaded button on top that blocks the latch from going forward, unless the button’s depressed. This all combines for a very strong cover attachment, with or without an accessory on the rail.

Easy Operation

Under the gaping ejection port, the box mag slides up inside a mag well guide extension for very quick no-fumble/no-rock insertions, and the paddle drops it free and clear when pushed. One much-appreciated mod on this AK variant is the last-round bolt lock that the original AK rifle did not have; the big magazine’s follower locks the bolt open when you’ve shot it dry. A related bonus is the manual bolt-lock button just behind the mag paddle that enables you to lock the bolt open without a magazine inserted.

Another AK upgrade is the safety, which is a Kalashnikov component that nobody’s ever praised for its ergonomics. On this shotgun, a lower arm has been added to the rear of the stamped-steel safety on the right side, which lets a right-hander’s trigger finger switch it on or off, all without fully removing either hand from its firing position. The left side has half of an ambi safety setup—it can be thumbed on with the right-hand thumb without leaving the pistol grip, but not back off. Most new AKs typically incorporate a very stiff safety, at least until it wears its channel arc in the receiver’s surface with use, and the VEPR-12 is no exception. Out of the box, those safety upgrades can be used, but they’ll take some effort.

The pistol grip is reassuringly large, solid and well rounded with no hotspots. Sling use is always an issue on a folder, and here there are two opposing attachment slot tabs at the front end of the handguard and one wire swivel on the right side of the stock between the cheekpiece and the VEPR-12’s receiver. “Rock solid” would be an accurate descriptor for how well the stock locks in place, and it hinges to the left by pushing a strongly spring-loaded button located on the receiver’s left side, just above the pistol grip, forward to unlock it. To unlock it from its folded position and open up again, you push a latch-release button just inside the back of the receiver.

On the upper tube of the beefy stock, a very lightly padded, rotating, 4.25-inch cheekpiece offers a choice of four positions for right- or left-handed use, or to be kept out of the way entirely. It’s held securely in whichever position slot you use by a large plunger bearing against it at its rear, but it moves easily if needed. And at the back end there’s a ventilated, hard rubber recoil pad.

Boom Time

In the old stone quarry, I ran five loads through the VEPR-12 for patterning at 15 yards. The first, and tightest, was Federal’s LE 12700 that showed the sights were regulated low and right, which was quickly corrected without tools on the adjustable tangent rear. The gun had no problems in cycling 00 buck in either 2¾- or 3-inch shells. It was the same with the one #4 buck load. Charges ran nine, 12, 15 and 34 pellets, and even the widest spread of the #4 shot held inside a standard B-27 silhouette at that distance, through the cylinder bore choke. Any and all of these loads would have been a fight-stopper, and magnified by the speed of the gas action and the box magazine, this can be one extremely effective defensive or patrol package.

After the heavy-duty stuff, I also fired five rounds each of Federal’s #8 Game Load, Winchester’s #8 AA target load and Remington’s #8 STS target load to see how low the gas system could go. The Federal cycled perfectly, the Winchester did not cycle at all and the Remington cycled but didn’t lock the bolt back on the last shot. This is no knock on the VEPR-12. I didn’t expect it to deal well with target loads; that’s not what it’s built to do. This is just a note to say that if you plan to use lighter (and cheaper) stuff for practice through this gun, try a box before you buy a case.

Finishing up, I fired a quick three-shot group at 50 yards off a rest with Winchester’s Rack Master slug as well as its Super-X Foster-style rifled slug. There were no malfunctions, recoil was tolerable, and with those adjustable sights and the right slug, the gun could easily hit human-sized targets out well beyond 75 yards. Two other things to note are that the cheekpiece is for optics (I couldn’t get down on the sights using it) and that there was marked trigger slap while firing the hotter rounds.

• RELATED STORY: AK Upgrades: Top 13 AK Magazines & Drums

As it comes, and more so with an optional eight-round Molot magazine from K-VAR, the VEPR-12 is built for reliability, speed, quick reloads and serious firepower, all in the classic and easy-to-use-under-stress AK platform that involves none of the complicated ready routines required in other semi-auto shotguns. The folding stock that reduces transport and storage length by a good 10.5 inches goes a long way in justifying the higher cost of this pro-grade equipment at $1,199, and if you drive a cop car, this scattergun would be a serious contender for partner status.

For more information, visit k-var.com or call 702-364-8880.

Specifications

• GAUGE: 12, 3-inch chamber
• BARREL: 19 inches
• OA LENGTH: 29-40 inches
• WEIGHT: 6.85 Pounds (empty)
• STOCK: Synthetic
• SIGHTS: Front post, adjustable rear
• ACTION: Piston-operated semi-auto
• FINISH: Matte black
• CAPACITY: 5+1
• MSRP: $1,199

The post VEPR-12: K-VAR’s Close-Quarters Semi-Auto Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

With the berm cratered by nine slugs and our silhouette targets devastated with comically oversized holes, it was time to dust some flying clay—and give my shoulder a little break from high-brass punishment. The shotgun didn’t care what we fed it, but after 400 rounds, I sure did.

• RELATED VIDEO: New For 2016: FN America’s Civilian-Legal M249S

It was a good day, despite a few hiccups, and in the end I learned a thing or two. Here are those lessons, along with a breakdown of FN America’s 12-gauge Self-Loading Police (SLP) Competition shotgun.

Military Roots

FN America is the stateside subsidiary of the Belgian Herstal Group, which traces its roots to Fabrique Nationale d’Herstal (or FN Herstal as it’s known today), a company founded in the late 19th century to produce rifles for the Belgian military. The company has had close relations with the Belgian government, and increasingly more European governments (and ours) ever since. Its facility in Columbia, South Carolina, is the U.S. place of manufacture for the military hardware sold to the U.S. government, including the M4/M4A1 and M16 rifles, the MK46, MK48, and M249 SAW machine guns, and even MK19 grenade launchers.

Through FN’s network of factories and assembling plants around the world, which it shares with fellow subsidiaries Browning and U.S. Repeating Arms (Winchester Arms), the company also produces a range of tactical shotguns. According to a barrel stamp, my sample SLP Competition was assembled in Portugal by Browning. It ended up in my hands for a very strenuous field test.

Self-Loading Police

The Self-Loading Police shotgun debuted in 2008. After earning several prestigious awards, it made its way into the hands to local and federal law enforcement personnel, armed citizens and competitors. The M4-style front and rear sights (with the former affixed atop a post elevating it above the muzzle) helped accurately deliver slugs downrange, and the 6+1 capacity recommended it for true tactical work as a primary weapon.

Then came the SLP Tactical variant with a pistol-grip stock. Competitors, and some armed professionals, wanted a version with a little extra firepower, more minimalist sights (the M4-style sights obscure moving targets) and interchangeable chokes. Enter the MK I, with its 22-inch barrel, 8+1 capacity and a lack of M4-style sights in favor of a fiber-optic front sight and a rear leaf sight. The company also released a tactical variant with a pistol-grip stock—all of which led to the development of the SLP Competition.

Three Gunning

The FN SLP Competition shotgun is a good example of gear updated from police and military hardware to civilian sporting equipment tuned specifically for fast-paced, high-volume shooting, as epitomized by the 3-Gun competitions regularly attended by FN America’s competition team. With their direct input, as well as feedback from other top athletes, FN’s designers set out to adapt the Self-Loading Police to the competitive world. They succeeded.

It’s normal for 3-Gun competitors to fire 100 or more rounds in a competition—and to have that round count include #7 1/2 birdshot, buckshot and slugs. Often on the same stage. Often alternating back and forth. Frequently at different ranges.

This would drive a traditional shotgun shooter mad and over-tax their equipment. Thus, successful 3-Gun shotguns must handle a magazine tube full of a mix of birdshot, slugs and buckshot, being able to fire all three types of ammo at a time without jamming. The FN SLP Competition shotgun I tested did all of this and a lot more.

The SLP Competition retains the gas operating system found throughout the SLP line along with the rifle-style synthetic stock and generously oversized handguard with extremely positive checkering. New to this model is the vent rib that runs down the length of the 24-inch-long barrel for dissipating heat mirage. We sent a box of birdshot downrange as fast as we could fire and reload, and this vent rib worked as well as one could hope.

Also new is a flip-up rear leaf sight with graduated markings for helping get slugs to center-mass at longer ranges. There has been a move away from tactical-style sights on competition shotguns back towards the traditional- for-shotguns front bead (which cannot properly be called a sight). This has to do with field of view: Tactical-style sights can obstruct too much, especially when trying to track and lead a moving target, while the bead is ideal for the shotgun’s traditional role against moving targets. The SLP Competition has such a bead, and the rear leaf sight folds forward into an opening on the vent rib, where it rides out of the way as you blast moving targets. If you want it to help you put slugs downrange or take down poppers, you can easily flip it up with the thumb of your support hand.

Shotgun stages—indeed, whole matches—can be won through shotgun reloading speed. There are few things slower than reloading a shotgun, but competitors using the “load two” or “quad load” technique can cut this time drastically. To help them, the SLP Competition has an enlarged loading port, and the cartridge lift is milled so you can push your thumb into the magazine tube to seat the last cartridge, and retrieve your thumb again without snagging yourself. These details are absolutely crucial to a modern 3-Gun shotgun, and work wonderfully on the SLP Competition.

The SLP Competition’s design is extremely well thought out from first to last. But how does it shoot?

Torture Test Survivor

Testing began at the trap and skeet range, where the SLP Competition came up to bear like a dream and tracked targets smoothly. The receiver is made of milled aluminum for a balance of strength and light weight, and the light weight resulted in fast handling and very little overswing.

The SLP strikes many balances. Lightweight shotguns kick like mules, which slows down follow-up shots. Heavy shotguns push more than kick, but are slower in handling. By using its short-stroke gas operating system, FN has engineered a system that actually soaks up some recoil energy, lessening the perceived recoil, while the synthetic stock and handguard and aluminum receiver help lighten the overall shotgun. That’s how you get a 45.6-inch-long shotgun that weighs only 7.5 pounds, and which magically doesn’t kick like a mule. This was particularly appreciated as I eclipsed 250 rounds on the trap range in under two hours.

My test SLP Competition shipped with an Invector Plus extended choke tube in Improved Cylinder size, which should be capable of handling any of the shot and slugs that the 3-inch magnum receiver can chamber. It’s not the best choke for trap—a modified or light-full choke would have been better—but it’s dynamite for skeet and blasting the kinds of clay targets frequently encountered at 3-Gun matches. With the Invector Plus choke system, you can switch chokes to suit individual stages.

Another balance is found in how the SLP’s operating system handles the pressures associated with high-brass, 3-inch magnum cartridges as well as low-brass birdshot cartridges without users having to change out any pistons, springs, plugs or other components. The SLP Competition chewed through a number of Federal high-brass #6 hunting loads (which are great for swinging heavy spinner targets) along with all of the slugs and buckshot we fed it.

The Winchester, Federal and Remington slugs still kicked pretty hard but flew straight and printed groups that suggest excellent accuracy beyond our test shooters’ abilities.

A significant amount of buckshot went downrange from Winchester, Federal, and some odds and ends from the gear bag, all to tremendous effect. At 10 yards, the pellets generally stayed in a 6-inch circle—big enough to give you some margin of error on steel plates and tight enough to give you multiple steel-toppling hits when you do your part while firing.

I loaded a few magazine tubes with a random combination of slugs, buckshot and birdshot—a cringe-worthy test for any upland wingshooter’s gun, but a good representation of a day at the range for a 3-Gun shotgun—and was happy to see that even mixed loads from mixed manufacturers fired with a reliable cadence.

FN’s previous SLP models ship with two gas pistons—one for target loads and light-recoiling defense cartridges, the other for full-power loads up to 3-inch magnums. The SLP Competition, though, ships with a middle-ground “competition” piston—basically the heavier-load piston designed to work with the hotter end of the lighter-load spectrum as well. This explains how it handled the 3-inch magnum turkey loads we put through it along with 1,600-fps slugs on down to the Federal target loads that push 1 ounce of shot downrange at approximately 1,250 fps.

The only loads it didn’t like were cartridges less powerful than the manual suggests: birdshot loads with 1 ounce of shot at only 1,180 fps.

My normal testing protocol for firearms involves evaluating guns as they come straight from the manufacturer without any special tweaking—just a gun in its box, the same as you would get at the store when you buy one new. That preserves the validity of my tests. This shotgun appears to have come to me after some prior usage for most likely testing or a photography shoot. As a result, the plugs in the receiver (that fill the threaded holes where you can mount an optic rail) were not installed.

I discovered during testing that they do need to be installed, as this can allow a surprising amount of gas to be exhausted from the open holes, especially when firing high-brass shells in the SLP Competition. Installing these plugs closes up the openings to solve the issue. Of course, this does not at all reflect what you would find in a new-out-of-the-box SLP that would come with them installed.

Built To Win

Internally, the SLP Competition has a very simple, hearty design—we didn’t clean it at all over 500 rounds, and it worked flawlessly no matter the type of ammunition we loaded, how fast we fired it, how dirty it got, or how hot the parts got with rapid fire. That’s some truly awesome performance.

• RELATED STORY: FN Sentinels: 8 Battle-Proven ARs From FNH USA

Externally, the matte blue anodized finish on the receiver and magazine tube extension looks great and can withstand the weather, and the synthetic furniture laughs at rain, dust and hard use. This is a shotgun you can dump into a 3-Gun barrel without worrying if you’ll bend the magazine tube—it’s seriously robust, protected by an aluminum sleeve and interfaces with a beefy gas port / brace that’s welded to the barrel—or scratch the furniture. It’s designed to be abused, as only action shooting competitions can abuse a shotgun, and launch some serious payloads quickly and accurately. And it survived our field evaluation, de-spite me not reading the manual before hitting the test range. That’s an accomplishment for any gun.

For more, visit fnhusa.com or call 703-288-3500.

Specifications

• Gauge: 12; 3-inch chamber
• Barrel: 24 inches
• OA Length: 45.6 inches
• Weight: 7.5 pounds (empty)
• Stock: Synthetic
• Sights: Fiber-optic front, flip-up lead rear
• Action: Semi-auto
• Finish: Hardcoat anodized blue
• Capacity: 8+1
• MSRP: $1,449

The post SLP Competition: FN America’s 12-Gauge Range Master appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

While semi-automatic shotguns have many capabilities, few have demonstrated the “hell and back” reliability necessary to gain the confidence of users in life or death tactical situations related to law enforcement or personal defense. But Benelli has adapted its ultra-reliable inertia-driven operating system to the tactical shotgun format with the new M2 Tactical, thus challenging assumptions as to what a tactical shotgun should be.

• RELATED STORY: 12 Mission-Ready 12-Gauge Scatterguns

With the M2 Tactical, form follows function, and its svelte lines contradict the often brutish appearance that generally distinguishes other tactical shotguns.

Inertia Driven

As mentioned, the M2 Tactical uses Benelli’s patented inertia-driven operating system. Most auto-loading 12-gauge shotguns use some sort of gas-operated feeding system. Benelli’s semi-automatic M2, however, uses the kinetic energy generated by the gun’s recoil to eject the spent shotshell and load a fresh one. The system has three basic moving parts: the bolt body, the inertia spring and the rotating bolt head. The M2 operates by means of a spring that is freely interposed between the locking head and bolt. As the gun recoils during firing, the inert breech bolt moves about 4mm forward, compressing the spring. When the spring is fully compressed, it overcomes breech bolt inertia and thrusts the bolt to the rear under residual pressure. The gun extracts the shotshell case and reloads another shell from the magazine tube. The spring pressure is designed to delay the opening of the action until after the shot has left the barrel. This compensates for the different pressures produced by shotshells of varying power.

The Benelli M2 Tactical’s Inertia Driven system is simple; there are fewer parts to add weight to the shotgun or to fail mechanically. This system also eliminates the drawbacks of barrel-recoil systems, such as barrel vibration and increased recoil impulse, as well as gas-operated systems, which tend to be less reliable after significant use due to fouling in the receiver area.

The Benelli M2 Tactical features a matte black receiver, an 18.5-inch barrel and a dull black forend and buttstock. The shotgun has a 5+1 capacity, and its 3-inch chamber allows it to accommodate both 2¾- and 3-inch shells.

While an M2 Tactical variant with a pistol-grip stock is available, I decided to evaluate a model with a standard buttstock profile, and my test sample came with Benelli’s innovative ComforTech recoil-reducing stock. Benelli reports that the ComforTech system reduces felt recoil by as much as 48 percent compared to a standard stock. This is accomplished via the ComforTech cheek and buttstock recoil pads as well as 12 synthetic chevrons placed in the stock per computer analysis to better absorb and extend the recoil impulse. While “soft shooting” and “12 gauge” generally don’t go hand in hand, relatively speaking, the 6.7-pound M2 Tactical is one of the softest-shooting 12-gauge shotguns on the market.

More notable features include the Benelli M2 Tactical’s LPA ghost-ring sights. The front sight features an M16-style post protected by steel wings. The rear sight is a ghost-ring-type unit that is fully adjustable in terms of windage and elevation. It too is protected from abuse with protective wings on either side. The front sight sits about a half an inch above the barrel to work with the rear ghost ring. In short, these sights allow a user to take full advantage of the wide range of 12-gauge ammunition available. Shooters can easily get slugs can on target out to 100 yards, while buckshot or other shot sizes are well accommodated for quick, accurate placement at close range.

Rounds Downrange

When it comes to combat or personal defense, shotguns are generally used to fire two primary types of shells—slugs and buckshot. This ability to handle different styles of projectiles is what makes shotguns so versatile and popular. To that end, I tested the Benelli M2 Tactical with Hornady Critical Defense and TAP buckshot as well as Federal Premium FliteControl 00 buckshot. The Federal Premium and Hornady buckshot loads utilize special wads for tighter buckshot patterns, thus offering a longer effective range. Generally, buckshot loads have a velocity between 1,100 and 1,600 fps, giving over 2,000 foot-pounds of muzzle energy for each of its multiple projectiles.

I also tested the M2 Tactical with a Winchester 12-gauge PDX1 loading that combines a 1-ounce slug and three 00 pellets. This load harkens back to the “buck-and-ball” loads used by our forefathers against the British in the Revolutionary War, and each other during the Civil War. Another interesting slug load from Winchester was also tested: the PDX 1 segmented slug. Winchester designed the segmented slug to break into approximately three 150-grain pieces upon impact with a penetration limited to 13 inches. In other words, the Winchester PDX 1 segmented slug load would be perfect for law enforcement officers or civilians concerned about overpenetration with traditional slug loads. Lastly, I also tested standard Federal, Winchester and Wolf 1-ounce slugs with the M2 Tactical. These slug loads were designed primarily for hunting but work fine in any role, including defense. Slugs leave the muzzle between 1,200 and 1,600 fps depending on how they’re manufactured, producing over 2,500 foot-pounds of energy and offering a trajectory of +3 inches at 50 yards to give a 100-yard zero.

The Benelli M2 Tactical arrived with an Improved Cylinder choke tube screwed into the end of the cryogenically treated barrel. Other choke tubes were included as well. However, Improved Cylinder seems to be preferred choice for tactical shotguns contemplating both slug and buckshot use. The M2 Tactical generated spreads of 3 to 8 inches at 10 yards with the test buckshot loads. The buckshot spreads increased to 8 to 22 inches at 25 yards, with the Federal and Hornady loadings being on the tighter side of the average. The Federal and Hornady 00 buckshot loads are the epitome of the new-age tactical buckshot, taking advantage of advances in wad technology to keep patterns tighter and thus extending the effective range of 00 buckshot.

Many would comment that one should resort to slugs for shooting beyond 30 yards. But testing with the Federal FliteControl and Hornady Critical Defense/TAP buckshot indicated otherwise. The M2 Tactical was able to place the majority of these pellets on IPSC-style silhouette targets out to 40 yards, and each of these pellets strikes with the force equivalent to a .32 ACP or .380 ACP. Slugs performed in the 3-inch range at 50 yards in the M2 Tactical, with the ghost-ring sights proving their worth. I regularly hit man-sized steel targets at 100 yards and was certainly satisfied to see the 1-ounce Federal, Winchester and Wolf slugs rocking the target back on its base after each hit.

Low-recoil buckshot or slug loads need to be tested with any semi-automatic shotgun, and here the Benelli’s inertia-driven operating system proved its reliability. I fired nearly 400 various rounds in this test and evaluation, including low-brass birdshot and low-recoil buckshot and slugs, and the Benelli shotgun ran flawlessly every single time.

After creating patterns to measure the M2 Tactical’s accuracy, I ran the shotgun through some exercises to get a better appreciation of how the Benelli M2 Tactical shotgun handles and performs. The relatively limited capacity of shotguns—compared to high-capacity rifles—is often listed as a major detriment of choosing a shotgun over another weapon type. One of the most crucial things to learn when choosing a shotgun for defense is how to keep it from running out of ammunition. So, my drills involved moving between barricades and engaging shoot/no-shoot targets. Another drill was based on engaging several shorter-range targets out to 30 yards before having to engage a designated target placed 90 yards away. This necessitated switching from buckshot to a slug before engaging the final target. Thankfully, the Benelli’s manual-feeding cutoff button made this a simple task to accomplish.

Ready To Serve

A great test for any shotgun—especially one destined to be used in a CQB setting—is shooting tossed clay targets. This also helps test the shotgun’s reliability using lots of low-recoiling ammunition. The M2 Tactical ran low-brass Winchester #7.5 shot without a hitch. The ghost-ring sights weren’t a problem at all, with the rear sight “disappearing” naturally as my eye focused on flying clay targets and the front sight leading them. The low-brass shells were also a welcome relief in terms of recoil. Yes, the M2 Tactical is a semi-automatic and comes equipped with the ComforTech stock, but it still is a 12 gauge, and anyone telling you any different should be scrutinized. The recoil wasn’t prohibitive and I certainly got used to it, but it’s not a good idea to start using a shotgun after a day of firing an AR or AK because of the significant increase in recoil.

• RELATED STORY: Shotgun Guide: 10 Ultra Fast Smoothbores

While the pump action has been the standard for law enforcement and personal defense for decades, time behind the Benelli M2 Tactical will convince anyone that it is worthy of consideration as a powerful, reliable alternative.

For more information on the Benelli M2, visit benelliusa.com.

The post Benelli M2: A Gun Test with the 12-Gauge Speed Demon appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

Welcome to the newest feature on Tactical-Life.com—our “Gun of the Month.” Each month our editorial staff gets together and discusses the world of firearms and what gets us genuinely excited. More times than not, you’ll see a new firearm as our selection, but being new is not a prerequisite for being our “Gun of the Month.”

The Gun

Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge

Why We Picked the 590 Shockwave

It’s hard to beat a short-barreled shotgun in close quarters, and now you can get something similar without all the NFA hassle. Thanks to its Shockwave Raptor bird’s-head grip, this particular Mossberg 590 is allowed to have a shorter 14-inch barrel without being classified as an NFA firearm per the BATFE.

RELATED VIDEO: Hickok45 Destroys Melons, Targets with the New Mossberg Shockwave Shotgun

How this came about is a little confusing (the picture will become clearer when you read lawman Tim Stetzer’s analysis in the August/September issue of Athlon Outdoors’ Tactical Weapons magazine), but suffice it to say that this 12 gauge is easier to own than previous shorties, and it comes with a 5+1 capacity of 2.75-inch shells, as well as a tang-mounted safety.

Remington recently unveiled its own 870 version, but this model holds one more shell, and the Mossberg’s pump has a nifty strap to prevent your support hand from sliding in front of the muzzle.

The MSRP on the Shockwave comes in at $455.

For more information on the 590 Shockwave, please visit mossberg.com.

The post Mossberg 590 Shockwave: Tactical-Life’s ‘Gun of the Month’ For May 2017 appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

When it comes to the Rossi 12 Gauge Shotgun Pistol’s power, seeing is believing. Of course the term “12 gauge pistol” should immediately evoke the idea that said gun is incredibly powerful.

The Canadian Gun Vault Inc. recently got its hands on the 12-gauge pistol, briefly, and dubbed it as “hands down, the craziest pistol” they’ve tested.

RELATED VIDEO: Fred Mastison Cuts Card in Half with Kimber K6s Revolver

The first shot leaves the shooter’s hands stinging for quite a while after firing. The second shot is so powerful that is knocks the target of the chain that’s holding it.

Watch the video above and check it out for yourself.

The post VIDEO: The Rossi 12 Gauge Pistol Actually Hurts Your Hand When Firing appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

A safety warning and recall notice has been announced for the Maverick Arms Hunter after the company, a subsidiary of Mossberg, discovered that a small number of the over/under 12-gauge shotguns were marked incorrectly.

• RELATED STORY: Mossberg Shockwave – Short-Barreled Fun Without the NFA Hassle

The issue here, the company says, is the fact that some Maverick Hunter shotguns have a chamber marking that indicates they’re chambered for 3 ½-inch shells, but the chambers are actually made for 2 ¾-inch and 3-inch shells.

All Maverick Hunter scatterguns are made with 3-inch chambers, not 3 ½-inch chambers. As a result, firing a 3 ½-inch shotshell through the shotgun could result in an increase in chamber pressure and cause the barrel to rupture, damaging your shotgun and potentially causing severe personal injury.

To determine if your Maverick Hunter is affected by this recall notice, check the right side of the barrel which is marked with a chamber designation just below the safety warning. If your shotgun says “12 Ga 3 ½” Maverick Hunter,” then your shotgun is affected by the recall. If that’s the case, stop using it immediately and follow the instructions provided by Mossberg below.

1. Please call the Product Service Center at (800) 363-3555 between the hours of 8:00 AM – 4:30PM EST or email us at service@mossberg.com to confirm that your shotgun is covered by this recall.

2. If your shotgun is covered by this recall, Maverick Arms will provide a prepaid shipping label for your current shotgun, for return to an authorized Maverick Service Center.

3. Once we receive your shotgun, Maverick will provide a free replacement shotgun of the same model and type (SKU 75445).

If you’ve sold or “otherwise disposed” of your Maverick Hunter, it’s requested that you provide the company with the contact info of the buyer so they can be contacted directly and given information about the recall.

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For more information about the Maverick Arms Hunter shotgun safety warning and recall, contact the product service center at (800) 363-3555, and visit mossberg.com.

The post Mossberg Announces Recall of Maverick Arms Hunter Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

Pistol grip “firearms” are all the rage these days. First came the Mossberg Shockwave. Not to be outdone, Remington followed suit with its Model 870 Tac-14. Then came the Nighthawk Tomahawk. Now there’s a new entry in the increasingly crowded market: the Black Aces Shockwave Magazine Fed 12 gauge firearm.

• RELATED STORY: Mossberg Shockwave – Short-Barreled Fun Without the NFA Hassle

This new model sports that Shockwave pistol grip you’ve come to know and love. In addition, it includes a billet Black Aces Tactical receiver; 4140 nickel plated bolt and slide and 17-4 stainless steel firing pins. The gun comes standard with a Mossberg corncob style forend, but it’s also available with an optional Black Aces Tactical Tri-Rail and Magpul AFG handguard. Another standard feature is a Black Aces Tactical magazine tube spike, giving it that badass look. Each firearm ships out with two five-round stick mags.

“Given the incredible success of the Mossberg Shockwave platform, it is only natural that we offer a magazine fed version of the weapon that has proven nothing short of a phenomenon. This as of late has been the question we have been receiving most: ‘When will Black Aces Tactical release a magazine fed version of the Shockwave?’ Now that weapon is a reality,” Black Aces Tactical founder and CEO Eric Lemoine told Soldier Systems.

• RELATED STORY: Big Green’s Shorty – Testing the Remington Model 870 Tac-14

Weighing in at 27.5 inches in overall length and compatible with most Mossberg 500 accessories, the Black Aces Shockwave Magazine Fed 12-gauge firearm is available starting at $499 retail.

For more, go to blackacestactical.com.

The post New: Black Aces Shockwave Magazine Fed 12-Gauge Firearm appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

The 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun is a staple of personal and home defense. It provides incredible stopping power with super-simple controls that make the manually operated scattergun a paragon of reliability.

Except, that’s not always true. Manually operated shotguns, including pump-, lever-and bolt-action designs, can malfunction if not operated forcefully enough, or too forcefully. Additionally, these same shotguns tend to be difficult for novices to reload under ideal conditions, and nigh impossible during the terrifying moments of a home invasion.

Furthermore, unless the gun has been legally registered as a short-barreled shotgun (SBS) with the BATFE and the owner is in possession of a tax stamp, they tend to be a bit too long and unwieldy to maneuver with indoors. Even those that are short enough to be handy in confined spaces are either exceptionally heavy or hold so few rounds of ammunition that the home defender might as well just use a handgun.

Ideally, a home-defense shotgun should be maneuverable, reliable, easy to reload and well balanced. It should be light enough for anyone to use, but not so light that the recoil becomes unmanageable. For years, I felt this mythical “perfect shotgun” was just that—a myth—until the LA-K12 Puma was introduced.

Becoming A Reality

The LA-K12 Puma is actually a product of cooperation between the Canadian company Lever Arms and the private Kuandian Shotgun Factory in Liaoning, China. The Puma began life as a riot gun for Chinese paramilitary and riot police units. This is why the gun looks so similar to the QBZ-95 assault rifle used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The designer basically scaled up the QBZ-95’s design to accommodate 12-gauge shells.

For the uninitiated, this means the LA-K12 Puma is a short-stroke-piston-driven, semi-automatic shotgun that feeds from box-type magazines. Because of the bulk of shotshells, and their tendency to rim-lock in a staggered or double-column stack, the magazines are single-stack only. This limits their capacity to five rounds. Thankfully, the Puma ships with two magazines, so an additional five rounds are only a second or two away. This is vastly quicker and easier than loading individual rounds into a magazine tube via a loading gate.

• RELATED STORY: Witness Protection 870 – The 12.5-Inch Short-Barreled US Marshals Shotgun

The LA-K12 Puma is a bullpup shotgun, meaning its action lies behind the pistol grip. Because of this, the gun is very short—a mere 31 inches from nose to butt—despite having a 19-inch barrel. The barrel is also threaded for external Saiga-type muzzle devices. This is important because the Puma ships with a cylinder-bore barrel. Companies like SGM Tactical manufacture muzzle devices like brakes, compensators and chokes so shooters can modify the Puma’s patterning and recoil to fit their needs.

Another great feature is the adjustable gas system. Though simplistic and consisting of only two gas settings—normal and wide open—it was versatile enough to run every test round with some tweaking. So, shooters who want to load up with birdshot for competition, steel for plinking or buckshot for home defense can dial their guns in accordingly.

CQB Brawler

The LA-K12 Puma’s bullpup configuration is ideal for use in cramped spaces like vehicles or the tight corridors of houses. Because its action is located so far rearward, the barrel can begin sooner and end less than a foot past the gas system. This means the gun is very compact, but consequently, very rear-heavy. When shooters insert a fully loaded steel magazine into the gun, it becomes even more so.

Unlike most magazine-fed shotguns, the Puma doesn’t utilize a forward locking tab to secure its magazines within the gun. Instead, it uses a locking latch on the left side of the magazine body. This configuration is a result of the Puma’s use of a magazine release button over a latch. Interestingly enough, this is the only gun with a push-button magazine release that would have objectively been better served with an AKM-style latch setup.

How? Well, the magazine release button is ambidextrous—which is good—but it’s also absurdly small. Think half the size of a .22 cartridge. Worse yet, it requires tremendous force to actuate, making it difficult and sometimes painful to use.

• RELATED STORY: Best Blasts – 30 New Shotguns to Get Pumped About in 2017

Additionally, it has a latch attached to the magazine well, but said latch is actually the bolt release. The logic behind this configuration eludes me, as swapping the two controls would have adhered the popular trends in bullpup ergonomics. This leads me to believe the setup is the product of either dodging litigation, or simply the adaptation of the civilian QBZ carbine’s strange push-button magazine release.

Since we’re on the subject of ergonomics, the safety selector switch is located in a truly bizarre spot—the buttstock. Like the magazine release, this design quirk is a holdover from civilian QBZ carbines. It consists of a rotating dial with “safe” and “fire” settings. The selector itself is fairly easy to use, but its location means right-handed shooters will need to reach into their armpits to toggle the selector. Left-handed shooters have it even worse; they need to cant the Puma 45 degrees toward their body and reach over the gun with their support hands.

The bolt release, however, is pretty user friendly. It’s oversized and easy to hit for both left- and right-handed shooters. Furthermore, due to its proximity to the magazine well, shooters can insert a fresh mag and close the bolt on said mag in one motion.

Another positive aspect about the Puma’s ergonomics is the built-in foregrip. It’s a strange shape, but one heavily influenced (read “copied”) by the QBZ rifles in service with the PLA. It’s an interesting design, allowing the shooter to use it as either an angled foregrip or a traditional vertical grip. One oddity about the latter method: It requires the shooter keep the thumb of their support hand inside the triggerguard.

Soft Shooting

The receiver shell covers more than 90 percent of the firearm. This keeps the design sleek and, more importantly, lightweight. Despite this, the LA-K12 Puma shotgun doesn’t produce as much felt recoil as most semi-automatic or pump-action shotguns. This appears to be the result of a combination of the bolt’s rearward travel being slowed by the gas system and how the gun’s layout gives the shooter mechanical advantage over the recoil impulse itself. The small foregrip in particular proved very useful for smaller shooters to better control the gun.

As for the trigger, it’s no Beretta over/under, but it’s good enough for combat or plinking use. My trigger scale measured it at around 8 pounds, with a spongy, almost early-Glock-like break. On top, the Puma has a full-length Picatinny rail for mounting optics or backup sights.

In testing, Aimpoint’s CompM4 worked well for engaging steel poppers and plate racks out to 25 yards. Beyond that, the cylinder bore tended to pattern its shot wherever it wanted.

In terms of reliability, the Puma performed as it should with any shell that would fit inside its magazines. This prohibited some slightly long buckshot shells and one slug with a protruding projectile. Some of the lighter-dram rounds had trouble cycling the action with the gas setting on less flow, but it ran without issue when the dial was turned to wide open.

Overall, the LA-K12 Puma is a cool design with a few flaws. The handiness and compact nature of the design tend to overshadow its ergonomic woes, but left-handed shooters might want to steer clear. If you can learn a slightly strange manual of arms, then buyers will have one of the most compact, softest-shooting shotguns made.

LA-K12 Puma Specs

LA-K12 Puma Performance

*Buckshot spread measured in inches at 15 yards.

For more information, visit leverarms.com.

This article was originally published in “Tactical Weapons” November/December 2017. To order a copy and subscribe, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post CQB Brawler: The LA-K12 Puma Bullpup Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

Less-lethal technologies have come a long way over the years, both in launchers and with munitions. Wilson Combat is known for its premier line of 1911 pistols, along with its 870 shotguns and AR-style rifles. And the company recently introduced a less-lethal 12-gauge launcher that is ready for duty right out of the box. Note that I used the term “launcher,” not “shotgun.” In my agency, we removed all firearms-related terms in our less-lethal program. We launch munitions, not fire them. It is a launcher, not a shotgun. This was deliberate, and so far, it has worked well.

The new Wilson Combat Less Lethal 870 combines all of the features that the company’s scatterguns are known for. As its name implies, it’s based on a new 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun, which has been a mainstay of American law enforcement for over 60 years. Designed with a steel receiver and dual operating rods, it is almost impossible to wear out one of these shotguns. And while my test model featured an 18-inch, cylinder-bore barrel, Wilson also offers a 14-inch-barreled CQB model that is controlled by applicable NFA laws.

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The Less Lethal 870 came equipped with a Mesa Tactical six-round sidesaddle machined from aluminum as well as Wilson’s Trak-Lock ghost ring rear sight, a very robust design that is adjustable for elevation. This is paired with a high-profile front sight with a green fiber-optic insert that allows for rapid target acquisitions and follow-up shots. A Wilson two-shot extended magazine tube increases the capacity of the 870 and includes a powerful, non-binding spring for reliability and a high-visibility green follower. This new follower improves feeding and provides a highly visible indicator when the magazine is empty. The extended magazine tube also has a mounting plate for a sling.

It’s also critical that a less-lethal weapon be identifiable as such. There should never be any confusion, and lethal ammunition should never be loaded or accessible to a less-lethal weapon. In recent years, this had been accomplished by making the stock and forend a different color. The Wilson Less Lethal 870 is available with either a traditional stock or a collapsible Rogers Super-Stoc. My test gun came with the latter as well as a Bravo Company Starburst Gunfighter grip. The mounting adapter is bright orange, as is the Hogue rubber-overmolded forend. An oversized safety is also included. Internally, Wilson slicks up the bearing surfaces to smooth the action and does a trigger job.

Defense Technology

To fully evaluate the Wilson Less Lethal 870, I reached out to Defense Technology, a subsidiary of Safariland that has been a leader in less-lethal and non-lethal munitions for over 30 years. The company provided me with a few less-lethal loads as well as a warning/signaling load. It should be noted that anyone using any of these munitions should first seek authorized training and be certified in their use. This is critical in understanding the intended purpose and proper deployment of these products.

The first load, and perhaps one of the most used in law enforcement, is the Drag Stabilized round. Commonly called a beanbag round, this is a tear-shaped bag constructed of cotton and ballistic material. The bag is filled with #9 shot and has a weight of 1.43 ounces. The design of the bag incorporates four tails that stabilize the round for improved accuracy and sustained energy over longer ranges. The round is made for incapacitation and distraction to gain compliance. The data sheet specifies a velocity of 270 fps. Due to the energy of this round, Defense Technology advises that the minimum safe range for use is 20 feet and the maximum effective range is 75 feet. This round comes in a standard configuration or as a marking round that contains a green marking powder.

Defense Technology specifies that the round “proves most successful in incapacitation when used within its effective range of approximately 20 to 50 feet. These ranges offer the necessary energy and accuracy to target the large muscle groups of the buttocks, thighs and even the knees of the subject. These areas provide sufficient pain stimulus and affect the mobility of the subject while significantly minimizing serious or life-threatening injuries.” The company goes on to note that “subjects are rarely incapacitated after only one deployment. Most encounters require two or three shots placed on the subject.”

On the range, the Drag Stabilized round chronographed at 298 fps. For accuracy testing, I set up a standard USPSA cardboard target at 20 yards. At that distance, the Drag Stabilized round left a significant indention in the cardboard but did not penetrate the target. I fired the group from a standing position and found the ghost ring sights were a significant advantage in accuracy. Aiming at a 3-inch Shoot-N-C bullseye, the Drag Stabilized round produced a 3.5-inch group with two rounds touching and one flyer. The difference between the point of aim and point of impact was also approximately 3 inches.

Rubber Rounds

I also tested Defense Technology’s standard- and high-velocity 12-gauge Stinger loads. Commonly called rubber buckshot, the Stinger load consists of eighteen .32-caliber rubber pellets with a rated velocity of 500 fps. These loads are designed for crowd management, or to gain compliance with a single subject. The standard load is a low- to medium-pain compliance round with a minimum safe range of 15 feet and a maximum effective range of 25 feet. The Stinger can be fired directly at a subject or skip fired. The recommended target area is “below the breast line.”

On the range, the standard-velocity Stinger load chronographed at 466 fps. I initially tested this load at 45 feet, which is beyond the recommended maximum effect range. However, in a crowd control or correctional environment, this is not an unreasonable distance. I also wanted to observe how the load patterned out of the Wilson Less Lethal 870. Again, using a USPSA target, I fired three rounds for a total of 54 pellets. At this extended range, 28 pellets, or 51 percent, struck the target. I then moved to 15 feet, the minimum safe range of the load. At that range, all of the pellets clustered into a tight group that measured approximately 4 inches in diameter.

The high-velocity Stinger load contains the same eighteen .32-caliber pellets but is loaded to approximately 900 fps, or twice the velocity. This allows the load to be more effective against subjects wearing heavy clothing and increases the maximum effective range to 40 feet. Due to the higher velocity, Defense Technology advises “this round should always be targeted at the belt or below to keep the rubber ball spread well below the breast line. Due to the higher velocity and the small caliber of the rubber balls, engagements within 15 feet may result in minor penetration of the skin in areas that are unclothed.”

The high-powered version chronographed at 1,048 fps. At 45 feet, it averaged 12 hits per round. I was on a dirt range and using a target stand, so I wasn’t able to skip-fire any of the Stinger loads into a target. However, in previous training, I found this to be a very effective and useful technique.

I also tested the Fin Stabilized round. This round consists of a single rubber round that incorporates fins to improve accuracy. The round weighs 62.2 grains and chronographed at a mild 435 fps. This round is used against a single subject to gain compliance through “medium-pain compliance.” According to the data sheet, “it is most suitable at close to moderate ranges, approximately 15 to 35 feet. It is not suited as a dynamic, high-energy, single-subject round for the purposes of incapacitation.” While the recommended maximum effective range is 35 feet, I wanted to see what kind of hits I could get on target at an extended range. At 60 feet, I was able to put three solid, center-mass hits on a USPSA target, with two of the rounds striking within 2 inches of the point of aim. The third round was a flyer that went high on the target. Interestingly, even at that range, the round penetrated the cardboard target.

More Specialized Ammo

The final round I tested was a warning/signaling load. This load is designed to produce 170 decibels of sound and 2.2 million candelas of light over the intended target. These rounds can be used in maritime environments, at vehicle checkpoints and other situations to gain the attention of a subject, vehicle or boat. They can also be used as a distraction and intimidation device in an outdoor environment. It is important to note that this munition is not intended for indoor use and should not be fired directly at a person.

The warning/signaling munition is available in 50- and 100-yard loads. Each is designed to be fired at a 5-degree elevation angle. When this tactic is utilized, the round will travel the respected distance and “deflagrate” at approximately 20 feet above the target. I tested the rounds on a rifle range that was set up with ranging stakes. Both loads deflagrated within a few yards of the applicable stake. I can also tell you that the 170-decibel report gained the attention of everyone on or near the range. The visible flash during a nighttime deployment would be a real attention-getter. These rounds could be utilized in areas where it would be unsafe to deploy a traditional flashbang, and they aren’t controlled by the BATFE like flashbangs.

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Defense Technology also produces a Ferret round that can penetrate barriers and introduce a chemical agent into the area. This round looks similar to the Fin Stabilized round but is filled with a chemical agent. These rounds can penetrate windows, hollow-core doors and other similar barriers and deliver either liquid or powder OC or CS. According to Defense Technology, the muzzle velocity of these rounds is 1,000 fps, and they have an effective range of 50 to 100 yards. This load is perfect for confined spaces and does not generate any heat or produce a fire hazard.

I have to admit that testing these rounds was a lot of fun, and I would see a valid application of some of the products for animal control officers and the civilian market.

Another Tool

Today, liability concerns and public perception are increasingly making the job of law enforcement more difficult. While the safety of the public, and the officers, will always be a priority, the appropriate application of less-lethal munitions offers one more option. It should be noted that standard protocol and training requires that when a subject has a weapon or presents an immediate danger to the officers or the public, less-lethal munitions should not be deployed without a cover officer providing a lethal-force option.

I would like to thank the great folks at Defense Technology for assisting in this article. These products are not readily available and their assistance was invaluable. As more agencies consider less-lethal options, the Wilson Combat Less Lethal 870 provides a complete ready-to-field platform that is reliable, functional and easily identifiable. In addition, this upgraded Less Lethal 870 is packed with quality components and backed by Wilson Combat’s customer service.

Wilson Combat Less Lethal 870 Specs

For more information, visit wilsoncombat.com and safariland.com.

This article was originally published in “Tactical Weapons” November/December 2017. To order a copy and subscribe, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post Less Lethal 870: Wilson Combat’s 12-Gauge Launcher appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

IWI US has officially entered the bullpup shotgun market with the launch of its brand new Tavor TS12.

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The Tavor TS12 is a 12-gauge, gas regulated, smoothbore semi-auto shotgun with three rotating magazine tubes that can each hold four three-inch shells, or five two-inch shells for a total potential mag capacity of 15+1 rounds. It’s fed and unloaded from either side, and it’s configurable for right or left side ejection and operation.

According to the press release, the Tavor TS12 features a patented “Bullhead” bolt locking system specific to this model. The barrel is 18.5 inches long with a three-inch chamber. The internal muzzle threads are compatible with Benelli / Beretta choke tubes. One choke tube is included with the gun.

Boasting an overall length of just 28.34 inches, the Tavor TS12 also comes with a one-piece, full-length 1913 Picatinny top rail with M-LOK accessory attachment points on each side of the forearm.

“The Tavor TS12 is our first entry into the home defense shotgun market and we held off until we had something unique and desirable that held the same characteristic quality and performance of the entire TAVOR line,” IWI US CEO Casey Flack said. “The TS12 is it; compact, easy to use and maintain, and with a large magazine capacity, it is ideal for home defense, as well as a sporting shotgun.”

Initially available in black, OD and FDE variants of the Tavor TS12 are also in the pipeline. MSRP is  $1,399. See the specifications below.

For more information, visit iwi.us.

Tavor TS12 Specs

• Gauge: 12 GA / 3″ chamber
• Weight: 3.6 kg (mag empty) / 8 lbs
• Barrel Length: 47 cm / 18.5″
• Overall Length: 720 cm (not including choke) / 28.34″
• Height: 260 mm / 10.23″ (from pistol grip to top)
• Magazine: Tubular system, 15-rounds total capacity (five 2.75″ or four 3″)
• Choke: Internal muzzle threads / Benelli / Beretta Type (one choke included)
• Picatinny Rail: One-piece, full-length 1913 standard top rail
• Safety: Cross bolt safety

The post Tavor TS12: Meet IWI US’s Very First Bullpup Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

Not to be outdone by Remington and its 870 DM (Detachable Magazine) shotgun, Mossberg has announced the release of its 590M Mag-Fed 12-gauge shotgun, which combines the famous 590 platform with a double-stack magazine. Available with optional five, 10, 15 and 20-round capacity mags sold as accessories, the 590M is touted as being designed for home security, tactical and competitive use.

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There are two 10-round models in this initial rollout: a standard version and a version with a tactical tri-rail forend with a full-length bottom rail and dual side rails for accessories.

More in the presser below:

Based upon Mossberg’s proven pump-action platform, standard features of the 590M include non-binding twin action bars; positive steel-to-steel lock-up; anti-jam elevator; dual extractors; anodized aluminum receiver drilled and tapped for convenience of adding optics; heavy-walled barrel; convenient cleanout magazine tube; and universally-recognized, ambidextrous top-mounted safety. With the included 10-round magazine, these 12-gauge 2.75-inch pump-actions have a total round capacity of 10+1.

Innovation is at the core of the 590M with the detachable magazine’s uniquely-designed, integral stabilizing ribs which engage the magazine directly to notches engineered into the receiver, ensuring a positive lock-up. The all-steel, heated-treated magazine release button and housing are optimally-positioned in front of the trigger guard for quick, ambidextrous access for unloading and reloading the 590M. The location of the mag release does not interfere with cycling of the action. The well-executed design allows for proper balance, better swing and controlled-manipulation with a full-magazine located at the center of gravity point.

The patented double-stack magazine is constructed with hardened-steel feed lips, over-molded steel shell ramps and an anti-cant, rounded follower to ensure reliable feeding. Other design features include an easy-grip, molded external shell; proprietary self-lubricating polymer magazine body; heavy-duty ASTM-A-228 music-wire magazine spring for prolonged service life; removable floor plate for ease of cleaning; and durable black oxide finish on the steel components. The proprietary double-stack magazine provides greater capacity in less magazine length versus competitor’s single stack magazine. For greater shooting flexibility, 590M magazines are available in 5, 10, 15 and 20-round capacities and are designed for use with 2.75-inch shells only. Transition quickly from a target load, to buckshot, to slugs, to less lethal with the convenience of designated magazines.

590M Mag Fed 10-Round (50205) – This base model includes all of the field-proven features of Mossberg’s pump-action platform with an 18.5-inch, heavy-walled cylinder bore barrel; bead sight; black synthetic stock and forend; matte blue metal finishes; and 10-round, double-stack magazine. MSRP: $721

590M Mag Fed Tri-Rail 10-Round (50206) – For greater versatility, this version features a Tactical Tri-Rail forend with full-length bottom rail and dual side rails for easy attachment of lights and accessories; 18.5-inch heavy-walled barrel with interchangeable ACCU-CHOKE choke tube system (cylinder bore tube included); protective heat shield; Ghost-Ring sight; black synthetic stock and forend; matte blue metal finishes; and 10-round, double-stack magazine. MSRP: $801

For more information on the Mossberg 590M Mag-Fed pump-action shotgun, please visit www.mossberg.com and watch the video below.

The post VIDEO: Introducing the Mossberg 590M Mag-Fed Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

One of the most useful and versatile guns in the Old West was the side-by-side double-barreled shotgun. It usually had a prominent place behind the front door of a pioneer’s cabin or “soddy,” putting meat on the table or keeping four- or two-legged predators at bay.

The double gun was also a favorite of stagecoach guards (riding shotgun) and express agents, plus peace officers of all kinds. Of course, outlaws took to it for the same reasons, and it helped in the robbery of many banks and stagecoaches or trains. Today, the side-by-side double gun is still popular with hunters and sees some defense use by homeowners, but it seems the biggest market for these guns is Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS).

I recently became aware of a side-by-side scattergun that appears to be tailor-made for CAS use: the American Tactical Road Agent. With that moniker and the image it projects, you can almost see a ghostly visage of Black Bart in the background pulling a holdup on a Wells Fargo stagecoach. Made in Turkey, this shotgun has a lot of features that modern-day “cowboys” will most likely appreciate.

Agent Details

The American Tactical Road Agent is an expansion of AT’s Cavalry shotgun line, and my test gun came in a segmented cardboard box containing the barrels, receiver/buttstock and forend. Also in the box was a plastic container with three choke tubes and a wrench, a safety padlock and two sample packets of Extreme Duty Gun Oil from Lucas Oil Products. Of course, there was also a detailed owner’s manual that included warranty and product registration information. Looking at the choke tubes, I wondered how to tell them apart until I saw some little “dash” cuts on the muzzle end. Per the owner’s manual, five dashes meant cylinder bore, four stood for improved cylinder (both of which were already installed), then you had modified, improved modified and full chokes. They screw in and out using the supplied wrench.

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I gave all of the components a look-see, and everything appeared to be well made, with very good marks for fit and finish. The left barrel was laser-etched with the gauge and chamber size, and the two are held together with a solid rib that has a shallow U-shape. Rising upward from the breech, there is a small v-shaped notch for a rear sight where the rib meets the breechface of the receiver. The barrels are 18½ inches long and fitted with a brass bead front sight. The bluing has a non-reflective matte finish.

The American Tactical Road Agent has a regular extractor, with no ejectors per Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) requirements. At the breech, the chambers are chamfered for easy insertion of shotshells.

The receiver is a shade darker and is made of aluminum alloy, which helps keep the unloaded weight down to 5.3 pounds. It is a two-piece affair, with the larger portion having the barrel hinge, barrel locking mechanism and breech lever. I’ll refer to the smaller portion as the action/trigger assembly, and it is just that, plus the triggerguard. Laser-etched engraving is present on the sides and top of the receiver as well as the bottom of the triggerguard, which I could honestly do without.

Old Look, Modern Tech

The really unique components here are the exposed hammers and the “Auto-Cock” action. You get the flavor of a “mule-eared” double gun with a modern technological advantage. When you break the action open to load or unload the gun, the exposed hammers are automatically put into the full-cocked position. As double guns must be staged open at CAS matches, all that is required is to pick up the open gun, load two shells, close the barrels and shoot. You don’t have to cock the hammers manually, and there’s no automatic safety to remember to take off.

Adding to this, a decocker lever can be found on the left side of the receiver, just below the hammer. It has three positions, with a small pointer indicating what position it is in. This corresponds with three small letters etched into the receiver just ahead of the lever. The first is “S” for safety, and this locks the triggers with the hammers cocked. Next is “F” for fire, and is “D” for decock. When the lever moves to the latter position, both hammers safely drop without striking the firing pins. The double triggers themselves have a silver finish. The front trigger is for the right barrel, and the rear fires the left barrel.

Hand-finished and fitted Turkish walnut is used for the buttstock and forend. My test gun had pretty decent figuring and attractive little “bird’s eyes” in the wood. I’m going to guess that the checkering on the pistol grip of the buttstock and the forend is done by machine; it is very fine and intricate. There’s also a ventilated recoil pad that is textured at the rear so as not to slip on the shoulder. The length of pull from the front and rear triggers is 15½ and 14¾ inches, respectively. The drop at the heel is 2¼ inches while the drop at the comb is 1¾ inches.

A large takedown latch is located on the underside of the forend, expertly inletted into the wood with a round indentation to access the release lever. The wood-to-metal fit shows the wood just slightly oversized where it meets the receiver, but I won’t shave off many points for that.

When I first picked up the shipping box, I noted that it was a bit heavy. A second look revealed three boxes of 12-gauge shotshells from AT, also produced in Turkey. There were 25 rounds in each box—what we would term “low brass” with a three-dram equivalent powder charge and one ounce of #7½ shot. These are 2¾-inch shells with red plastic hulls and natural brass bases. They are nicely rounded on the sides of the crimp so as to make chambering a bit easier. As low-brass #7½  shotshells are perfect for CAS use, I decided to use these at the next SASS match I attended.

I thought it prudent to pattern the American Tactical Road Agent to see how it would do at the range or in the field before I actually went to a match. While holes in the pattern won’t matter much for CAS use, I did want to make sure the shot column matched up with where I put the bead front sight.

Even though I planned to use the AT-supplied shells at the CAS match, I was curious to see what some other brands of 2¾-inch shells would do. I selected a box of Spanish-made Suprema Game & Target shells from TulAmmo, a 3.25-dram load with 1 ounce of #7½ shot, low-brass and red plastic hulls. I also chose another load from Spain: Rio’s low-brass, 2.75-dram Target shells filled with 1.12 ounces of #7½ shot and contained in blue plastic hulls. For targets, I decided to use Shoot-N-C B-27 silhouette centers from Birchwood Casey. They are about the size of many of the falling steel shotgun targets at SASS matches and show patterns well.

I figured that 10 yards was about the average distance for shotgun targets at SASS matches, so I used that as my patterning range. I put two of the B-27 targets side by side on my target stand, with a red dot in the center for an aiming point. Shooting the AT shells first, I noted two things: This lightweight scattergun kicks a bit, and the shot was going just a tad higher than my point of aim. The right barrel went slightly right of center, and the left barrel went slightly left, and it pretty much stayed that way with the Rio and Suprema shells, too.

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The AT shells had the tightest pattern for two shots. You have to remember that this gun has short 18½-inch barrels, plus the chokes were cylinder and improved cylinder, so open was the order of the day. The Rio loads patterned just a bit larger, and the Suprema shells opened up a bit coming out the left barrel. I really wasn’t concerned about the point of aim/point of impact, as it wasn’t enough to make a big difference on falling steel targets. The patterns were fairly uniform, with no gaping holes between the impacts on the targets.

Match Time

To really see how the American Tactical Road Agent would run, it took it to an SASS match. I used the AT #7½ shells, carrying them in a six-shell slide on my gun belt. I also decided to use two .45 Colt sixguns and a Model 1892 lever-action reproduction in .357 Magnum. We had fantastic weather for an early September day in Southern Indiana, which didn’t hurt anybody’s shooting one bit.

I signed up to shoot in the Senior category and, as usual, just shot against myself with the fervent hope for a clean match with no misses or errors. There were 26 shotgun targets spread across six main match stages, and I did not record a single miss. In SASS, if you miss a shotgun target, you shoot until it falls. One bobble I did have was with the decocker lever on the American Tactical Road Agent. It has to be fully in the “fire” notch if you want it to go off. I’d been showing the gun around to my compadres and neglected to check the lever—I was surprised when I pulled the front trigger and the right-side hammer didn’t fall.

Except for that single “Oh, Hades!” moment, the American Tactical Road Agent did just fine. It was fast to load with the hammers pre-cocked. When firing on four to six targets in a stage, the Auto-Cock feature seemed to make things even quicker and easier. Empty shells fell right out of the chambers without the little flip I normally give the shotgun once I’ve broken it open to help the spent hulls fly out. The front bead was fast to find. Even though it’s short, the shotgun swung smoothly from target to target. The recoil pad did a laudable job, and that fine checkering on the stock prevented any slippage during fast handling.

On the whole, the American Tactical Road Agent impressed and believe it is a solid value for the price. I’d like to see a matte silver or natural aluminum finish on the receiver in place of the engraving, but that’s all I’d change.

American Tactical Road Agent Specs

American Tactical Road Agent Performance

*Velocity in fps per MFG specifications and pattern in inches for two shots at 10 yards with cylinder and improved cylinder chokes. 

For more, visit americantactical.us or call 585-328-0945.

This article is from the winter 2018 issue of “Guns of the Old West.” To order a copy and subscribe to the magazine, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post American Tactical Road Agent: A Fast-Handling Scattergun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

The Fabarm STF 12 shotgun line is set to make its debut in the U.S. market this year.

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Built for tactical applications, the U.S. version of the Fabarm STF 12 is a 12-gauge, three-inch chambered (proof tested to 1,630 BAR) pump-action scattergun with an 18-inch chrome molybdenum steel barrel with a muzzle brake; 5+1 capacity; fixed composite stock; 12.6-inch length of pull; OAL of 36.54 inches; detachable ghost ring sights; Mil-Std 1913 rail at the 12 and 6 o’clock positions; enlarged trigger guard and steel sling-swivel plates.

While that’s what’s available for the U.S. market, the company has 12 different variants listed on its website. The Fabarm STF 12 is built around a hard-anodized ERGAL 55 (7075 aluminum alloy) frame.

The platform is insanely modular, so each variant can easily be changed into the other by switching out key components like the barrel, magazine tube and stock. Fabarm produces 11-, 14-, 18-, 20- and 22-inch barrels, and 4+1, 5+1, 6+1 or 7+1 feeding tubes are available, in addition to either a side-folding or fixed stock.

The MSRP for the two U.S. models is $1,195 in black and $1,285 in FDE. See the specs for each, along with a hype video, below.

For additional information, please visit Fabarm.com.

Fabarm STF 12 Specs

• Gauge: 12ga – 3″ chambered
• Barrel Length: 18″
• Bore Diameter: 0.72″
• Barrel Finishing: Black Non Glare
• Choke Tube: Inner HP accuracy
• Total Capacity: 5+1 rounds
• Cooling Jacket: Included
• Cooling Jacket Finishing: Black Anodized Non Glare/Cerakote Flat Dark Earth
• Stock: Fixed In Composite
• Length of Pull: 12.6″
• Stock Finishing: Black with Soft Touch
• Grip and Forend Finishing: Brown with Soft Touch (FDE model)
• Frame: ERGAL 55
• Frame Finishing: Black Anodized Non Glare/Cerakote Flat Dark Earth
• Sights: Detachable Ghost Ring Sights
• Muzzle Brake (Included)
• Mil-STD 1913 Rail at 12 o’clock (Included)
• Mil-STD 1913 Rail at 6 o’clock Under Forend (Included)
• Optional: Mil-STD 1913 Rail at 3 o’clock on Forend
• Optional: Mil-STD 1913 Rail at 9 o’clock on Forend
• Overall Length: 36.54″
• Proof Test: 1630 BAR

The post CONFIRMED: The Fabarm STF 12 Pump Shotgun Is Coming to the US appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

The advantages of being able to fire multiple projectiles simultaneously have been well established. In terms of firearms, even the earliest examples included cannons and blunderbusses loaded with multiple projectiles to beat back attacking soldiers, defend against highwaymen and board enemy ships. And different objectives could be achieved by varying the size of the projectiles. Very small and lightweight projectiles proved ideal for hunting birds while heavy projectiles were more effective for self-defense. Eventually, the projectiles, or shot, became standardized. We now have a plethora of shot options and loads for our modern shotguns.

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While many people think of a shotgun as more of a hunting or home-defense weapon than a tactical firearm, this is a mistake. The tactical shotgun can trace its roots back to World War I, when 12 gauges were equipped with bayonets and heat shields to clear trenches. Of course, historically, the shotgun has also been a law enforcement staple and has seen continuous service in the U.S. military. However, the preference has always been for pump-action shotguns, not semi-autos. When it comes to semi-automatic shotguns, the weapon’s strength has also been its weakness. It is not always easy to keep a semi-auto shotgun working reliably with different loads in extreme conditions.

Over the years, manufacturers have sought different mechanisms to make the semi-automatic shotgun flawlessly reliable with any type of load. Leave it to the oldest—and still family owned—continuously operating firearms manufacturer in the world to solve the problem once and for all. When Beretta, which is over 500 years old, introduced the 1301 Tactical, I was invited to a multi-day “Tactical Summit” to put the gun through its paces.

Plenty Of Features

The Beretta 1301 Tactical is a gas-operated, semi-automatic 12 gauge chambered for 2¾- and 3-inch shells. It has a tubular magazine with a 5+1 capacity using 2¾-inch shells (or 4+1 with 3-inch shells). The cold-hammer-forged, 18.5-inch barrel has a fixed cylinder bore, or what Beretta calls its “Optima-Bore,” and is rated for firing standard and steel ammunition.

At the heart of the Beretta 1301 Tactical is a distinct gas system that is designed to function with different loads and cycle faster than any other shotgun. Indeed, Beretta promises that the Blink gas system will cycle and fire 36-percent faster than any other semi-auto shotgun on the market. One of the main challenges to semi-auto shotgun reliability has always been carbon fouling. The 1301 Tactical uses a cross-tube gas piston with an elastic scraper that works like a gasket. This means the gas system cleans itself after every shot for continued smooth operation.

The controls on the Beretta 1301 Tactical are very well designed and thought out. The push-button safety located at the front of the large, polymer triggerguard is oversized and features a distinct red circle to indicate that the shotgun is in the “fire” condition. The safety will only function when the internal hammer is in the cocked position, and it’s reversible for left-handed shooters, although the manual does not explain how to do this. Fortunately, there is the Internet. The right-side charging handle is also oversized and easy to operate with gloves. To lock the charging handle to the rear for loading, the carrier-stop push button, located at the bottom rear of the cartridge loading gate, must be fully depressed. The right-side bolt release is also oversized and textured for easy operation.

More Details

The tactical sights are very robust and well protected, with a large white dot on the front sight post and two white dots on the fully adjustable ghost-ring rear. The sights can also be removed and replaced if you prefer a different sight picture or want to add tritium sights for low-light conditions, for example. A short 3-inch Picatinny rail system comes factory-installed on top of the receiver. This is well suited for a small red-dot sight.

The standard factory stock is very comfortable and well designed. The long polymer forend allows the barrel to sit low for a better grip and features aggressive checkering while remaining thin and comfortable. The polymer stock has matching aggressive checkering for a firm grip, and it’s also adjustable for length of pull. It comes with a very short 13.5-inch length of pull as standard to keep the shotgun very compact. Indeed, the overall length is nearly an inch and a half less than my Remington 870 with an 18-inch barrel.

At the Beretta Tactical Summit, nearly a dozen of us tested the 1301 Tactical in an all-day session firing a mix of slugs, buckshot and birdshot. The gun proved very easy to handle while being lightweight, but thanks to the gas system, the recoil was extremely manageable even with slugs. I did not experience any malfunctions, even after firing over 300 rounds. A couple of the other shooters had minor issues, but these were fixed by adding some lube to the action.

Easy Upgrades

While Beretta has done a commendable job of making the 1301 very tactical, it isn’t quite tactical enough for me. It’s not the company’s fault, as it must make the shotgun so it can still be imported, and the sporting gun restrictions make a more tactical shotgun difficult if not impossible to bring into the U.S. Thankfully, there are plenty of aftermarket parts for the 1301.

Mesa Parts

I contacted Mesa Tactical to set me up with the works. With limited ammunition capacity, you want to be able to access extra rounds fast, and there is no better option available today than a side-mounted shell carrier. Mesa offers an excellent and durable carrier for this shotgun: the SureShell Aluminum Carrier and Rail. This hardcoat anodized 6061-T6 aluminum unit is extremely durable to take plenty of abuse. The left-side shell holder carries six spare rounds of ammunition, although four- and eight-round versions are also available.

The shells are held in place thanks to an internal strip of Santoprene. This secures the shells in a brass up or down position until you need them. This one-piece unit also includes a top Picatinny rail section for mounting optics, and it’s easily installed and secured using the drilled and tapped holes on top of the shotgun’s receiver without gunsmithing

The standard Beretta 1301 Tactical stock is functional and comfortable, but Mesa Tactical’s Urbino Pistol Grip Stock not only looks cooler but offers several distinct advantages as well. The injection-molded nylon stock is extremely durable with a short length of pull at 12.5 inches. This allows for comfortable use with body armor or heavy clothing. The pistol grip features soft rubber overmolding that offers a very secure purchase and helps tame recoil. However, it is the optional LimbSaver buttpad that really absorbs even the heaviest recoil while helping to keep the stock firmly on the shoulder. The stock also features an optional cheek riser for taller optics and several different sling attachment options.

More Upgrades

The five-round magazine capacity was still an issue for a truly tactical shotgun, so I installed a two-round magazine extension from Nordic Components. The all-metal MXT extension kit increased the 1301’s magazine capacity to a full seven rounds, ending flush with the front of the barrel. The kit includes an exclusive barrel clamp for increased rigidity, with a Picatinny rail on one side for accessories such as lights and lasers and a QD sling swivel point on the other.

Lastly, I topped the Beretta 1301 Tactical with the appropriately small and effective Steiner Micro Reflex Sight (MRS). This sight features a fully adjustable 3-MOA dot, automatic and manual brightness controls, and a tough hardcoat anodized aluminum housing. The MRS is water- and shockproof to 10 meters and runs for 550 hours on a single battery. For extended battery life, the MRS also features an auto-off feature, shutting the unit off after eight hours.

Range Workout

Over several days of testing at my home range, the Beretta 1301 Tactical functioned flawlessly using a mix of birdshot, buckshot and slugs. The recoil, even using slugs, was extremely manageable. The semi-auto action and LimbSaver recoil pad help a lot in this regard. The shotgun also had very little muzzle rise, so fast follow-up shots were easily accomplished. The Mesa Tactical Urbino stock significantly improved the shotgun’s ease of handling and controllability.

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To test the shotgun’s patterning capabilities, I used my favorite defensive load, Federal’s 00 buckshot Personal Defense rounds. From 15 yards, I fired 10 of these rounds off-hand. My patterns ranged from 2 to 4 inches with an average of 2.85 inches. This is very tight patterning for a home-defense shotgun. I also tested the Beretta l using Hornady FTX Lite slugs, yielding a center-mass group of 4 inches.

There is no question that the tactical shotgun has reached a new zenith in the Beretta 1301 Tactical, especially when combined with upgrades from Mesa Tactical and Nordic Components. The way in which this shotgun absorbs recoil and handles, even for smaller shooters, makes it ideal for home defense with most any family member. The reliable action removes the likelihood of a user short-stroking the action—something common with pump actions in stressful situations—and provides for lightning-fast shooting against multiple targets.

Beretta 1301 Tactical Specs

• Gauge: 12; 3-inch chamber
• Barrel: 18.5 inches
• OA Length: 37.8 inches
• Weight: 6.3 pounds (empty)
• Stock: Synthetic
• Sights: Front post, ghost-ring rear
• Action: Semi-auto
• Finish: Matte black
• Capacity: 5+1 (2 3/4-inch shells)
• MSRP: $1,075

Beretta 1301 Tactical Performance

*Buckshot pattern in inches for 10 shots at 15 yards. Slug accuracy in inches for best five-shot group at 25 yards.

For More Information

Beretta
beretta.com

Mesa Tactical
mesatactical.com

Nordic Components
nordiccomp.com

This article was originally published in the February/March 2018 issue of “Tactical Weapons.” To order a copy and subscribe, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post Revamping the Beretta 1301 Tactical Shotgun with a Few DIY Upgrades appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

Florida-based Black Aces Tactical offers a variety of accessories for the Mossberg Shockwave firearm; the latest addition to the lineup is the availability of hand-finished walnut furniture.

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Introduced in response to customer demand, the wood forearm and pistol grip gives the Mossberg Shockwave a classic look that is sure to appeal to old school shooters.

“The wood gives the weapon a great feel and a warm glow. Nothing sets off the look of the weapon more,” the product listing says.

Black Aces has commissioned 40 sets of the hand-finished walnut furniture. The anticipated ship date is March 7, so you’re gonna want to get in on this sooner rather than later.

The price on this package is $199. If you order up Black Aces’ quad rail and side shell combo for the Mossberg Shockwave, the company will thrown in a magazine spike free of charge.

Mossberg Shockwave Basics

The 12-gauge pump-action Mossberg 590 Shockwave features a 14-inch barrel, Shockwave Raptor bird’s head pistol grip and an overall length of 26.37 inches. The ATF classifies it as a “non-NFA firearm” and thus doesn’t require a tax stamp for transfers.

Since introducing it to great fanfare at the beginning of last year, Mossberg has expanded the Shockwave with new versions, including a 20-gauge model released in October, and two new 12-gauge variants: the 590 Shockwave Flat Dark Earth (FDE) Cerakote-finished receiver and barrel option and the portable 590 JIC (Just In Case) Shockwave with stainless Cerakote metal finishes.

The launch of the Shockwave resulted in a number of companies releasing accessories for it. Black Aces Tactical, with its new hand-finished walnut furniture, is one such company.

For more on Black Aces Tactical, visit blackacestactical.com.

The post Black Aces Tactical Unveils Wood Furniture for Mossberg Shockwave appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

Most Americans still think of shotguns as “scatterguns,” but shotgun tactics and technology have evolved rapidly over the past several decades. So, while most people realize that shotguns are extremely effective, they don’t understand how to set their gun up for personal defense or how to use it to maximum effect. This year, the annual Rangemaster Tactical Conference included a three-hour block of instruction called Defensive Shotgun that was taught by Tom Givens. In over 40 years of combined law enforcement, security and firearms training experience, Tom has learned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to the defensive use of a shotgun.

Facing The Facts

One belief that isn’t fiction is that shotguns are very powerful firearms. Because of this, Tom provides some very specific instructions for handling shotguns that go beyond the four basic rules of firearms safety. First, he makes it very clear that there are almost no minor shotgun injuries. As Tom puts it, “You rarely see someone with two shotgun wounds.” Therefore, he uses a three-part checklist for confirming that a shotgun is unloaded: check the chamber, shell lifter and magazine tube. In addition, he strongly recommends not owning both 12- and 20-gauge guns, and being very careful to segregate 12- and 20-gauge ammo if you do have both.

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A 20-gauge shell will load into a 12-gauge gun, and fall into the barrel rather than stay in the chamber. When the gun fails to fire, a 12-gauge shell can be chambered behind the 20-gauge one, and the gun will explode when the trigger is pulled. This isn’t hypothetical. A friend of mine did this with a Winchester Model 12 about 40 years ago. Lastly, Tom always carries the shotgun muzzle up with the chamber open unless he’s expecting that he may have to shoot quickly.

Scattergun Myth

Then there’s the “scattergun” myth. Shotguns just don’t spray pellets; they must be aimed. With modern ammo, the normal shotgun pattern at 5 yards is about 1 to 2 inches. At longer distances, the size of the pattern will largely be determined by the choke on the barrel and the design of the shotshell being used. The old rule of thumb stating that shotgun patterns increase an inch for every yard the pellets travel is just not true. Instead of relying on a false belief, go out and pattern your gun with your chosen ammunition to determine the maximum distance at which your gun/load combination can keep all of its pellets well within the target’s torso.

When the pattern gets wider than that, pellets start missing and a shotgun rapidly loses its stopping power. The maximum range that most shotguns will keep all pellets patterning in the center torso is usually under 25 yards. In addition, be aware that shotgun pellets that miss can be a real threat to bystanders. I’ve seen large deer killed by a single pellet of 00 buckshot at over 70 yards.

Ammunition

Speaking of ammunition, Tom stated that defensive shotguns are buckshot guns. This runs counter to the old thinking that implied you should load buckshot and slugs alternately in the magazine. The only load Tom recommends for defensive shotguns is a 12-gauge, eight-pellet load of 00 buckshot. He strongly believes that shells loaded with birdshot and smaller buckshot don’t offer as good a combination of pattern density and penetration. In addition, he’s frequently seen 12-gauge, nine-pellet 00 loads throw one pellet out of the main pattern due to the way the pellets are stacked in the shotshell. It seems that one pellet usually develops an excessive number of flat spots due to shot compression during ignition. The overly flattened pellet has more aerodynamic drag, so it becomes a flyer.

With respect to slugs, Tom stated that hardened lead Brenneke slugs would be his choice if any situation required the use of a slug instead of 00 buckshot. The Brennekes retain their shape when they strike the target and penetrate very deeply. Lastly, Tom believes that the 20 gauge has no role in self-defense. The 20 is not loaded with large enough buckshot for adequate penetration. This flies in the face of the popular myth that the 20 gauge is the ideal “lady’s gun.” From Tom’s perspective, a better gun for smaller-statured shooters would be a 12-gauge pump gun with a shortened stock loaded with reduced-velocity tactical 00 buckshot.

More Tips

Tom also pointed out that shotgun magazine springs are not as strong as some might believe. So keeping a fully loaded magazine is also a myth, because shotgun magazine springs quickly weaken when the magazine is loaded to full capacity with heavy shotgun shells. Therefore, Tom recommends that the magazine be loaded one shell under capacity when stored in patrol-ready condition. The heft of shotgun shells also requires that pump-action guns be firmly cycled and that semi-autos be loaded with full-power rather than tactical buckshot if they are to function reliably.

Shotgun Modifications

Factory-issued, full-house defensive shotguns like Remington’s 870 Police, Mossberg 590s, and Benelli M4s are configured very differently from shotguns designed to hunt fowl and big game. Tom discussed the modifications that should be made to a shotgun that is to be dedicated to defense.

First and foremost, he prefers them to have short buttstocks because the standard stock on most shotguns has a length of pull (LOP) designed for shooting running and flying game. As such, they’re too long to be quickly mounted on the shoulder when a close-range threat suddenly appears. For most short-statuted people, he suggests that the LOP be shortened to 12 inches. For larger people it should be no more than 13 inches. Tom especially likes the Magpul SGA stock, which is already quite short.

More Tweaks

Tom also favors short barrels. He likes fast-pointing 14-inch barrels because they make gun grabs difficult. Barrels this short are Class 3 items that require special permits from the BATFE; however, their advantages make permit costs and wait times worth it. In addition, Tom likes replacement forends, especially if the gun’s owner wants to mount a tactical light. Magazine extensions are also on his list of approved modifications. One accessory he doesn’t like is a sling, unless the owner is going to carry the gun for an extended period of time. Inside the home, a sling can become just another handle for an assailant to grab.

Lastly, Tom thinks it’s very important to have spare rounds mounted on the gun. In a real fight you’re probably going to be limited to the ammo in or on your shotgun. He likes butt cuffs as long as they are secured in place (I’ve sewn mine to the rear sling stud). Shells in butt cuffs should be placed brass downward. This is so that they can easily be transferred to the magazine during reloads. On the other hand, Tom has seen side saddles break action pins, so he doesn’t use them. Instead he prefers stack-on cards for the receiver. He places shells brass up in loops he attaches to the cards. That’s because he uses one of those shells to dump into the ejection port in the event the gun is completely empty. Then he loads the magazine from the butt cuff.

Tactical Shotgun Handling Tips

A defensive shotgunning course would not be complete without a discussion of shooting techniques. Tom’s preferred shooting stance places both feet shoulder-width apart with the weak-side foot slightly ahead of the strong-side foot. The shoulders are rolled forward, and the shotgun is held firmly in both hands. Tom uses a strong-hand grip that I’ve never seen anyone else use. Instead of wrapping the strong-hand thumb over the top of the pistol grip, he places it on the receiver flat over the trigger finger to avoid the thumb coming back and hitting his nose. He adopted this grip because his thumb would otherwise rest on his nose when using a short stock.

It takes a pretty strong person to hang onto the stock when using this grip, so it’s a good idea for some people and not others. The same goes with his use of the weak hand to operate the action and load the gun. Tom does this so his shooting hand is always in position to pull the trigger. It works great for me when using a pump shotgun. But when I use my Remington 1100 semi-automatic, I find it’s much easier to operate the bolt and loading gate if I use my strong hand. As with everything else, you have to build your defensive shotgun technique around your capabilities with your specific gun.

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Mounting

When mounting the gun, Tom brings it up to eye level to line up his sights. He does not drop his head down as he raises his gun, as many pistol and revolver shooters do. I tried keeping my head up and found it helps prevent my thumb from hitting my nose and makes recoil from full-power loads easier to absorb. But when raising the gun to eye level, you must remember to keep your elbows tucked down. This is a fighting stance. It does no good to stick your elbows out beyond cover and make them targets.

Live Fire

The last two hours of the Defensive Shotgun block were devoted to live fire. This gave the trainees the opportunity to use their own shotguns to practice what they’d learned. As for guns, the trainees brought a variety of personal guns to the class, including just about everything from pump-action field guns with 26-inch barrels to short-barreled tactical semi-autos.

Under Tom’s direction, the course of fire progressed from taking the proper stance and firing single rounds to firing multiple rounds and reloading. The trainees quickly demonstrated proficiency in implementing Tom’s instructions. By the end of the event, they split into two groups and had a shoot-off in which they demonstrated their abilities to shoot fast, make good hits and keep their guns running.

Any shotgun, even a single-shot, can be pressed into service in an emergency. But personal defense with a shotgun shouldn’t be an afterthought based on outdated myths. An individual should plan ahead and acquire guns and ammo that are either designed or modified for the task and then learn how to use them to their greatest effect.

For more information about defensive shotgun training or the Tactical Conference, visit rangemaster.com.

This article was originally published in the February/March 2018 issue of “Tactical Weapons.” To order a copy and subscribe, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post 12-Gauge Gunfight: How to Win With Your Favorite Tactical Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

Many people have false impressions about shotguns based on gunplay in Hollywood movies. There’s so much misinformation, it doesn’t seem to want to go away. I remember the Howard Hawks Western “El Dorado” starring John Wayne and co-starring a young James Caan as “Mississippi.” John Wayne’s character, Cole Thornton, attempts to aid Mississippi by giving him shooting lessons, only to find his skills deplorable. Thornton takes Mississippi to “The Swede,” where he buys a sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun as a holstered sidearm. In one memorable shootout from the movie, a desperado is taking off down a street when Mississippi lets loose with his scattergun. Although he misses the bad guy with his shot, he hits a sign that falls down and whacks the guy.

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Or how about “Open Range,” the 2003 movie starring Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall? Duvall’s character, Boss Spearman, fires at a bad guy outside a shack wall from inside a small room. From a distance of about 8 feet, the double-barreled shotgun blows pie-pan-sized holes through the wall, cutting down his adversary.

Here’s some news: It just doesn’t work like that.

Trial By Fire

So how are buckshot patterns affected by distance and barrel length? We headed out to the range to find out with three representative shotguns. The first was a Mossberg 590A1 with 14-inch barrel, rifle sights and a Davis speed-feed stock. This shotgun is a version of what the NYPD highway officers carry. In many reduced-sized patrol cars, a shorter barrel only makes sense because a traditional 18- or 20-inch-barreled shotgun is simply too big to fit in the passenger compartment.

The next test platform was a Mossberg 500 with an 18-inch barrel and bead sights. This particular shotgun has been outfitted with a SureFire forearm with an integral weapon light as well as an ATI adjustable stock and pistol grip combo. The final shotgun was a Remington 870. This particular shotgun has been customized by 870 maestro Hans Vang of Vang Comp Systems. Vang installed his compensation system on the barrel, back-bored the chamber, extended the magazine, installed a dome safety and sidesaddle spare shell carrier and worked on the action. This shotgun includes a SureFire forearm, a BlackHawk Knoxx Stock and a three-point sling.

All of these shotguns are excellent in my opinion, and I’ve pointed both brands at more than a few criminals in my law enforcement career.

ATK was kind enough to supply 12-gauge fodder for the test. I specifically chose the company’s Federal Premium Maximum load with nine pellets of 00 buckshot. The factory lists the velocity at 1,325 fps. Although my own agency uses a reduced-recoil tactical load, I was curious to see how a full-charge load would fare in these tests. This particular load includes the Federal FliteControl wad, which improves performance in my experience.

Going The Distance

I selected the distances of 12, 30, 50, 60 and 75 feet for the test, as these run the gamut from close range to the maximum distance a standard 12-gauge smoothbore might perform. The rule for shotgun patterning has been that you usually get about 1 inch of spread for every yard from the target. At our distances this would mean:

12 feet = 4 inches

30 feet = 10 inches

50 feet = 16 inches

60 feet = 20 inches

75 feet = 25 inches

From the onset, let’s put this “standard” into perspective. All of the shotguns did substantially better than this. As a matter of fact, all of the shotguns easily kept all nine pellets within a standard 19-inch-wide target at 75 feet. In fact, the widest group fired, using the Vang-Comp-modified Remington 870, measured only 22 inches at 105 feet.

The measurements were taken using the two widest pellets of the 00 buckshot load. I should mention that the stock of the Mossberg 500 prevented me from getting down on the bead sights as much as I would’ve liked, so I tended to shoot a little high using the same center-mass target.

Comparing the results between the Mossberg 500 and 590A1 is pretty interesting, as 4 inches less barrel did not make that much of a difference in the spread pattern. In fact, at 25 yards, the 14-inch-barreled 590A1 produced a pattern 1-inch smaller than the 500. Shooting again at 25 yards, the 18-inch-barreled 500 created a 6.5-inch pattern while the 14-inch-barreled 590A1 produced a 14-inch pattern.

Reading The Results

The vast majority of police shootings are close-in affairs. Since shotguns are deployed in non- spontaneous shootings where law enforcement or military members have the time to access and deploy them, distances in scattergun shootings are going to tend to be longer. If a shotgun is used for clearing rooms by patrol or SWAT personnel, it is fully capable of making a precise shot. All three shotguns created patterns measuring 1.5 inches or less at 12 feet. Even at 30 feet, the maximum spread with this load was 2.5 inches. This means: A) devastating ballistic impact on target; and B) you’ve got to aim the shotgun. All that John Shaft, shoot-from-the-hip, Hollywood crap is just that—crap.

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It has also been proposed that, at distances beyond 25 yards, the pellets would not have sufficient energy to stop a suspect or, for instance, penetrate their leather coat. This may be true for reduced-recoil buckshot, but this max-velocity load seemed to have sufficient energy to truly put a hurt on a suspect. Of course, do you want to use a shotgun beyond 25 yards? You can, and it’s nice to know that the spread will not be too large to recklessly endanger a neighborhood. Here it might be better to use a slug.

The Upshot Of Buckshot

What does all this show us? That the 1 inch of spread for every yard rule has pretty much been busted. Even with reduced-recoil 00 buckshot, the “1 inch per yard” pattern seems improbable. Would you get this with birdshot? We didn’t test it because birdshot lacks sufficient energy to penetrate at distances beyond close range and is not carried in serious social shotguns. We also have to understand that shotguns may pattern differently. If you have a personal-defense shotgun or one assigned to you, go out with the load you intend to carry and pattern the shotgun. Learn its limitations so that you can operate more effectively in an actual shooting.

No, shotguns aren’t “alley-sweepers” or “trench brooms.” Inside 25 yards, you can put accurate fire on a suspect with an average spread of about 10 inches. Those nine .33-caliber pellets can have serious impact on a human target, and that effectiveness only improves from 75 feet and in. Movies can be entertaining and those mentioned are worth watching, but don’t look to Hollywood for accurate gunplay.

Performance

*Distance in feet and buckshot spread in inches.

This article was originally published in the May/June 2017 issue of “Tactical Weapons.” To order a copy and subscribe to the magazine, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post Buckshot Myth Busting: How Today’s 00 Buck Loads Fare Downrange appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

There’s a new tactical shotgun on the market, and it’s good news for fans of the AK platform. It’s called the EM-12B, and Inter Ordnance (IO) imports it from China through its companion company Royal Tiger Imports. This new gun, made by the Chongqing Jianshe Industry Group, is an updated version of the classic Russian AK-pattern shotguns that have been held in high esteem due to their reputation for reliability and rugged construction. However, the popular Russian guns have not been legal to import into the U.S. since President Obama issued Executive Order 13662 after Russian forces invaded portions of the Ukraine.

I had a chance to travel down to Palm Bay, Florida, and saw a prototype of the EM-12B when I visited the IO factory. Handling it convinced me that this is a gun with real potential for competition shooting and hunting, as well as for law enforcement and personal defense. As soon as the production models came into the country, I contacted IO and arranged to get a sample.

Preliminary Examination

Whenever I receive a new gun for testing, I examine it for fit and function right away. That way, if the gun doesn’t meet my standards, I can return it to the factory without going through a lot of paperwork. The EM-12B looked good and functioned well right out of the box; I couldn’t wait to get it home and field-strip it on my workbench to see if it looked as good on the inside as it did on the outside. Usually a firearm’s interior surfaces are not as highly finished in their non-critical areas as their exterior surfaces. So, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the gun looked internally. The quality of the interior’s finish was just as good as the outside.

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The only mold or tool marks anywhere on the gun were a few lines on the bolt-hold-open button. The evenness of the matte surface finish was exactly the same inside and out. All parts were well conformed, angled surfaces were precisely made, lines were even, and the fit of the gun’s components was very good.

Quality Throughout

The end result is a gun that operates smoothly. The bolt glides back and forth on the rails, locking and unlocking without hesitation. The two-stage trigger breaks at 4 pounds. The first stage is 2.5 pounds, and after the trigger travels about 0.375 inches, it takes another l.5 pounds of pressure to drop the sear. The travel is smooth, but there is a bit of overtravel. The large safety lever operates like other AKs, staying solidly in the “safe” position, requiring intentional pressure to disengage it.

The magazine well is a bit tight with the supplied five-round magazines. It takes a bit of time to learn to change magazines because they don’t “rock and lock” as much as typical AK magazines. Instead they insert at a shallow angle, rock slightly back and then firmly lock up with a tap from the weak hand. With these magazines, the gun fed, extracted and ejected flawlessly.

Updated Design

The EM-12B is a classic AK-pattern gun with the addition of several highly desirable features. For example, it has a bolt-hold-open button located behind the trigger. This is a very useful safety feature because the gun’s user can lock the action open to “show clear” when transporting the gun or laying it on a shooting bench with a chamber flag in the barrel. The hold-open button does not activate automatically after the last shot like most other semi-autos, but at least it gives the operator a choice to manually lock the gun in the open position.

Like other high-tech semi-auto shotguns, the EM-12B is chambered for both 2¾- and 3-inch shells. I personally find the 2¾-inch shells adequate, but someone wanting to carry magnum slugs for defense against bears may want the extra power of the longer shells.

Speaking of ammunition, the gun has a four-position-adjustable gas system so the user can tune it for any shell. The manual advises using the least amount of gas needed to operate this shotgun in order to save wear and tear on the action. In addition, the EM-12B also comes with three choke tubes that make it useful for just about any type of hunting you may want to do with it. For hunting some species of game, a three-shot magazine would be required, however, and I could not find any available on the web.

More Features

Finally, the new shotgun has a couple of features that enhance its utility for competition and tactical applications. The first is its 18.5-inch barrel. This barrel swings very quickly and points instinctively. Overall, the EM-12B is 39.5 inches long. For comparison, my Remington 1100 is 44 inches long with its 22-inch deer barrel installed.

In addition, the shotgun has an M-LOK forend with a Picatinny top rail, which allows for the mounting of a variety of accessories. For this test, I mounted a TruGlo Tru-Brite sight with a wide 34x24mm window and a 5-MOA dot reticle in red or green. I chose the 5-MOA dot size because this is primarily a close-range gun, especially when using buckshot. The second accessory that I mounted is a 600-lumen SureFire M600 Ultra Scout light that was given to me some time ago by my friends from Black Hills Ammunition. It works very well with the Tru-Brite sight.

With a fully loaded magazine in place, this complete tactical package weighs 10.5 pounds, which, combined with the gas piston operating system, helps reduce—but does not entirely eliminate—the recoil of heavier 12-gauge loads.

Trigger Time

I tested the EM-12B at the Volusia County Gun & Hunt Club and the Flagler Gun & Archery Club. Since the gun was set up for tactical applications, I didn’t do any bench testing when I sighted it in. Instead, I used the tried-and-true system of using a silhouette target and moving progressively back from the target to sight in the optic and pattern the gun with buckshot. Starting with slugs at a distance of 5 yards, I fired, adjusted the dot and fired again until the shot hit where the dot indicated. Once on target, I moved back another 5 yards and began all over. I repeated this process until the sight was aligned with the point of impact at 25 yards. I used Federal Premium 1-ounce, 2¾-inch Hydra-Shok slugs with an improved cylinder choke tube selected for testing both slugs and buckshot.

To check for tactical accuracy, I used the Volusia County club’s house-front simulator. It looks like a house or storefront with two doors and a window. The drill I ran was quite simple: Just round the corner of a doorway and identify and neutralize a hostile target 20 yards down a hallway. Five repetitions of the drill put five slugs in a 3-inch group in the in the area of the heart and the base of the neck.

More Tests

The next test involved patterning buckshot. I selected Hornady’s eight-pellet Critical Defense 00 buckshot ammunition. I placed three shots on the same silhouette target from three distances: 7, 10 and 25 yards. The 7-yard shot was a headshot. As best as I could tell, all pellets were in the head and grouped into less than 3 inches. With both the buckshot and slug tests, exact measurements were difficult because the gun tended to shoot the wads very close to the point of impact of the lead projectiles. The buckshot group at 15 yards in the center chest measured about 4.5 inches, and the 25-yard group was well centered in the lower abdomen and 7.5 inches across. All twenty-four 00 buckshot pellets were on the target. That’s truly excellent performance for both the gun and ammo.

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The final test was a rapid-fire function test using some old Federal 2¾-inch magnum shells with 1.5 ounces of #4 shot. I loaded one shell in the chamber and five in the magazine and fired at a bare spot on the lower half of the berm. The gun ran flawlessly. I was very glad that the gun weighed a bit over 10 pounds because those old duck loads from the 1970s produced quite a bit more recoil than the slugs or buckshot.

Best Bang

The EM-12B’s quality of manufacture and flawless performance right out of the box were impressive. Equally impressive is its $579 price tag. That’s only a bit more than the retail price of a high-quality tactical pump action gun and at least $150 less than the full retail price of most competitors’ tactical semi-autos. That’s a decent savings which can be spent on accessories.

The TruGlo sight performed very well and is also affordable, and there are good quality tactical lights available for under $100. So even if you pay full retail price for everything, you can still get a quality fully equipped EM-12B with all the accessories for just under $900. If you’re looking for a straight-shooting, rugged and reliable tactical 12 gauge, you might give this new gun from Inter Ordnance and Royal Tiger Imports serious consideration.

Royal Tiger Imports EM-12B Specs

For more information on Royal Tiger Imports, visit royaltigerimports.com. For more on I.O. Inc, visit ioinc.us.

This article was originally published in the 2018 issue of “AK-47 & Soviet Weapons.” To order a copy, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post Gun Test: The EM-12B AK Shotgun From IO Inc/Royal Tiger Imports appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

If you’re a bullpup fan, be advised there’s a new one out there from TriStar Arms that might be worth checking out. It’s called, simply, the Compact.

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The TriStar Compact is a 12-gauge bullpup shotgun with a 20-inch barrel and 30-inch overall length. Chambered for up to three-inch shells, this gas-operated semi-auto is capable of cycling everything from standard field loads up to 1 1/8oz slugs interchangeably. In the press release, TriStar claims it cycles with “AK-like reliability.” It also touts its “increased velocity” and “muzzle energy.”

In addition, the Compact’s removable choke system uses Beretta and Benelli mobile threads. One extended and ported cylinder choke tube is included. Rounding out the package are a rubber recoil pad; sling mounts; fixed carry handle; and flip-up front and rear sights.

TriStar’s Compact is fed from a box magazine, facilitating fast reloads and easy load-type changes. Two five-round magazines are included with the shotgun. The presser says the gun is compatible with Saiga-type 12-gauge magazines, which means “variety of sources and capacities are readily available.”

“The KRX set the standard for what an AR-like shotgun can be. Now with the Compact we’re raising the bar for both AK-like and bullpup shotguns,” Ryan Bader, TriStar’s VP of sales and marketing, said in the presser. “Home defense, range fun, and law enforcement can now all take advantage of increased power in a more portable package with the TriStar Compact.”

MSRP is $790. See all the features below.

For more from TriStar, go to tristararms.com.

TriStar Compact Features

• 30″ Overall Length
• Full-Size Carry Handle w/ Adjustable Sights (not pictured)
• Two 5-Round Magazines
• Flip-up Front/Rear Sights (as pictured)
• Forward Grip (not pictured)
• Extended/Ported Cylinder Choke Tube (as pictured)
• Action: Gas operated Semi-automatic. If the magazine and chamber are both loaded opening action will result in ejecting shell from chamber and cycling new shell from magazine into the chamber. A bolt hold open is located just beneath Safety Lever. To lock the bolt open, simply pull the action back and press upwards on the Bolt Lock.
• Safety: The primary safety is located on the right side of the gun, just under the ejection port. When engaged, the safety is designed to block the trigger, hammer lever and the hammer, which makes the firing mechanism immobile.
• Magazine: The Compact 12ga comes with two polymer-bodied 5-round magazines.
• MSRP: $790

The post NEW: The TriStar Compact 12-Gauge Bullpup Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.

The shotgun has never been considered a precision combat weapon. Part of its deadliness is that it throws a pattern of shot over an area that increases the likelihood of hits. Typically, combat shotguns have a cylinder bore, which makes them most effective at 20 yards or less. The cylinder-bore style is chosen because it is felt that chokes can deform buckshot, thus causing a poor pattern. From a cylinder-bore shotgun, the pattern spreads in a somewhat circular manner. For the typical law enforcement, military or home-defense mission, the cylinder-bore combat shotgun performs its task well. Especially if the user patterns it to determine what load performs optimally.

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However, for certain military applications, a more specialized choke may be required. As a result, the “duckbill” or spreader choke was developed to give the buckshot pattern a more horizontal spread. This increases the effect against multiple attackers. As I understand it, the first U.S. military requirement for a spreader choke came from the USAF Security Police (though this may have been early enough that they were still known as the “Air Police”). They wanted to give personnel guarding flight lines or nuclear storage facilities a better chance to take down multiple intruders quickly.

Jungle Combat

As it transpired, however, it was the U.S. Navy SEALs that realized the potential of the duckbill choke in Vietnam, as they named it for its appearance. Used by a point man on patrol, a duckbill-equipped shotgun could quickly clear a trail if enemy troops were encountered. SEALs also found the duckbill deadly for ambushes along waterways or trails. Duckbill chokes also worked well for clearing a deck during a boarding operation. During the Vietnam era, duckbill-choked shotguns were even more effective because SEALs used Ithaca Model 37 riot guns. These guns lacked trigger disconnects. Hence, the SEAL could just pump the shotgun while holding the trigger back.

When the U.S. military was testing spreader chokes, it experimented with chokes that gave a 2-to-1 or a 4-to-1 ratio of width to height of the pattern. Among the lessons learned in Vietnam was that #4 buckshot worked better in a spreader choke, as it provided more pellets to cover the area, and that the duckbill chokes as issued had a tendency to fracture after quite a bit of use. After Vietnam, the duckbill choke was mostly forgotten, though the book “Point Man” by Chief James Watson, in which he talks about his use of the duckbill-choke-equipped Ithaca Model 37 in Vietnam, made readers aware of this special-purpose shotgun. As a result, a few Duckbill shotguns were made on a custom basis over the years.

Enter Paradigm SRP

Recently, though, the spreader choke is back in production with Paradigm SRP for use by contemporary special operators. This is a completely redesigned Duckbill that has been beefed up substantially so that it will not fracture with extensive use. Original U.S. military Duckbill chokes were normally soldered onto the shotgun, which meant that the shotgun was really only designed for effective use in limited tactical situations. The new Gator, as it’s called, on the other hand, is designed as a screw-in choke, which may be installed for situations where its horizontal spread offers an advantage or removed to allow another choke to be installed for more general use.

The Gator is available for several choke systems, including the Rem Choke, Winchoke Invector, Winchester Invector, Benelli Mobil, Benelli Optima Plus, Benelli Crio Plus, Beretta Optima and Beretta Crio. A version is also available for the Saiga shotgun. Since I use Remington 870 tactical shotguns much of the time, I chose to install the Rem Choke model on an 870 Express Tactical.

Gator Bait

Although I own a couple of 870s, I did not have one with the Rem Choke system, so it seemed a good excuse to acquire an 870 Express Tactical. This shotgun is an excellent value, whether for law enforcement or personal-defense usage. It is chambered for both 2¾- and 3-inch shells and will take six rounds of either in its extended magazine. The barrel length is 18.5 inches, and it comes with an extended, ported Remington choke. An XS Sight Systems Ghost Ring sight rail is mounted on the receiver, with the ghost ring combining with the front post for fast sight acquisitions but also more precise shooting when desired. The ghost ring is adjustable for windage and elevation. The Picatinny rail allows you to mount a range of optical sights, though it is a relatively short rail, so an optic with a short base will be needed.

Other features include a tactical-style forend and an orange follower so you can be quickly determine if there are shells in the magazine. Swivels are included for mounting a sling. The shotgun’s a bargain, too, as the price at larger retailers tends to be around $500. Whether you intend to install a special choke such as the Gator or not, this is an excellent chose for a combat shotgun.

Installation

The first thing I noticed about the Gator was its quality of manufacture. The machining and finish are of very high quality, as is the design. Even uninstalled, the Gator looks aggressive and deadly. Very importantly, as well, it comes with clear instructions for installation. In my case, first I had to unscrew the ported Rem Choke that came on the 870.

After that, all that was necessary was to screw in the Briley Rem cylinder that came with the Gator. Once it was screwed in, I painted the threads on the front of the choke with Loctite and screwed on the Gator. Once it was screwed in tightly, it was necessary to back it off so that it was correctly positioned using two depressions on its top as a guide. After that, I left it for the Loctite to set. At this point, the Gator was ready to go. And it could be unscrewed and replaced with another choke if so desired.

First Hits

I decided to initially try the Gator using Federal 2¾-inch #4 buckshot for the simple reason that it was the only #4 buckshot I had. Using two humanoid targets positioned next to each other at 10 yards and aiming between the two targets, the pellets spread well between the two. At 25 yards, still using the 2¾-inch shells, which throw 27 #4 pellets, the pattern was 31 inches wide and 18 inches high. I had hoped for a better horizontal spread.

By the next time I took the Gator the range I had acquired some Federal 3-inch #4 buckshot, which throws 41 pellets. I hoped for better results with the heavier loads and definitely got them. I set up three 18-by-30-inch IPSC targets next to each other at 15 yards for the test. The 3-inch #4 buckshot loads are absolutely the way to go to maximize the Gator. All 41 pellets impacted the targets. I had aimed at the center target, which took 25 hits. But the left target took 7 hits and the right target took 9 hits. The pattern was about 51 inches wide by 16 inches high. That’s over a 3-to-1 ratio of horizontal to vertical.

More Testing

I did some shooting at hanging plates between 15 and 35 yards away, mostly using 2¾-inch shells. I wanted to be able to handle the Remington more quickly to check my sight acquisition with the ghost-ring sights. What I found was the Express Tactical was very light and handy. I tried a few rounds of 3-inch #4 buckshot on hanging plates, mostly to see how many I could hit with each shot. I didn’t measure the distance between the plates, but I found that I was hitting two of them with the spread of the 3-inch shells when I aimed in the middle between them. When using the 2¾-inch shells, if I got my aiming point just right, I was hitting both, but not every time.

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By the way, other sizes of buckshot may be used, but buckshot larger than #4 does not perform as well. And I do not recommend shooting slugs with the spreader installed!

Special Purposes

It must be emphasized that a shotgun with a spreader choke is a very specialized weapon designed primarily for military use in ambushes or for clearing a ship’s deck. The wide horizontal pattern would endanger bystanders if used in normal law enforcement scenarios. However, in cases of extreme societal breakdown when the law officer or the civilian homeowner might be facing an armed crowd, it would prove an excellent equalizer. I should note, too, that although the Gator is designed to deal with multiple attackers through its horizontal pattern, if it is necessary to target one hostile individual, the shotgun may be turned on its side to fire a large vertical pattern on its target.

I write books on combat shotguns and do a lot of articles on the topic, so I certainly looked forward to testing the Gator. It performed as expected, especially when using 3-inch #4 buckshot. In addition, I was also very happy with the Remington 870 Express Tactical. I didn’t think I needed another 870 combat shotgun, but it convinced me that I did. I wasn’t that hard to convince! The MSRP for the Gator is $199, which, given the quality of manufacture, is very reasonable.

Remington 870 Express Tactical Specs

For More Information

Paradigm SRP
paradigmsrp.com

Remington
remington.com

This article was originally published in “The Complete Book of Guns” 2017. To order a copy, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.

The post Testing a Gator-Choke-Equipped Rem 870 Express Tactical Shotgun appeared first on Tactical Life Gun Magazine: Gun News and Gun Reviews.