IRAQ: Short Shotgun Replaces Bayonet

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rc135

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SHORT SHOTGUN REPLACES THE BAYONET: After several years of research and field testing, the U.S. Army is buying 38,000 M26, 12 Gauge Modular Accessory Shotgun Systems (MASS). The M26 weighs less than three pounds (2 pounds, 11 ounces) and has a five-round magazine. The M26 is a 16.5” long, 12 gauge shotgun and can be operated right or left handed. It fires solid shot for blasting open closed doors, or lower velocity, non-lethal (most of the time) rubber slugs for dealing with hostile crowds without killing people. A stand-alone version weighs 4 pounds, 3 ounces, and is 24” long (with the attached stock collapsed).

Troops have been testing it in combat for about a year. There were complaints about the cocking mechanism, which uses a bolt instead of a pump action (which many troops expressed a preference for). The final design will improve the cocking mechanism, and improve the reliability of the magazines. Currently, troops use a conventional (Mossberg) 12 gauge shotgun for getting locked doors open in a hurry. The M26 proved very reliable during testing, with over 15,000 rounds being fired. Large quantities of the M26 will be reaching the troops next year.


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The bayonet isn't being replaced. This is just another tool in the arsenal. It was developed because breachers were having issues with sometimes being the first person in but not having the appropriate weapon. So, you hang the breaching tool under the "social" tool. Short barreled shotguns have been in use this way for a while, but this is the dedicated variant.
 
now all they have to do is mount an m9 on the side, and you can compete in 3 gun, with a "single" firearm

OK, that's funny. I don't care who you are.
 
Replacing a bayonet? Don't think so. They guy who wrote that was guessing, there is not a single project manager in the DOD who would say that the military is trying to replace a bayonet with a firing weapon. A bayonet doesn't jam. It doesn't fail to fire when wet. You don't run out of rounds for it. If you are smart enough to fix it to the rifle, it will work until you break it.

I did roll my eyes the other day, watching some guys play "Gears of War", in which you actually have a chainsaw bayonet. hold down 'b', charge, and blood flies accross the screen. I was relieved, it had been a while since I had been reminded why I don't have time for video games.
 
Call of Duty on the other hand.....
Meh..

Two was great. Three was retarded. Literally.. the friendly AI was retarded. After an hour I knew the whole development of the game. The whole german army (none of which are equiped with K98s because we know the whole german army was equipped with subguns and semi-auto rifles) is on one side of a brick wall, but you can't shoot them because there's some dumb idiot Canadian who keeps walking back in forth in front of your muzzle every time you line up a shot. Only redeeming factor.. The MG42 at the bridge... Fun. Otherwise, three was epic fail.
 
The only way to play CoD games is on the hardest setting.

and back on topic we shall a-go!

The shotgun looks a bit smaller than the original "masterkey" system, but that bolt does seem awkward. And the video posted above was either sad, or the new shotgun has one hell of a muzzlebreak.
 
Oh man, that thing is ugly.

I almost want them to design a rifle that the shotgun is either an integral part of, or is built to accept the shotgun attachment.

HOW MANY THINGS CAN WE INVENT TO BOLT ONTO AN AR?!?!?!?!?!
 
Hmm....

What about bolting ANOTHER M16 to an M16? That should make people stop whining about the weakness of the round.
 
The bayonet isn't being replaced.

Dropped more like it. Fewer and fewer units have been deploying with them. On this weapon it will not fit as the bayonet lug is covered by the shotgun and therefore you can not mount a bayonet. So the author is correct.

Bayonets are as useful as a musket in modern combat.
 
im sure thats been done too. i saw the pic of two 870's bolted together like some crazy tacticool side by side.
Hmmm, hey, that sounds like a pretty good idea! ;)
 
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