Nightcrawler
Member
I've been thinking about an idea for a shotgun designed especially for entry and close quarters battle situations. For these types of scenarios, a shorter weapon is handier, and can makes it that much easier to manuver in tight quarters.
However, with current shotguns, you make a sacrifice when you shorten the barrel; you also shorten the magazine tube. Whereas your entry carbine or SMG might hold 20-30 rounds, your shotgun has 4 or 5. Granted, one 12-gauge buckshot load will do the work of several 9x19 rounds, but in battle you can never have too much ammunition.
Another thing I took into consideration was the wide variety of loads used in shotguns, and the fact that they won't all cycle properly in a semiauto. Also, the racking of a shotgun slide ends more hostile situation than many realize, according to many police officers. It's an attention getter, to say the least.
Please note that the MAJOR drawback to this design is that it CAN NOT use conventional ammunition. It's a magazine fed design that utilizes a double column magazine, requiring a special rimless cartridge, which would effectively kill almost any practicality in the real world (not to mention that with its roughly 14" barrel it'd be illegal for most of us).
The design I have in mine looks similar to a very short .308 rifle. It's a gas-operated semiautomatic design, that can also be fired pump action. The pump is the "charging handle", allowing for the very attention-getting "KERCHACK" sound that the cops like so much, and would also allow rapid clearing of a misfire or a failure to cycle.
It would be magazine fed, feeding from a 12-round double column magazine. This mag would be about the same length as a 25-round Galil .308 magazine, though wider. Not as good for prone firing, but you don't go prone much in most close quarters or entry situations. Longer, larger capacity magazines could be used if necessary.
Possible inclusions would be a magazine cutoff, allowing the shooter to insert a different kind of ammunition directly into the chamber, such as a beanbag or slug round.
Pump firing would be available for such things as beanbag rounds, rubber buckshot, and other loads that won't cycle the semiauto (a gas shutoff would probably be a good idea too, if a lot of these rounds were going to be used in one session).
It would feature adjustable ghost ring sights and either a folding or fixed stock.
Ideally, it'd have an overall length of roughly 34" or so, yet would offer the shooter 12 or more rounds on tap.
Again, the magazine and feed mechanisms of this weapons would require special rimless shotgun ammuniton (12 gauge is a good size, but something slightly smaller would allow for less bulky magazines, such as a 14, 16, or even 20 gauge). The concept is purely theoretical.
So, what's the word? It WILL come up, so I'm going to answer it right away; the only real advantage this weapon, if built, would offer over a stock pump shotgun would be capacity in a compact package. You simply don't get 12 or more rounds out of a pump, save the Neostead. And on the Neostead, you have to raise the magazine tubes to load them, hindering the typical "shoot one, load one" mantra of tube-fed weapons.
Is capacity important? *shrug* Can't hurt.
Now, to answer questions ahead of time.
-Yes I know what we have now works well.
-Yes, I know shotguns are of very limited use in the military. I didn't specify military.
-Yes I know the attached drawing is crude and possibly ill-proportioned; it's Microsoft Paint, and the best I can do.
However, with current shotguns, you make a sacrifice when you shorten the barrel; you also shorten the magazine tube. Whereas your entry carbine or SMG might hold 20-30 rounds, your shotgun has 4 or 5. Granted, one 12-gauge buckshot load will do the work of several 9x19 rounds, but in battle you can never have too much ammunition.
Another thing I took into consideration was the wide variety of loads used in shotguns, and the fact that they won't all cycle properly in a semiauto. Also, the racking of a shotgun slide ends more hostile situation than many realize, according to many police officers. It's an attention getter, to say the least.
Please note that the MAJOR drawback to this design is that it CAN NOT use conventional ammunition. It's a magazine fed design that utilizes a double column magazine, requiring a special rimless cartridge, which would effectively kill almost any practicality in the real world (not to mention that with its roughly 14" barrel it'd be illegal for most of us).
The design I have in mine looks similar to a very short .308 rifle. It's a gas-operated semiautomatic design, that can also be fired pump action. The pump is the "charging handle", allowing for the very attention-getting "KERCHACK" sound that the cops like so much, and would also allow rapid clearing of a misfire or a failure to cycle.
It would be magazine fed, feeding from a 12-round double column magazine. This mag would be about the same length as a 25-round Galil .308 magazine, though wider. Not as good for prone firing, but you don't go prone much in most close quarters or entry situations. Longer, larger capacity magazines could be used if necessary.
Possible inclusions would be a magazine cutoff, allowing the shooter to insert a different kind of ammunition directly into the chamber, such as a beanbag or slug round.
Pump firing would be available for such things as beanbag rounds, rubber buckshot, and other loads that won't cycle the semiauto (a gas shutoff would probably be a good idea too, if a lot of these rounds were going to be used in one session).
It would feature adjustable ghost ring sights and either a folding or fixed stock.
Ideally, it'd have an overall length of roughly 34" or so, yet would offer the shooter 12 or more rounds on tap.
Again, the magazine and feed mechanisms of this weapons would require special rimless shotgun ammuniton (12 gauge is a good size, but something slightly smaller would allow for less bulky magazines, such as a 14, 16, or even 20 gauge). The concept is purely theoretical.
So, what's the word? It WILL come up, so I'm going to answer it right away; the only real advantage this weapon, if built, would offer over a stock pump shotgun would be capacity in a compact package. You simply don't get 12 or more rounds out of a pump, save the Neostead. And on the Neostead, you have to raise the magazine tubes to load them, hindering the typical "shoot one, load one" mantra of tube-fed weapons.
Is capacity important? *shrug* Can't hurt.
Now, to answer questions ahead of time.
-Yes I know what we have now works well.
-Yes, I know shotguns are of very limited use in the military. I didn't specify military.
-Yes I know the attached drawing is crude and possibly ill-proportioned; it's Microsoft Paint, and the best I can do.
