Cool Guns/Shotguns

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


AA-12

The AA-12 (also known as the Auto Assault-12 and formerly the Atchisson Assault Shotgun) is a shotgun designed in the year 1972 by one Maxwell Atchisson. The original design of this weapon served as the basis for many other autoshotgun designs, such as the Daewoo USAS-12, among others. It's barrage of death is fed either from an 8-shell magazine or either a 20-shell or a 32-shell drum magazine. Many YouTube videos and fan commentaries have dubbed it "The Deadliest Shotgun In The World", because of the one trademark that puts it a cut above the other shotguns: It can be combined with FRAG-12 rounds to perform as a multifunction weapon system.

Film

Reality TV

  • Future Weapons - Close Quarter Combat
  • Ultimate Weapons
  • Lock 'n Load With R. Lee Ermey

Video Games


Armsel Striker

Also known as the Sentinel Arms Co Striker-12, Protecta, Protecta Bulldog, and Cobray/SWD Street Sweeper [and not the DAO-12, ever]. A South African semi-auto 12-gauge shotgun with a revolver magazine, designed for riot control and combat. The Striker variant features a spring-operated "clockwork" drum magazine, while the Protecta variants use a different mechanism and lack the drum's winding key. This gun was banned by the Clinton Administration, which had it reclassified as a Destructive Device. The gun already had been lengthened to the 18 inches necessary to not be classified as a Short Barreled Shotgun, as well as being internally very different from other versions. It even has a smaller magazine capacity than other legal semiautomatic shotguns and needs to be reloaded one shell at a time and manually wound before it will work. The Striker is not very popular, although it is used by South Africa and Israel.

Film

  • The Striker appears in Desperado as the "biggest Hand Cannon that [Buscemi] has ever fucking seen" during the first major shootout of the movie.

Live-Action TV

  • Battlestar Galactica. Tom Zarek's men are seen carrying these on Kobol (though it's portrayed as some kind of grenade launcher), and later the marines during the rescue on Caprica.

Music

  • As with the Glock and MAC, the name "Street Sweeper" found it's way into plenty of nineties gangsta rap lyrics.

Video Games

  • Used by Leon in Resident Evil 4; though called the Striker, it was actually a Protecta. It was also possible to modify it to have a one hundred shell capacity. An actual Striker is available in Resident Evil 5.
  • Available in Modern Warfare 2 as the Striker, with a variety of sights; for some reason, it's the standard OPFOR shotgun.
  • A Striker-12 is available in Max Payne 2, replacing the previous game's Jackhammer. The game features a fairly common error in depicting guns with fixed cylinder magazines, in that Max is shown reloading by detaching and replacing the entire drum.
  • A Street Sweeper with a sawed-off barrel is available in the first DLC pack for Grand Theft Auto IV. It's not the short-barrel version, since the front sight is in the wrong place.
  • Engineer weapon in Battlefield 2, the origin of the term DAO-12. This isn't the weapon's name, and just refers to the weapon's trigger type and gauge ("double action only, twelve gauge").
    • Also Battlefield 3, appearing with the same name. This time, it has the stock properly unfolded, though the magazine capacity is reduced for balance reason, though the extended mag attachment make it have the proper 12 magazine size.
  • The Protecta shows up in STALKER: Call Of Pripyat called the "Eliminator," and can be fitted with a SUSAT sight.

Daewoo USAS-12

A fully automatic 12-gauge shotgun designed by the Gilbert Equipment Company and manufactured in South Korea by Daewoo, the USAS-12 resembles a giant AR15-type rifle, weighing over twice as much as an M4. While civilian versions are semi-auto only, military and police versions of this piece of heavy machinery can fire at up to 450 rpm; more impressively, they can do this with standard shotgun shells, while most similar designs require brass casings to reduce the risk of melted plastic fouling the action. While it usually takes a standard 10-round box magazine, it's typically depicted with its 20-round drum magazine. Tends to show up instead of a Jackhammer if the production isn't into Rare Guns.

Anime and Manga

Film

  • One with a standard box magazine was used extensively by Steven Seagal throughout the showdown in On Deadly Ground, where it shreds both people and the side of a helicopter with impunity.

Live-Action TV

Video Games

  • The Rainbow Six series has this weapon in its arsenal since the third game.
  • Also present in Soldier of Fortune 2 where the results were gruesome.
  • Used early on in Stargate SG-1.
  • Modern Warfare 3
  • Battlefield 3, commonly found in the Kaffarov level, as well as an available multiplayer all class unlock, for balance reason, the magazine capacity is reduced to 7, though the extended mag attachment is available. Users are still often frowned and looked down upon.
  • Top-tier shotgun in Far Cry 2, seen with a 20-round drum magazine even though it only has 12 shots.
  • Appears towards the end of Syphon Filter 2, of special note is the final boss fight where you have to use one to knock Jason Chance, who's head to toe in advanced body armour, into the spinning tail rotor of a parked helicopter.
  • A very rare and expensive shotgun in 7.62 High Caliber, though still not as rare as the Jackhammer.

Izhmash Saiga-12

A Russian 12-gauge gas-operated semi-auto, the Saiga-12 is based on the AK layout. Using a 5 or 8-round detachable box magazine, it is regarded as reliable and effective while being a lot cheaper than many competing semi-auto shotguns, and is widely used by Russian security services; it's also proven popular with hunters. Older versions have some unfortunate design holdovers from their AK origins that make the weapon rather difficult to actually load; newer versions address this.

Film

  • "Vera" is probably the most well-known example in media; Jayne's "Callahan Fullbore Auto-Lock" in Firefly was a modified Saiga-12 originally built for the movie Showtime.
  • One with a large 20-round drum magazine and no stock appears in the movie Gamer.

Reality TV

Video Games

  • Available to buy in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots; it's the best shotgun in the game, easily overshadowing the others.
  • The 12K version is used by the MEC Engineer class in Battlefield 2.
  • The same version appears in Arm A II.
  • Available in 7.62 High Calibre, with both 5 and 8 round box magazines available. Most prominently used by the rebels, often with double-taped magazines.

RMB-93 / RMO-93 Lynx

A shotgun from KBP, Tula. The other mass produced shotgun with forward-moving barrel: mechanically and thus in some features it resembles NS2000, but has a single magazine (6, + 1 chambered), more common looks (RMB is "combat" version, RMO is "hunting" version, there are 5 variants in the series[1]. And it's not so rare - combat versions are used by various law enforcement organizations in Russia and abroad, hunting versions on civilian and private security markets; it's one of those YMMV models - not particularly flawed, but of limited popularity.[2] There are apparently photos floating around of several tacticool variations with various 9 mm SMGs slung under the barrel, but those were custom pieces made for kicks, not produced variants. Interesting features: Magazine above barrel, giving the piece an unusual look. Reverse pump action. Ejection down, which can be an advantage for visuals as well as in use.

Video Games


KAC Masterkey

The Masterkey is a 12-gauge pump-action under-barrel accessory shotgun designed to allow a solder to breach doors without having to carry a full-sized shotgun. A shortened version of the Remington M870, it has a shortened barrel and no stock or grip, instead using the rifle's magazine as a grip. While it failed to get the military contract KAC had hoped for, it inspired the M26 MASS which did get selected; the MASS is a bolt-action device fed by a detachable box magazine, rather than the tube magazine of the Masterkey.

Film

Video Games

  • Snake can buy this as an attachment for the M4 Custom from Drebin in Metal Gear Solid 4, or he can sometimes find them as a drop from various PMC troops that use them as standalone weapons with stocks attached. Why they do this rather than use an actual shotgun is not even remotely clear.
  • Featured as an attachment to assault rifles in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops.
  • Can be purchased in 7.62 High Calibre, though the usefulness is debatable (it takes longer to switch to the shotgun than it does it fire a burst from the rifle).

Remington 870 "Wingmaster"

The pump-action shotgun. Developed in '51, the 870 is the most popular pump-action shotgun in civilian and police use; from ordinary sportsmen to the GSG-9. As of '09 Remington has produced and sold a whopping 10 million units and counting. Most pump-action shotguns in fiction are based off the 870 or sawed off in a tac shotgun style because...well, it looks cool. Chinese clones, such as the Norino Hawk and the H&R Pardner Pump are also very common. Due to the ubiquity of the 870, similar slide-action shotguns such as the Mossberg 500 and Ithaca 37 are often misidentified as Remingtons.

Anime and Manga

Film

Video Games

  • BioShock (series)
  • The sawed-off shotguns of Team Fortress 2 not wielded by the Scout.
  • The first shotgun available in Max Payne, albeit a police model. Packs a wallop, but it's slow to offset.
  • Available in both the "Sport" version and the "Police" version in 7.62 High Calibre, where the police version includes a folding stock and higher internal capacity.
  • The Hunting Shotgun in Fallout: New Vegas is the Express version, complete with Sarah Connor style pumping done after reloading.
  • Battlefield 3, the first shotgun (and by extent, all-class weapon) to be unlocked in multiplayer, and is the most powerful shotgun in the game with the downside of being pump action.
  • Available very early in 7.62 High Caliber by searching a police car in the starting town. Available in a 4-round hunting version, the 7-round Magnum version, and a Magnum Police with a folding stock.

Web Original


Winchester M1887

A lever action shotgun, designed by John M. Browning for Winchester. Most sportsmen prefer pump-action shotguns for better action speeds, but that doesn't stop most Hollywood heroes from spinning around sawed-off versions trying to pull a John Wayne.

  • Cool Action: Spin-cocking requires the stock and barrel to be sawed off, after which the gun can be cocked for another shot by spinning it around the fingers in the lower part of the lever. There is a strong potential for accidentally discharging the weapon or breaking your fingers and / or jaw, which is why this isn't so popular in real life as it is in movies.
  • A genuine 10-gauge 1887 was infamously used in Terminator 2 with Arnold himself spinning it in his hand like a toy. In fact, three 1887s were used in the movie, one lightened and with a longer lever; Schwarzenegger is said to have picked up the wrong one at one point and almost broken his fingers trying to spin it.
    • This is replicated on the Winchester 1887 in the Korean online FPS Alliance of Valiant Arms.
  • The Scout's primary weapon in Team Fortress 2, albeit a sawed-off, double-barreled, drum-fed version.
  • The Model 1887 turns up in Modern Warfare 2, though a large number of players wish it hadn't.
  • It shows up in The Darkness II towards the end of the single player and multiplayer co-op mode.
  • Seen in Fallout: New Vegas in an incorrect 20 gauge.

Winchester Model 1897

Not to be confused with the 1887 above, the 1897 was a pump-action shotgun and a modified version of the 1893 pump-action developed by--who else--John Moses Browning. The shotgun, like many before it, was primarily a sporting and hunting weapon for most of it's life until the onset of World War 1. When America entered the war, they added an iconic vented barrel shroud and a bayonet lug. The weapon was so effective in trench warfare and so terrifying that the Germans considered it's use a war crime and threatened to kill anyone they captured who used it (The Americans responded by stating they would do the same to German prisoners). After the end of the war, the "Trenchgun" continued to see service right into the Second World War, though it was largely replaced by the Winchester Model 1912. Despite this, the 1897 is the more famous and the one most likely to be seen in a WW 2 film/game/show, likely due to it's devastating reputation in WW 1 and it's intimidating appearance. It's a Rare Gun today, especially the Trenchgun variant and is a highly sought-after collectable by both Wild West and World War 1/2 enthusiasts.

  • Cool Action "Slam firing". Because the shotgun's action lacked a trigger disconnector, this meant that all someone had to do was keep the trigger pressed down and pump the action as fast as they could to keep the shotgun firing.

Anime and Manga

Film

Live-Action TV

Video Games

  • Just about any WW 2 game, movie or TV show where a character uses a shotgun, most likely in the "Trenchgun" configuration with the barrel shroud and the bayonet.
  • In the Resident Evil remake, the civilian version makes a rare appearance as the game's shotgun, replacing the 870 from the original.
  • Red Dead Redemption gives it the generic title of pump-action shotgun. Another rare appearance by the civilian version given that the Trenchgun was not even developed yet.
  1. aside of the stocks and barrel length, they differ in chamber (70 mm or 76 mm); for that matter, there are various muzzle attachments
  2. The "reversed" pump action is "YMMV" feature in itself - users' opinions are split on whether it's more, equally or less convenient than classical - and the fixed stock variants cancel the primary advantage of this design: reduction of total length. On the downside, "double action only" mechanism makes trigger pull rather long and stiff, on the upside, it's fully ambidextrous and ejects casings downward.