The war on terror has inspired the development of combat shotguns for breaching, non-lethal operations and close quarter battle. This occurred by optimizing the standard pump or semi-automatic 12-gauge for these environments. Some options include shrinking some designs so that they could be mated to the soldier’s primary weapon. The latest developments are lightweight packages that are specially built and barely resembling their forbearers.

Conventional units are finding shotguns useful in the close quarters battle. During the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment’s eight-hour Baghdad fight with Syrian mercenaries on April 7, 2003, Private First Class Christopher Nauman was wounded. While being carried off on a stretcher, he saw a “dead” enemy soldier grab an AK-47. MSNBC showed footage of Nauman sitting up and firing his 12-gauge shotgun twice, killing the enemy soldier.

Having a cone of fire that can take down the target as opposed to a single straight line bullet is a tremendous advantage when the range to the target might be measured in feet instead yards. Technology advancements have increased the knockdown power and lethality of the shotgun.

First Steps In Optimization

With many units and agencies using reduced recoil buckshot and slugs, conventional fixed choke shotguns often do not pattern well. The user should be able to select the appropriate choke for ammunition they are using, so that they can get tighter, more controlled patterns. When wearing body armor or a tactical vest, the shooter needs a shorter stock. Back-bored and ported barrels enhance recoil reduction, while combat sights reduce acquisition time.

Remington has a range that includes the 870P pump, 11-87P gas-operated shotguns and the new 870 Modular Combat Shotgun (MCS). The MCS centers around the proprietary REM LOC quick change stock system and allows the weapon to be configured with a 10-inch breaching, 14-inch tactical or 18-inch rifle sighted barrel, pistol grips or stocks and magazine tube capacities to meet changing tactical situations quickly and without tools. It can also fire multiple ammunition sizes and types and can mount underneath an M4/M16 as an accessory weapon. A design is nearly complete to also mount the MCS underneath the experimental XM8. The MCS also comes with a receiver mounted Picatinny rail, cleaning kit, ammunition sidesaddle and discreet protective weapons case. Whether as an accessory weapon, a breaching tool, a close quarters battle weapon or a conventional high capacity shotgun, the MCS is all four in one. MCS shotgun systems have just returned from successful combat trials in and around Baghdad. In addition the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force and the Israeli Ministry of Defence are reportedly showing interest in the MCS.

The 870-series is an industry standards upon which many modifications can be based. For instance, the Wilson Combat Scattergun is an 870 with an 18-inch cylinder bore barrel, a seven-round extended magazine with four or six shot side saddle shell carrier, a black synthetic stock, 6-volt SURE-FIRE Tactical Light and a rust resistant finish. The Professional model has a 14-inch barrel and five-round magazine. The firm also touts their patented TRAK-LOCK Ghost Ring Sight System as being able to deliver rifle-like accuracy, even under low-light conditions. Wilson will even refurbish a customer’s shotgun to their standards.

Another low cost option, from the Canadian firm Argonaut Armament’s AR15-870 CQB Stock Adapter, allows an M4/SOPMOD CQB style telescoping/ collapsible butt stock to be mounted in-line to the Remington 870 shotgun. While fairly new, these have been tested by special forces units and law enforcement tactical units.

However, according to Argonaut’s owner Jason de Jong, some sort of elevated sighting platform is required to make a shotgun equipped with their stock adapter useful for more than just a breaching tool or extreme close quarters weapon. Their receiver-length Picatinny rail allows the EOTech 550 Series Holographic Diffraction sight, Aimpoint CompM2 Red Dot optical gunsight or any of the various 1913 Picatinny-compatible flip-up iron sights to be mounted. They are in the process of designing a more consumer friendly full-length rail system to increase the number of options.

Fabrique National created their Tactical Police Shotgun by fitting the police shotgun with a collapsible/adjustable stock pistol grip and sights of the M16 rifle, so that the ergonomics would be familiar to those already accustomed to the M16 family. This shotgun also has the advantages of an FN Internal Tactical Choke, Picatinny rail and adjustable stock that will adjust to fit most shooters, with or without body armor. The rail system is drilled and tapped to accept an optional C-More sight.

Since more shooters are physically smaller or wearing body armor, the FN Police Shotgun has a length of pull of 13.5 inches—.5 to .75 of an inch shorter than most other shotguns. All guns are supplied with two screwed in choke tubes, an improved cylinder and modified tube.

The Benelli M4 Super 90 is another semi-automatic design, officially adopted by the U.S. military as the M1014 or Joint Services Combat Shotgun. Benelli engineers developed this unique auto regulating gas operated shotgun to meet military needs, incorporating an auto-regulating gas-operating design that uses dual stainless steel self-cleaning pistons located just ahead of the chamber. These operate directly against the rotating bolt, eliminating the need for complex linkages found on other gas autos. The M4/M1014 is modular in construction; one possible configuration is an entry gun with 355 mm barrel and pistol grip

The Italian firm Fabbrica Bresciana Armi S.p.A. (FABARM) offers the pump FP6 and Tactical Semi-Auto, which are imported and distributed by Heckler & Koch (HK). Their most innovative aspect is the TriBore system, which they claim offers higher velocities, superior patterning and lower recoil.

The “over bore region” is just in front of the chamber and the forcing cone, and a second bore, the “first choke region,” is in the middle of the barrel, creating a standard shotgun cylinder bore profile. This permits the shot column to increase in velocity. The third bore is a unique combination of standard choking followed by a cylinder profile area just before the shot column leaves the barrel—ensuring uniform distribution and patterning. The added “porting” bleeds off excess expanding gas in the barrel in a sideward direction and dampens the recoil. This system has all the advantages of back-boring but with the added benefit of less felt recoil.

Important operational features include the ability to mount a Picatinny rail on the extended forearm and a rail mount built into the receiver. For early entry use, HK offers a 14-inch barrel.

Under-Barrel Designs

Where once conventional pump or semiautomatic shotguns would suffice, there has been a trend to mount lighter versions under the soldier’s primary weapon (M203 style). The big advantage of the under-barrel design is that the soldier doesn’t have to sling his primary weapon to use the shotgun, although some shooters prefer the controllability of a dedicated stock. Designs like the Cieiner Ultimate mated a Remington 870 to an M16 rifle by using the bayonet lug as the basic fixing point and with the shotgun stock removed, as a yoke adaptor to the M16 receiver. However, it was determined that longer barrels or even five-round magazine tubes were unnecessary.

The Knight’s Armament Company (KAC) Masterkey is one example of a derivative design, a 12-gauge Remington 870P with a barrel shortened to 10-inches and a four-round capacity (3 + 1). While this is designed to fit under the KAC Modular Weapon System using MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rails, a standalone stock module is available. This is a three-position collapsible stock with multiple sling attachment points, as well as a rear leaf sight (100-350 meters), a front fixed sight and two quick release push-button 1 1/4-inch sling swivels.

The Lightweight Shotgun System

Development of the Ultra Lightweight Under-Barrel Lethal/Non-Lethal Shotgun System (LSS) began in 1999 by Colt’s Manufacturing Co. Inc. and continued with C-More of Manassas, VA. The LSS was 100 percent designed from the bottom up to military requirements, using no off-the-shelf components.

The LSS attaches underneath the barrel of an individual infantry weapon like the M4 carbine or the experimental XM8. According to Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Clarke, Program Executive Office Soldier program manager for Individual Weapons, the initial lot was so small that each gun was handmade. During testing, about 15,000 rounds were fired through the 200 systems going to the field.

The 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan requested the LSS as “an urgent operational need” and in October 2003, 199 were delivered. They were initially issued one per squad, although the plan was to get one in every fire team. According to Major Trevor Shaw, assistant program manager, Individual Weapons, PEO Soldier, several other brigade-size elements have submitted Operational Needs Statements for the LSS. This demand will be filled with the current LSS design over the next 3 to 8 months. Picatinny plans to collect comments from after action reports when the 10th returns to the United States in May/June, to survey for any necessary modifications to the system.

At 16.5-inches overall length and with only a 7 3/4-inch barrel, it still weighs less than the M203 grenade launcher. The stand-alone version with pistol grip and stock weighs 4 pounds, 3 ounces and is 24-inches long collapsed. The 2 pound, 11 ounce shotgun uses a straight-pull bolt action that can be switched for either left or right-handed users—the safety is also ambidextrous. C-More’s five-round, box-magazine can hold 2 3/4- and 3-inch lethal, non-lethal and door-breaching rounds.

Idaho Integrated Breaching Shotgun

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory received a similar request for a magazine-fed shotgun attached to an assault rifle that came from a federal law enforcement agency through the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Intelligence’s Applied Technology Program—a program within DOE that matches technology needs throughout the federal arena to researchers within the national laboratory system.

In the prototype’s design, the bolt is held stationary while the receiver and barrel move forward, allowing the receiver to be shortened and the barrel to be lengthened.

The IIBS was designed by a team led by Richard Watson, David Crandall, Steve Frickey and Mike Occhionero. Crandall had a firearms background (being a member of the U.S. Palma Team and frequently shooting competitively) and served as Watson’s sounding board, while they implemented and integrated ideas from whiteboard sketches into autocad drawings. While remaining practical, the team wasn’t bound by convention.

According to Richard Watson, IIBS’s designer, the trigger is located in the shotgun’s handguard, inside of what would be comparable to the tube magazine on a standard pump 12-gauge. Watson proudly points out that the IIBS can be cycled and fired without the shooter moving his hands off the primary weapon, which can be fired simultaneously, if need be. The replaceable Valtro PM-5 box magazine makes it easier to rapidly reload or select alternate rounds.

The IIBS is currently a one off prototype and not commercially available, although the developers are applying for five patents. While it only takes four months to produce the first working prototype, they are working on some refinements to the design and hope to begin fabrication of an improved version soon.

Peripheral Gear

With the per-cartridge expense of most breaching rounds, a separate storage pouch is preferable to field-expedients like canteen covers or 20-round M4 pouches. SFG/SOTECH tactical gear makes a breaching shotgun ammo module in double-layered 1000 Denier DuPont Cordura Plus fabric, double layered, with each of its three pouches holding eight cartridges. These items are made to order, taking up to eight weeks for production and/or delivery, although additional time may be required for non-standard colors/patterns.

A simple and cost-effective solution is to add after-market items to a standard shotgun. The Sage International Ltd. Lockbuster Stand-off is a special magazine cap that can be interchanged with a standard magazine cap at the owner’s discretion. When using special-purpose door-breaching ammunition, this device ensures precise positioning of the shotgun barrel and proper barrel venting, which shaves precious seconds off of the entry operation.

Breaching Rounds

With the level of military operations carried out in urban terrain (MOUT) environments, a forced entry is frequently demanded, and yet explosives, which are the preferred method, aren’t always available or practical. In Afghanistan and Iraq, raids capturing suspected terrorists are often announced with a shotgun blast to the door lock of a suspect’s house. Even the military police’s special reactions teams have a breaching round requirement for hostage rescue, barricaded suspect and response force missions.

The recommended standoff distance for shotgun breaching is 0 to 2 inches, with 0 inches the preferred distance. Having the muzzle of the shotgun against the lock or hinge makes it less likely that the shotgun will move off target. Specialized “door-buster” rounds then disintegrate locks or hinges. Some prefer simple 00 buckshot or even an old field-expedient technique of making the projectile from dental plaster, although a wide selection of rounds are commercially available. Sage International offers a selection of lead and non-toxic door breaching ammunition (known as Lockbusters) to go with their stand-off muzzle attachment.

A.L.S. Technologies manufactures the Door Breacher with a 17-gram (262 grain) frangible projectile made of iron dust and a ceramic binder, which produces 1,489 foot pounds of energy into an area .75 inches diameter. The company advises that the Door Breacher must never be fired with the muzzle of the shotgun less than 1 inch from the door lock, so muzzle attachments are necessary.

Several distributors offer the tactical knock-out (TKO) frangible slug, a translucent shell loaded with a compressed zinc slug, while Precision Made Cartridges (PMC) offers a round loaded with fine metal shot, bound in a special matrix that allows breakup into a fine powder upon impact. Tactical & Survival Specialties, Inc. (TSSI) offers the Royal Arms line of frangible 12-gauge breaching ammunition. The 12-gauge Lock and Hinge Avon Breaching Slug has a 260 grain compressed copper projectile and the Heavy Lock and Hinge Avon Breaching Slug 400 grains, while the All Lock and Hinge Clayvon Breaching Slug has a 365 grain clay and steel dust projectile. Remington also manufactures a frangible slug and frangible buckshot load that are made of compressed iron powder that are designed to disintegrate upon impact but defeat door locks and hinges.

As this article is being written, Picatinny Arsenal’s Maneuver Ammunition Systems is looking for a contractor to manufacture 90,000 to 120,000 M1030 12-gauge shotgun breaching cartridges. The basic contract is planned for award, with options, in FY05.

Flocking

What made the shotgun the best weapon for bringing down large flocks of birds is the exact quality that makes it great in an urban environment. It will never be a general purpose weapon, but the shotgun will have a place in the arsenal of any unit that finds itself in close quarter engagements.