Colt Defender

     Notes: When Winchester gave up on the Liberator project (US Shotguns W-Z), Colt took up the weapon and developed it some more into the Defender.  The Defender is made largely of light castings, and has reduced caliber in a vain attempt to help control the massive recoil if all barrels are fired at once.  Since the gauge was reduced, the amount of barrels was increased.  In addition, a central tube was added to fire a spring-loaded canister-type grenade (usually tear gas); this barrel is fired by a trigger in a forward pistol grip that doubles to steady the weapon.  The eight shotgun barrels may be fired all at once, or in sequence; if fired all at once, the recoil is added together!  Assuming the proper coordination, the user may even fire the central canister grenade at the same time as the shotgun.  The damage per shell type below is per barrel; add them all together if all barrels are fired at once.

     Despite the many supporters of the weapon (including US President Richard Nixon himself), it was regarded as unwieldy and rejected by the law-enforcement community at which it was targeted.  The military was likewise uninterested.  Only one prototype was ever produced, but it is presented here as an interesting “what-if.”

Hillberg Model J

     Notes: Though Robert Hillberg is better known for his work on semiautomatic shotguns and such exotic projects as the Colt Defender and Winchester Liberator, he also worked on several pump-action shotguns, such as the Model J.  Like most of his projects, it has several unusual features; it is a box-magazine-fed pump-action shotgun with an ejection port on both sides of the gun.  A switch determines which way the spent shells are ejected.  This allow the Model J to be used with equal utility by left and right-handed shooters, and the box magazine allows for large ammunition capacity with quick reloading.  The Model J was also one of the first shotguns to be equipped with a folding stock.  The Model J was experimented with by the US Military in Vietnam, but never adopted by any branch.

Ramos M-412 TAPP

     Notes: The TAPP (Tactical Perimeter Powerhouse) is a project that JM Ramos and a few other gunsmiths dreamed up for an article in the March 2009 issue of Small Arms Review magazine. Using a Remington 870 as a base, Ramos and his team came up with something…unique – a tactical shotgun that can be used (with rifled slugs) as a sharpshooting weapon as well as a conventional shotgun and close assault weapon.

     The modifications done to the Remington 870 base are nothing short of astounding. The shotgun has its stock replaced with an M-4-style sliding stock (the CAA RS870 6-position stock), which includes a compartment for batteries to power optics and other accessories; a pistol grip is also mounted.  The receiver is beefed up a bit, and topped with a MIL-STD-1913 rail.  This rail has BUIS flip-up iron sights, and a short MIL-STD-1913 rail near the muzzle mounts a similar front sight. The rail is topped by a low-power red-dot optical sight; alternatively, other optics or laser pointers can be mounted, or a carrying handle.  (The price below includes a 1.5-6x scope.)  The slide is replaced with a slide that has three MIL-STD-1913 rails (the Wilson Tactical Picatinny Rail Forend); the bottom rail normally mounts a vertical foregrip (CAA’s VG1) for faster cycling, as well as a lightweight folding bipod (the CAA BPOS Short Bipod) adjustable for height and cant. On the right side is laser pointing device.  A CAA-made OPS one point tactical sling is also used.  A ventilated aluminum guard is found above the barrel; the upper MIL-STD-1913 rail extends about a third of the way down this guard.  The barrel is abbreviated to 14 inches; the magazine is extended almost flush with the muzzle.

     So, is the M-412 a shotgun? Certainly.  It is a short-barreled rifle?  It can function as such.  Close assault weapon? Definitely.  Perimeter defense weapon.  It can function as such.  It may also be a weapon that has been over-accessorized.  But it’s definitely interesting!

Smith & Wesson AS-3

     Notes:  This was one of the candidates for the CAWS competition that the US conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Originally, three versions were envisioned: the AS-1, a semiautomatic-only version for police and civilians; the AS-2, which had a three-round-burst feature; and the AS-3, which fired in full-automatic as well as 3-round burst.  The AS-1 was dropped as Smith & Wesson felt they would not find a market for it, and the AS-2 was dropped as being redundant, leaving the AS-3.  (The automatic and 3-round burst feature, in Twilight 2000 v2.2 game terms, are identical, since the full automatic cyclic rate is only 375 rpm.)

     The AS-3 is a shotgun constructed more like an assault rifle, with rifle sights, straight-line configuration, box ammunition feed, and a muzzle brake (something which took a lot of research, since most muzzle brakes are destroyed by buckshot or flechette ammunition).  The barrel is unusual, being constructed of light, high-strength alloy instead of steel, as is the receiver.  The barrel is actually of the quick change type, and is 18.75 inches long (though early prototypes used a 18.25-inch barrel).  The stock, pistol grip, and fore-end are of high-impact plastic/synthetic material, with the stock having a rubber recoil pad.   The furniture and upper and lower receivers are based loosely on the AR-15/M-16 series, and field stripping begins the same way, with the upper and lower receivers being separated by the use of push pins.  (In fact, some 30% of the parts of the AS-3 are identical to those of the M-16/AR-15.)  Operation is a locked-breech, short-recoil system instead of a gas system, however.  The top of the receiver has a raised ventilated sighting rib which extends about a third of the length of the weapon; this rib also has modified M-16A1-type rear sights (calibrated for the 12-gauge ammunition, of course) which are adjustable for elevation and windage, and a simple post front sight.  It could also mount the same types of optics which could be mounted on an M-16A1 carrying handle.  The first prototype AS-3s had a short fore-end, but later prototypes used a somewhat longer fore-end.  Like other CAWS competitors, special ammunition was developed to take advantage of some of the AS’s unique properties; the AS-3 could also use conventional plastic-cased and cardboard-cased 12-gauge ammunition, in addition to most antiriot-type 12-gauge rounds if the AS-3 is set for semiautomatic. (The AS-3 would jam easily if beanbag or baton-type rounds were used on automatic.)  In addition, it was recommended that the AS-3 be fed with only standard loadings of conventional 12-gauge ammunition its own special ammunition, or that designed for the Olin/HK CAWS. (These specially-designed rounds were 3 inches long.)

     Like other CAWS competitors, the AS-3 was dropped when the CAWS program was terminated. 

USAC FAS-173

     Notes: This was one of the first shotguns in the research that would eventually culminate in the H&K CAWS.  The FAS-173 is a fully automatic shotgun, and as the H&K CAWS had not yet appeared on the scene, it was designed primarily to compete with the Atchisson Assault 12 (the weapon that eventually became the AA-12). 

     The FAS-173 was designed by John Foote, who based it on an assault rifle he had built based on the AK series; it therefore in many ways resembles a cross between the AA-12 (Maxwell Atchisson once worked for USAC) and the Russian Saiga series of shotguns.  The operation is, in fact, quite similar to that of the AK-47’s gas system, with the exception of extraction and that the FAS-173 was designed to fire from an open bolt.  12-gauge models are built almost entirely of steel; 20-gauge versions (which existed only in early prototype form) use a steel-lined aluminum barrel.  Stocks are primarily wood (though some plastic-stocked versions were tried), with a recoil pad on the butt; versions with folding stocks were also built. 

     The FAS-173 was meant to be part of a family of weapons, to include an assault rifle and light machinegun (which existed only on paper), but with the world glutted with M-16s and AKs, and no one realizing the utility of a combat shotgun, the FAS-173, went the way of most of the CAWS program, into the dustbin of history.

Winchester Liberator Mk III

     Notes: This weapon had its genesis in the early 1960s when the Bay of Pigs invasion was being put together.  The planners were looking for weapons to drop to anti-Castro partisans so they could help the invasion.  The idea was something cheap and disposable in the same vein as the World War 2 Liberator pistol, but more effective.  This led to a simple multibarrel shotgun made from aluminum and magnesium castings to keep costs and weight down.  It wasn’t a bad idea, but then people started getting more ideas; a removable stock that could also be telescoped was added, and gauge was increased from the original 16 Gauge all the way up to 12 Gauge.  This made the weapon heavier than it was supposed to be, and gave it nearly unmanageable recoil, especially since all barrels fire at once!  (This feature meant that the trigger pull was nearly 18 pounds.)  The idea for the weapon was dropped at this point; it was cheaper and more effective to airdrop World War 2 surplus M-1 Carbines (something that was never actually done, at least not officially, in Cuba).  Since the four barrels may only be fired simultaneously, this is the figure shown below.

Winter Swatriplex-18

     Notes: Designed in the late 1970s specifically as a combat shotgun by John W Winter, the Swatriplex-18 had a number of unusual features, some of which appeared in later shotguns.  Unfortunately, the company which was supposed to manufacture the weapon (Consortium W), pulled out after only a few prototypes were built and Winter was never able to attract anyone else to manufacture, let alone buy his unusual shotgun.

     The Swatriplex-18 used a semi-bullpup design using twin tubular magazines under a single barrel.  Feed could be from one magazine at a time, or alternately between the right and left magazines.  Operation was semiautomatic, using gas operation and something quite unusual in a shotgun, a telescoping bolt.  Construction was with a combination of light alloys and steel (for the barrel and where strength was critical).  The 22-inch barrel was surrounded by a shroud/handguard which was ventilated for cooling.  The Swatriplex-18 has ejection ports on both sides of the weapon; each could be sealed, and this allowed use of the weapon by both left and right-handed shooters by simply reversing the ejection direction, charging handle, and cheek rest (something most designers of bullpup weapons seem to overlook).  The Swatriplex-18 used rifle-type sights on raised stands; both were adjustable for elevation and windage by knobs.  (The raised sights were thought of as a potential problem, and Winter reputedly was considering either removable sights or moving the sights down to the receiver itself.)  The stock was of light alloy, but the butt was synthetic with a rubber recoil pad.  The top of the receiver had a carrying handle which could be folded flat against the receiver if desired.

     The Swatriplex-18 was most likely a design which was way ahead of its time; many companies thought it was simply too weird-looking to sell, despite its reliability and advanced features.  This may have killed the Swatriplex-18 more than anything else.  Unfortunately, even the prototypes seem to have disappeared, and examples of the weapon now exist only on paper.