- Atchisson Assault Shotgun
Infobox Weapon
name= Atchisson assault shotgun
caption= Atchisson assault shotgun
origin=United States
type=Combat shotgun
designer=Maxwell Atchisson
design_date=1972
manufacturer=
production_date=
number=
variants=
weight= 5.2 kg less magazine. 7.3 kg with loaded 20-round drum
length= 991 mm
part_length= 457 mm
width=
height=
cartridge=
caliber= 12 gauge
action= Selective fire, blowback operated
rate= 360 rounds per minute
velocity=
range=
max_range=
feed= 5 rounds in box or 20 rounds in drum magazines
sights=The Atchisson Assault Shotgun, also known as, Auto Assault-12 (AA-12) was a firearm first developed in
1972 by Maxwell Atchisson. It served as the basis of several later weapons, including theUSAS-12 combat shotgun. The weapon could fire in semi automatic or fully automatic modes.MPS version
In 1987, Max Atchisson sold the rights of AA-12 to Jerry Baber of Military Police Systems, Inc. The company in turn developed the successor simply known as Auto Assault-12, which was redesigned over a period of 18 years with 188 changes and improvements to the original blueprint. MPS also teamed up with Action Manufacturing Company, and Special Cartridge Company to combine the gun with FRAG-12 High-Explosive ammunition into a weapon system. In 2004, 10 firing models of the AA-12 were produced and demonstrated to United States Marine Corps.
Changes
The weapon was shortened to 966mm but retained same barrel length as the original, and lightened to 4.76kg. The CQB model has 13-inch barrel length, and is half a pound lighter than the regular model. It uses 8-round box, 20-round drum, or 32-round drum magazines, as opposed to the original 5-round box magazine. It is designed to fire three different types of 3" 12 gauge shells: Buckshot, slug, or
Frag-12 rounds. MPS has claimed that the weapon requires zero cleaning or lubrication.Media Coverage
The MPS version was featured on the
March 19 ,2007 episode of "Future Weapons ".ee also
*
Combat shotgun
*List of shotguns
*Military technology and equipment External links
* [http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/guns/recoilless-auto-shotgun-fires-300-rounds-per-minute-no-cleaning-or-lube-required-324453.php?autoplay=true Future Weapons video]
* [http://world.guns.ru/shotgun/sh29-e.htm Modern Firearms Atchisson AA-12 page]
* [http://www.defensereview.com/article892.html Defense Review MPS AA-12 review]
* [http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_AA12,,00.html THE AUTO ASSAULT-12: A Killer Shotgun for the War on Terror]
* [http://www.action-mfg.com/page5.htm Action Manufacturing Company press release]
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