Military Shotguns

S

SamHouston

New member
Watching the Military channel this morning on Ranger Training it appeared one of the men carried a shotgun. They were practicing clearing rooms of buildings. Was this a shotgun I saw or some type of granade launcher ? If a shotgun, I assume there might be some advantage in close quarters.
 
Yep, they will get the job done in close quarters.

A friend of mine had to use one inside a building in Nam - blew out both his eardrums... :(
 
They use them for breaching doors for the most part. I am sure there are some that use them as a primary weapon, but not many.
 
Sure wish I had a SG in Iraq. Woulda been handy on convoys through urban areas, and perimeter duty, and TCN escorts. Maybe not as a primary weapon- but a couple on the team or one on the truck would have been nice.
 
Yep, it was prolly a 500....I've used one to breach many of buildings and vehicles while deployed.
 
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I just finished House to House by David Bellavia (a pretty good read about the battle of Fallujah, by the way) and he refers many times to a friend of his (another NCO) who carries a Mossberg 500 through the entire book, using it to breach, but also, apparently as a primary weapon. I thought that was interesting.
 
Some semi-auto shotguns were used also, by foreign countrys. Often it was a Browning A5. Also, I was visiting with a friend of my dad's, who served as an advisor in the eairly part of Nam, and his preferred weapon was a Browning A5 with buckshot. He said that at that time, some of the the guys were sending back home for their family members, friends, etc to purchase a shotgun and send it to them. He also told me that the shotgun was a better killer then the M16, but he carried both, as did most of the people in his group. They also relied heavely on dogs.
 
WWI

US troops were issued Winchester pump guns, not sure if on a squad support level, but they used them for trench clearing.

They were effective enough that the Germans put out bounties on shotgunners.

Cheers,

M
 
When I was in the Marines from 88-92, we had a few old M-1200s that were on their last leg and being replaced by Mossberg M590s. We also had a couple cut-down 870s with the top-folding stocks for VIP protection details. These days in the Air Force, the most common shotgun has been the M870 but it is being phased out with the newer M870 modular combat shotgun. The new shotgun is pretty much a Remington 870 but with more of the "tacti-cool" bells and whistles on it.
 
Yes the Moss 500 is what is carried, it is used in clearing stateside, but usually only carried by breachers deployed.
 
Both weapons in one

img125-5854-xm26shotgun7fv.jpg
 
Combination rifle & shotgun

That's a cool gun & the ultimate in Home Defense. I've wondered if any manufacturer made something similar for the civilian market

I assume the shotgun barrel would be to short.
 
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