Marine Corps Shotguns
Striderteen,
The Marine Corps never used the benelli's as an issue shotgun.
They may have tested them, but they were never an issue item.
I just went through the Dynamic Entry Course at SOTG last month,and i noted that the Company had 11 Remington Shotguns, Riot Type, MK1 NSN 1005-01-065-8989; 3 Mossberg 500 Shotguns NSN 1005-01-1032 (there are not many of those left) and 2 Shotguns, Riot Type, M1200 (my error on the earlier post) NSN 1005-00-921-5483.
If you check out the April 2001 issue of The Accurate Rifle, "Strong Men Armed", there is a shot of an M1014 being fired at SOTG.
I'm not sure what you mean by exotic, but the "masterkey" (there are actually several manufacturers making this, including KAC and Sage) certainly isn't. I have not seen anyone from NSW using this -at least on the west coast. Are you saying that the Navy M4A1's stronger than the Marine M4A1's?
Again, while there are many here that may have strong feelings for a particular type of weapon, they are tools, no more, no less.
The shotgun is a tool, used for a very special, but extremely limited purpose in the Marine Corps.
They are certainly not "babies"!
Force may continue to keep the MK1's for the breaching role pending suitability tests with the dedicated breaching ammunition.