A shotgun is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small spherical projectiles called shot, or a single solid projectile called a slug. Shotguns are most commonly used as smoothbore firearms, meaning that their gun barrels have no rifling on the inner wall, but rifled barrels for shooting sabot slugs are also available.
A slug barrel is a shotgun barrel that is designed primarily to fire slugs instead of shot, and is usually rifled. A shotgun with such a barrel is often called a slug gun.
The Mossberg 500 (M500) is a series of pump action shotguns manufactured by O.F. Mossberg & Sons. The 500 series comprises widely varying models of hammerless repeaters, all of which share the same basic receiver and action, but differ in bore size, barrel length, choke options, magazine capacity, stock and forearm materials. Model numbers included in the 500 series are the 500, 505, 510, 535, and 590. The Revelation 310 and the New Haven 600 were also variations of the 500 series produced by Mossberg under different names. By 2021, 11,000,000 M500s had been produced, making it the most-produced shotgun of all time.
A shotgun shell, shotshell, or shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired through a smoothbore barrel with a tapered constriction at the muzzle to regulate the extent of scattering. A shell can sometimes also contain only a single large solid projectile known as a slug. The hull usually consists of a paper or plastic tube often covered at the base by a metallic head cover which retains a primer, and the shot charge is typically contained by a wadding/sabot inside the case. The caliber of the shotshell is known as its gauge.
A shotgun slug is a heavy projectile made of lead, copper, or other material and fired from a shotgun. Slugs are designed for hunting large game, and other uses, particularly in areas near human population where their short range and slow speed helps increase safety margin. The first effective modern shotgun slug was introduced by Wilhelm Brenneke in 1898, and his design remains in use today. Most shotgun slugs are designed to be fired through a cylinder bore, improved cylinder choke, rifled choke tubes, or fully rifled bores. Slugs differ from round ball lead projectiles in that they are stabilized in some manner.
The Saiga-12 is a shotgun available in a wide range of configurations, patterned after the Kalashnikov series of rifles and named after the Saiga antelope native to Russia. Like the Kalashnikov rifle variants, it is a rotating bolt, long-stroke gas piston operated firearm that feeds from a square magazine. All Saiga-12 configurations are recognizable as Kalashnikov-pattern guns by the large lever-safety on the right side of the receiver, the optic mounting rail on the left side of the receiver and the large top-mounted dust cover held in place by the rear of the recoil spring assembly. Saiga firearms are meant for civilian domestic sale in Russia, and export to international markets.
The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the inner diameter of the barrel.
H&R 1871, LLC, or more commonly known as Harrington & Richardson, is an American brand of firearms and a subsidiary of JJE Capital Holdings. H&R ceased independent production February 27, 2015.
The Stoeger Condor is a double-barreled shotgun. It is an over/under gun, with one barrel above the other.
A combination gun is a firearm that usually comprises at least one rifled barrel and one smoothbore barrel, that is typically used with shot or some type of shotgun slug. Most have been break-action guns, although there have been other designs as well. Combination guns using one rifled and one smoothbore barrel are commonly found in an over-and-under configuration, while the side-by-side configuration is usually referred to as a cape gun. A combination gun with more than two barrels is called a drilling with three barrels, a vierling with four barrels, and a fünfling with five barrels. Combination guns generally use rimmed cartridges, as rimless cartridges are usually more difficult to extract from a break-action firearm.
The Model 1200 is a pump-action shotgun that was manufactured by the Winchester-Western Division of Olin Corporation, starting 1964. It was redesignated the Model 1300 in 1978 with minimal changes. Production ceased in 2006 when the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, the subsequent manufacturer, went bankrupt. A militarized version of the Model 1200 was acquired by the U.S. Army for use during the Vietnam War. It is still in active service within various conflicts throughout the 21st century.
The M30 Luftwaffe Drilling ("triple") was a survival weapon issued to Luftwaffe pilots during World War II. It was used by airmen operating in Northern Africa. The M30 was intended to be used for hunting and self-defense against a variety of natural predators.
The Fabarm FP6 is a pump-action combat shotgun that was manufactured by the Italian firearms company Fabbrica Bresciana Armi S.p.A. (FABARM) and sold by Heckler & Koch. It was intended for civilian and law enforcement use.
The Benelli Supernova is a pump action shotgun used for hunting, self-defense and law enforcement, made by Italian firearm manufacturer Benelli Armi SpA. The Supernova features a recoil reducer, which is attached to the interior of the stock, and raises the length of time that the shot's impulse is spread across, thus lowering felt recoil.
The Savage Model 24 is an American made over-and-under combination gun manufactured by Savage Arms. The basic .22LR over .410 gauge model weighs 7 pounds, has 24-inch barrels and an overall length of 41-inches. It may also be disassembled for ease of storage.
The Vepr-12 is a multipurpose semi-automatic detachable-magazine shotgun, produced by Molot-Oruzhie Ltd. It is patterned after the original Kalashnikov rifle and built on the heavier RPK light machine gun receiver.
The TOZ-84 (ТОЗ-84) is a Soviet double-barreled shotgun.
The TOZ-55 «Zubr» is a Soviet double-barreled combination gun for big-game hunting.
The MTs 7 is a family of Soviet and Russian double-barreled high-quality custom hunting shotguns, combination guns and rifles.
The MTs 5 is a family of Soviet double-barreled high-quality custom hunting shotguns, combination guns and rifles.
