Had enough of the zombies? Not yet, I guess, considering The Walking Dead seems to be one of the most popular shows on TV. Â Fortunately, Remington introduced the Versa Max Zombie shotgun to help quench the thirst for zombie-related gun gear.
The Versa Max is Remington’s newest autoloading shotgun, and in the past couple of years it has become very popular due to its ability to reliably digest all kinds of ammo. I’ve not had the chance to spend much time with one myself, but a lot of people are giving the Versa Max very positive reviews. So, what better gun to have in the apocalypse than a 12 gauge, semiautomatic shotgun that is not picky on with what ammo it will run?
Of course, the Zombie slaying shotgun is more about form than function. Remington just built the form on top of a reliable platform.
In 2012, Magpul announced a line of shotgun accessories, and one year later Remington announced an 870 Express Tactical shotgun with those fixtures as standard features. The new Remington 870 uses a Magnum SGA buttstock and a MOR fore-end.
The Remington 870 shotgun is extremely popular for self-defense and police work. I’d venture to say that at least half of the law enforcement agencies in the United States has the 870 as standard equipment in the patrol car. Likewise the guns are extremely popular with citizens wanting serious firepower to defend their homes.
The newly updated Mossberg SA-20 Field/Tactical autoloader is a 20 gauge shotgun with a 20″ barrel, synthetic stock and a variety of features that might make it a good home defense gun for you. With the updated version shown at the 2013 SHOT Show, I immediately saw the gun’s home defense potential for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is reduced recoil.
The semi-auto action tends to absorb some of the recoil in the mechanical process of moving the bolt, extracting a spent shell and chambering a new one. Combine that with the lower recoil of a 20 gauge compared to a 12 gauge, and one can see how this gun will likely be more tolerable to someone who is more recoil sensitive. I’ve never had a problem training people of all sizes to shoot a 12 gauge, but a semi-auto 20 is simply easier for some people to control.
The Taurus ST12 shotgun is a pump action, 12 gauge scattergun being made in Brazil. The Taurus shotgun falls into the tactical arena, not in the sporting category, and is marketed as such. The shotgun is not currently imported into the United States for civilian sales, but it is exported from Brazil for government purchasers.
The ST12 was first shown at the 2011 LAAD (a military arms expo that held in Brazil every two years,) but has yet to be shown by Taurus at the US-based SHOT Show. In its stock configuration, the shotgun is obviously designed to appeal to the military and law enforcement markets.
The Taurus ST12 has a chamber that will take 2 3/4″ and 3″ shells. The full-length tube magazine will take seven shells. Barrel lengths of 18″ and 20″ are available. The barrel has a stand off attachment for breaching duties.
The gun uses a fore-end with a Picatinny rail on the bottom. Presumably, one could attach a vertical grip or another device here. There is a short tri-rail attached to the extended magazine tube that would allow a shooter to attach a white light or another device. The front sight is a red fiber optic. While I would prefer ghost ring-style sights, the fiber optic is still an improvement over a brass bead.
The Taurus shotgun’s buttstock uses a M4-style six-position stock with a rubber recoil-reducing pad. The stock can also fold to the left of the gun, which allows a significant reduction in overall length. In some photos, the stock appears to be the ATI tactical shotgun stock they make for the Remington 870. In other photos, the stock is shown from the right side of the gun, concealing the folding point. On those, the pistol grip now has more of a M4 look and the Taurus logo.
Click this photo to see a larger image of the various shotgun features.
A heat shield covers the barrel. The receiver is made of aluminum. The ST12 uses a cross-bolt safety like the one used on the Remington 870 line of shotguns.
It is unknown if Taurus has any plans to import the ST12 into the US. If they do, the price will certainly be a critical factor for the success of this shotgun. Remington and Mossberg have a pretty tight grip on the tactical pump gun market, and those companies already have reasonably priced offerings.
The all-new Saiga-12 shotgun. Note all of the changes from the original guns.
Izhmash announced the development of a new Saiga-12 shotgun variant for practical shooting competition. Saiga-12 fans will likely notice a few differences just from the photo.
My Russian is not very good, but from what I was able to determine, the new Saiga-12 sports several new features, including:
long Picatinny rail on top of the receiver for optics
a new muzzle brake
compatibility with AR-style buttstocks
a new “push button” type magazine release
a flared magazine well
some type of integral hook on the magazines for carrying on the belt in competitions
