The AA12 auto shotgun

The June issue of Soldier of Fortune features the AA12 automatic shotgun, now distrbuted by Mid-American Recreation, Inc. of Moline, IL. See the instruction videos.

Military.com featured the SOF article.

The Auto Assault 12 has a rate of fire of 300 rounds/minutes. The relatively slow rate makes it possible to fire single, double, and triple bursts. An 8-round box magazine and a 20-round drum are available. The constant recoil system (by which the bolt group never slams into a fixed object) all but eliminates recoil.

David Crane @ Defense Review did a post on the AA12 back in October.

The SOF article says "it's a well-known fact that the Islamaic terrorists ... are not afraid of the M4 and its 5.56mm bullet, but they are terrified of shotguns" and says there's considerable interest in getting a few AA-12s in Iraq for testing.

Couple this with the FRAG-12 HE shotshells covered in the next A-C-E post and you have a weapon which provides much of the value of the XM25 fuzed airburst weapon at a fraction of the investment and ammo cost, and with much more KISS simplicity.

See the AA12 fired auto and semi-auto, using the drum and the magazine, with recoil not being a problem, in this video at rustfreetrucks.com.

The AA12 is an evolution of the Atchisson Assault-12 (AA-12) developed by the late Max Atchisson more than a quarter century ago. It influenced the design of the USAS-12 produced by DAEWOO.

In 1987, Atchisson sold the rights to the AA-12 to Jerry Baber of MPS, Inc. in Piney Flats, TN, who refined the design with his partner, Boje Corneal, a German mechanical engineer.