General Facts
- TYPE
Shotgun - ORIGIN
South Korea - NICKNAMES
- - DESIGNED
1989 - DESIGNER
Maxwell Atchisson & Daewoo - PRODUCTION
Early 1990's - present - PRODUCERS South Korea - Daewoo
- QUANTITY
Over 30.000 produced by the mid-1990's - UNIT COST
Unknown - CHARACTERISTICS
Large volume of fire
Magazines allow fast reload
Limited recoil
Large capacity magazines available
Large and cumbersome weapon
Very heavy
Introduction
The USAS-12 is an automatic shotgun of South Korean origin. The basic design stems from the 1980's automatic shotgun designs by Maxwell Atchisson. Although semi-automatic shotguns are common in military and law enforcement use automatic shotguns are a niche market. Within that niche market the USAS-12 is one of the most common and successful models.
Design
The USAS-12 is based on the design of the original AA-12 shotgun but has been extensively modified and looks more similar to the new generation Auto Assault-12 shotgun. The USAS-12 is a large and bulky weapon. The thick plastic forearm houses the gas piston and the large plastic stock houses the bolt and spring. The USAS-12 is magazine fed and the carrying handle also serves as the rear sight base.
Firepower
The USAS-12 fires standard 12ga 2.75-inch shotgun shells. The USAS-12 uses 10 round curved box magazines or 20 round drum magazines. It may fire either semi-automatic or fully automatic at a rate of fire of 360 rpm. Due to its weight the recoil is limited but automatic fire cannot be considered accurate. The effective range is quoted as 40 meters, but depends on the ammunition type used.
Users
The USAS-12 has been mainly sold to civilians and private security companies. Military use of the USAS-12 is limited although it has been sold to various armies and special units in Asia.
USAS-12
The USAS-12 is an automatic shotgun that is available only in a single version. It can be easily identified from the Auto Assault-12 that has the same AA-12 ancestor since the USAS-12 has no plastic unibody but a metal receiver with a carrying handle. For the US civilian market a number of semi-automatic USAS-12 have been imported.
- Specifications:
- USAS-12
| Type | Shotgun |
|---|---|
| Caliber | 12ga 2.75" |
| Magazine | 10 round box, 20 round drum |
| Operation | Gas operated, gas piston, open bolt |
| Fire selector | 0-1-F |
| Rate of fire | 360 rpm |
| Barrel length | 460 mm |
|---|---|
| Rifling | Smoothbore |
| Muzzle velocity | ? |
| Stock | Fixed |
| Length | 960 mm |
| Width | ? |
| Height | ? |
|---|---|
| Weight | 5.45 kg empty, 6.2 kg with 10 rd magazine |
| Sights | Iron sights |
| Remarks | - |
Media
