General Facts
- TYPE
Shotgun - ORIGIN
Germany - NICKNAMES
- - DESIGNED
1970's - DESIGNER
Franchi and Heckler & Koch - PRODUCTION
Unknown - PRODUCERS
Italy - Franchi - QUANTITY
Total production amounted to about 1.500 units - UNIT COST
About $800 in late 1980's - CHARACTERISTICS
Semi-automatic
High production quality
Cycles only with heavy loads
Only fires buckshot
Introduction
The HK 512 is a semi-automatic shotgun of Italian origin. It was developed and produced by Franchi at the request of Heckler & Koch, which took care of marketing and sales. The HK 512 was one of the first semi-automatic shotguns developed for law enforcement use. The mechanism was later employed in the very successful Super 90 series developed by Benelli.
Design
The HK 512 is a semi-automatic shotgun that uses a H&K recoil system that is also found in the later Benelli Super 90 series. The stock and forearm are made of wood and the rest of the gun is made out of metal. The smoothbore barrel is fitted with a choke that acts as a shot diverter.
Firepower
The HK 512 is a semi-automatic shotgun that fires 12ga 2.75-inch shotgun shells. The tubular magazine holds 7 rounds. Only buckshot can be fired due to the muzzle device that shapes the shot horizontally in an oval pattern. The mechanism will not cycle low powered rounds.
Users
The HK 512 was relatively successful and was adopted by various law enforcement and counter terrorist units. Due to its age most have been replaced by newer designs.
HK 512
The HK 512 is a semi-automatic shotgun produced in limited quantities for law enforcement use. It uses a recoil operation developed by Heckler & Koch, although the design was finalized and produced by Franchi.
HK 502: Original production model, produced in small quantities.
HK 512: Improved production model with various minor improvements.
- Specifications:
- HK 512
| Type | Shotgun |
|---|---|
| Caliber | 12ga 2.75" |
| Magazine | 7 rounds |
| Operation | Recoil operated |
| Fire selector | 0-1 |
| Rate of fire | Semi-automatic |
| Barrel length | ? |
|---|---|
| Rifling | Smoothbore |
| Muzzle velocity | ? |
| Stock | Fixed |
| Length | ? |
| Width | ? |
| Height | ? |
|---|---|
| Weight | ? |
| Sights | Iron sights |
| Remarks | - |
M1 Super 90
The design of the Benelli M1 Super 90 was derived from the earlier HK 512.
M3 Super 90
The Benelli M3 Super 90 also uses the same mechanism initially developed for the HK 512.