Over the past month my good friend Max Popenker has been focusing on adding shotguns to his World.Guns.Ru database. The most interesting new gun added is the VPO-208 semi-automatic shotgun manufactured by Molot. It is essentially and SKS shotgun with a smoothbore barrel. The end of the barrel has rifling, making it technically a “paradox” barrel not a smoothbore. It is chambered in .336 TKM, which is a 7.62x39mm case necked up to .336 TKM, essentially a small shotgun slug in a rifle case.

Why would you do this? Certain countries only allow civilians to own semi-automatic shotguns, not semi-automatic rifles. Russia is one of these, Turkey is another I know of and I am sure there are others out there. This allows civilians to own a half-effective semi-auto rifle.I say half effective, because it would lack the long range accuracy of a carbine, but still do significant damage at shorter ranges.

Also new at WGR is the Fostech Origin-12 shotgun. This shotgun is made in the USA and competes with the Kalashnikov Saiga 12-style of magazine 12 gauge. It is available with a surprising shot barrel …

Photo by Oleg Volk

Other new shotguns at WGR added in November:

• Origin-12
• DP-12
• Hatsan Escort Raider
• Catus B2-36
• Molot VPO-208