I know Robert Wright of R and R Targets since the World Shoot Shotgun 2012 (Debrecen, Hungary) where we stayed in the same hotel and competed. For a little more than a week we did our best to smash down steel targets and clays as fast as we could. I remember we had so many issues with the local ammunition, jamming ourselves through the match.

In 2015 we met again, in Italy, for the World Shoot Shotgun 2015 and repeated the story, but at least I stayed away from any jams. I guess and I hope I’ll see him again in France 2018 for the same reason.

I’m sure Robert had his dream ready already in 2012, but it was not until 2015 he showed our party the first drawings of his new creation at a local Pizzeria.

He’s been working on the project for almost 4 years. I’ve seen bits and pieces, a picture here or there, but nothing quite enough for an article. Until now, and it bears his name.

If we look at who’s on the Podium in the large IPSC Shotgun matches most if not all shooters use modified Saiga or Molot shotguns.(It could be different for 3 Gun in the USA, I don’t know it well enough.)

But the dream to get an AR-based style shotgun has always been there. Many have tried. And failed.

Do you remember the Rhino Arms AR-10 shotgun, for instance?

I tried the Akdal, but we didn’t like each other very much. So I sold it but only after I spent a fortune on modifications and “upgrades”.

It will be very interesting to see what the upcoming Wright 12 will be like, and it shouldn’t be far away from release.

New extruded handguards are in the making and should be ready in about 7-8 weeks. They will be set up for M-LOK.

The magazines will be R and R’s own. The mold for the magazines should be done in about 8 weeks. A brave decision, but if it works you don’t have to rely on getting parts through customs, blockades etc.

Another 250 rounds through the Prototype. That brings the total to over seven hundred rounds so far.

The bolt looks like it’s from a Saiga, and it looks – and I hope it will – as if the trigger will be AR compatible. That would be a very nice Russian-American marriage.

One question is if the receiver has to be split in two for the bolt to come out for cleaning? That would be a disadvantage in my opinion.

I only have these pictures to judge by, but doesn’t it look like the Picatinny rail is split in two as well?

Below: New magazine release for the Wright 12. It’s 7/8 of an ounce lighter than the first one. I haven’t seen or felt the Wright 12 in the flesh, but I think weight may be an issue so the more that can be shaved of the better.

I shot my first R and R Targets shotgun in 2010, but I already had a (somewhat) working Molot Vepr 12 then and didn’t change. The shotgun below was on the podium (senior open) at the World Shoot 2015.

But the dream for many is to get a working AR-based shotgun. The Akdal 1919, upgraded, pictured below.

Below: Molot Vepr 12, just as the hot shell ejects. Shotguns like to spit fire and GoPro cameras can be turned the other way for great photos.

This is an example of what the current Saiga based R n R shotguns look like. Note the mid-barrel compensator.

TFB will be following this project as it emerges, and I really hope the Wright 12 will be successful.