About a week ago we reported about the release of this new semi-auto shotgun and today, at the Range Day of SHOT Show 2019, we had a chance to take a closer look and shoot the Armscor VR80 12 gauge semi-auto AR-style shotgun.

The Armscor VR80 shotgun looks and feels like an AR-style rifle. The safety selector lever, magazine release button and the bolt catch are similar to the AR-15 in terms of operation and location. The magazines are also straight inserted into the magwell and the shotgun has upper and lower receivers attached to each other via two pins. The VR80 also utilizes a buffer tube that is dimensionally identical to commercial AR-15 receiver extensions. You can easily remove the thumbhole stock that this shotgun comes with and install the AR-15 stock and pistol grip of your choice.

Despite the above-described similarities with the AR-15 platform, there are some differences, too. One of the major differences is the reciprocating side charging handle which is reversible and can be attached to the left or right sides of the bolt (you can’t have it on both sides). The disassembly of the VR80 is more similar to standard semi-auto hunting shotguns and involves unscrewing a couple of screws, removing the barrel and only then you’ll be able to remove the bolt. The latter is also similar to many common semi-auto shotgun bolts and locks to the barrel extension via a tilting locking block.

The Armscor VR80 comes with two 5-round magazines. However, it will be possible to buy aftermarket 9 and 19 round magazines from Advanced Tactical. The largest capacity magazine is a bit harder to load but that is something that you should expect from that kind of a magazine – it has to have a strong spring to reliably feed all the 19 rounds of 12 gauge shells. Speaking about reliability, we shot two boxes (50 rounds) of #7-1/2 birdshot loads and both the gun and all three magazines performed flawlessly. Overall, it’s a really fun weapon to shoot.

The part of the barrel that protrudes over the handguard has a shroud which is simply screwed over the barrel and retained in place via a ratcheting mechanism similar to the tubular magazine cap retention seen on many shotguns. The muzzle of VR80 is threaded both internally and externally. The internal threads are designed to accept removable choke tubes and the external threads are added to allow mounting muzzle devices. Advanced Tactical will be also selling muzzle devices that can be attached to the external muzzle threads of VR80 shotgun.

Below you can find the tech specs of this shotgun (quoted from the company’s press release):

Gauge…………………………………………………………………… 12

Chamber………………………………………………….. 3” (76mm.)

Action……………………………………………………… Semi-Auto

Capacity…………………………………………… 5 + 1 (3” shells)

Choke…………………………………………………… Mobil Choke

Barrel………………………………………………………. Contoured

Barrel Length……………………………………… 20” (508mm)

Overall Length…………………………………….. 40” (1150mm)

Overall Width…………………………………………… 2” (40mm)

Overall Height………………………………………… 7” (200mm)

Weight, Empty………………………………….. 8.27bs. (3.75kg)

Weight, Loaded………………………………… 9.03lbs. (4.1kg)

Finish………………………………………………. Black Anodized

The MSRP of Armscor VR80 shotgun is $699. It should be available for purchase on March 1, 2019.