laststandonzombieisland

One of the more exotic shotguns that have ever crossed a drawing board was the one that John Andersen came up with in the early 1980s. He officially called it the MK3, but it will go down in history in this planet and virtual ones alike as the Jackhammer.

Firearms inventor John Andersen (sometimes-spelled Anderson) thought out the concept of a gas-operated, automatic-fire shotgun for military and police use. His gun would allow full-auto fire of new and advanced 12-gauge shells, be rapidly reloaded, and still be small and compact enough for the average foot soldier to carry into combat.

To accomplish this, he envisioned a reciprocating barrel with a fixed gas piston enclosed in a cylinder. When the gun fired, the barrel pushed forward and the action, set in a bullpup style behind the trigger group, ejected the spent shell hull and loaded another in what we would consider a very complicated process. This unique action gave the gun (which turned out looking rather industrial anyway) a very distinctive ‘jackhammer’ style of operation when firing that led to its nickname. If the trigger was kept depressed after the first shot, the weapon would continue cycling, thus producing automatic fire until the trigger was let up or the weapon ran out of ammunition. There was no option for single shot fire; the gun was full-auto only commenting directly on its philosophy of use.

Read the rest in my column at Guns.com