page_title: Combat shotgun
section_title: Combat use
hierarchical_section_title: Combat shotgun / Combat use
caption_attribution_description: English: From http://www.arcent.army.mil/cflcc_today/2005/april/apr26_30.asp KHARMA, Iraq (April 30, 2005) – Sgt. Brian Criss, with 3rd Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment, India Company, 4th Platoon, fires his shotgun onto a door lock for a room to allow his fellow Marines to enter and secure the room during a cordon and knock within the neighborhood of Kharma, Iraq, April 19, 2005. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Matthew Hutchison. Additional information: Shotgun appears to be a Mossberg 590. It looks like one round has already been fired, you can see the smearing from an apparent buckshot load on the lock and door. Also note the shotgun's breech is not yet closed. 4/23/08--Added an inset showing an enlarged view of the area around the lock, showing the muzzle, the broken lock, and the smearing of lead on the lock and door from the buckshot. The image was processed with a spatially adaptive brightness/contrast enhancing algorithm.
context_page_description: A combat shotgun is a shotgun that is intended for use in an offensive role, typically by a military force. The earliest shotguns specifically designed for combat were the trench guns or trench shotguns issued in World War I. While limited in range, the multiple projectiles typically used in a shotgun shell provide increased hit probability unmatched by other small arms.
context_section_description: The combat shotgun has evolved from its original role as a short range combat weapon into a wider role in modern times. With proper configuration, ammunition and training, the modern combat shotgun plays three roles:
  Offensive weapon
  Breaching system
  Less lethal crowd control
  Effective range of the shotgun with standard buckshot is limited to about 20–30 meters with a full stock (depending on the sights on the gun), and 10 meters when equipped only with a pistol grip due to the difficulty in accurately aiming without a full stock. Slug rounds, if available, can extend the effective range of the shotgun to 100 meters (although this is also dependent on the shotgun's sighting system; rifle sights and ghost ring sights will allow the average shooter to effectively engage human-sized targets at considerably greater distances than with a bead sight).
  Less lethal rounds vary, with ranges from 10 meters for rubber buckshot to 75 meters for rubber slugs. These less lethal munitions are the same type as used by police, and have served well in riot control situations, such as that in Kosovo in 2001.
  When used as a door breaching system, the shotgun may be provided with a muzzle extension to allow it to be pressed firmly against the door while providing the correct standoff distance for optimum performance. While there are specialized rounds for breaching doors with minimal hazard to any occupants of the room, any type of round will do the job, though with some degradation of effectiveness and increased risk of collateral damage. In operations in Iraq, the shotgun was the preferred method of door breaching by infantry units, ideally with a frangible breaching slug. For the breaching role, shorter barrels are preferred, as they are more easily handled in tight quarters.
  Limited ammunition capacity is one of the primary downsides of the combat shotgun. While box magazines are available in some models (such as shotgun derivatives of the AK-47 design, like the Saiga-12), the tubular magazine is still dominant. This limits capacities; the current US pump shotgun issued, the Mossberg 590, has a 5 or 8 shot capacity depending on barrel length. The tubular magazine does allow easy "topping off" (a tube-fed pump shotgun can be kept shouldered and aimed at a target and ready to fire while being loaded), so training emphasizes the need to load the magazine to full capacity whenever the opportunity presents itself. A common doctrine is "shoot one, load one": load a shell immediately after every shot (when this does not jeopardize the operator's safety), to ensure that the shotgun is fully loaded at all times; this ensures that the operator has a full magazine at their disposal in case of emergencies when they may not be able to reload in between shots. A pistol is also advised as a backup weapon, should the operator empty the magazine and not have time to reload. A sling to carry the shotgun is essential if it is to be used in conjunction with another weapon, so that the shotgun may be readily accessible.
  The bulk and weight of shotgun ammunition also limits its utility as a general-issue weapon. Weight per 100 rounds of an average 12 gauge 00 Buck 2-3/4" shell is 10.25 lbs; for an average .223/5.56 round, weight per 100 rounds is about 2.69 lbs or a 3.8:1 weight ratio of 12 gauge buckshot and 5.56×45mm. This means just seven 12-gauge buckshot shells weigh approximately the same (.45 kilos/one pound) as thirty 5.56×45mm rifle cartridges. While an individual soldier can easily carry several hundred rifle or pistol cartridges in box magazines, only a few dozen shotshells can be carried practically.
caption: A Mossberg 590 being used by a US Marine for door breaching in Karma, Iraq, in 2005
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