The military and shotguns

[CarbineKid]

I saw a U.S. soldier on TV with a shotgun. Does the Military uses Shotguns, and what type/brand do they use???
Thanks
p.S. I have never owned a shotgun(well not yet), so please excuse me if this is a silly question

 

[Benjamin]

In the past, various branches of the US Armed forces have used the
Model 1897 Winchester (hammer pump)
Rem. Model 870
Mossberg 590A1
Benelli M-4 is evaluation

The 97 is no longer in use.

As far as I know, the 870 and 590 are the only issue shotguns. If you search through the archives in this forum, you should be able to find several pictures of such models.

 

[biganimal]

the ithaca 37 saw a lot of combat in viet nam

 

[Leafy]

I have a buddy who was Navy in Nam. He spent time on a PT boat with an issued Rem 31.

 

[maxwayne]

Between 69 and 71 I saw a lot of Winchester 1200's.

 

[Dave McC]

Lots of shotguns end up in combat areas for obvious reasons. "Irregular channels" supply many.

I saw A-5s, 870s, Model 12s and 97s, M-37 Ithacas, various Savages, and a number of doubles cut really short and carried as backups.

 

[K80Geoff]

We had Ithacas to guard the ammo dump at Ft Stewart years ago. The military often buys through commercial channels to fill a need.

The local Coast Guard is carrying what look like remington 870's.

The new Benelli Catalog I purloined from the local dealer last week has a picture of the new shotgun the Marines are using. Now I am not a fan of "Tactical" shotguns but this one peaked my interest.

http://www.benelliusa.com/m4_super90/index.htm


Geoff Ross

 

[labgrade]

I was a USAF SP during the mid-late '70s. Had an issue 870, 7-shot extension tube & a bayonet lug. Shotgun's bad-a$$ed enough, but with an M16 sticker off the end = instant respectability.

Dad handed me down some full brass 12 gauge 00 buck shells used by the AF (NG?) in the olden days. Reasoning there was paper (all they had then) would wear out rather quickly due to constant loading/unloading at every shift change.