Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12

Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12

The Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12 automatic shotgun.
Type Automatic shotgun
Semi-automatic (Civilian)
Place of origin South Korea
United States
Production history
Designed 1989
Manufacturer Daewoo Precision Industries, Interord Corp.(Nashville, Tennessee,) RAMO Defense Co., Ameetec Arms LLC
Produced 1990s–present
Variants Semi-automatic only for civilian commercial sales; select-fire for military and police
Specifications
Weight 5.45 kg less magazine. 6.2 kg (with 10-round magazine)
Length 960 mm
Barrel length 460 mm
Caliber 12-gauge
Rate of fire 400-450 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity 400 m/s (1,300 ft/s)
Effective firing range 30–40 m
Maximum firing range 50 m
Feed system 10-round detachable box magazine or 20-round drum magazine
Sights Iron sights

The Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12 (Universal Sports Automatic Shotgun 12 gauge) is an automatic shotgun designed as a combat shotgun manufactured in South Korea by Daewoo Precision Industries during the 1980s.[1]

Design

The USAS-12 is a gas-operated, selective fire weapon, designed to provide sustained firepower in close-combat scenarios. It accepts detachable 10-round box magazines or 20-round drum magazines.[1] Both types of magazine are made of polymer, and drum magazines have their rear side made from translucent polymer for quick determination of the number of shot shells left. It has an effective range of 40 m.

History

The history of the USAS-12 dates from the 1980s vintage designs of Maxwell Atchisson. In about 1989, Gilbert Equipment Co. (USA) decided to bring up the selective fired weapon, broadly based on principles employed in Atchisson shotguns. The design of the new weapon was produced by John Trevor, Jr. Since Gilbert Equipment Co. had no manufacturing capabilities, it started to look for possible manufacturers. It turned out that the only maker that agreed to produce this weapon was the South Korean company Daewoo Precision Industries, a part of the high-tech Daewoo conglomerate. Daewoo engineers adapted the new weapon to their manufacturing techniques, and mass production commenced in the early 1990s. The USAS-12 sold well to military and security forces of several (unspecified) countries in Asia, and more than 30,000 of USAS-12 shotguns were made by mid-1990s.[2]

During the same timeframe, Gilbert Equipment Co. tried to bring semi-automatic version of USAS-12 to the U.S. market, but Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen classified this firearm as "having no sporting purpose", so it became a "destructive device" under the U.S. National Firearms Act of 1934.[3] This greatly restricted its civilian use. During the late 1990s, RAMO Defence Co. began to assemble USAS-12 shotguns from Korean and U.S.-made parts for sale on the domestic market, but sales of this weapon were limited to government agencies only.[2] Today, this shotgun is still being manufactured by S&T Daewoo in Korea for military and law enforcement sales only.

A U.S. firearms manufacturer, Ameetec Arms LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona, started the manufacture of a USAS-12 semi-automatic clone in 2007, called the WM-12; it mainly differs from the USAS-12 by the lack of fixed sights and carrying handle, replaced by a Picatinny rail. The manufacturer stated that the WM-12 is not a "destructive device", and would thus readily available to civilians.[4] As of January 2008, however, the WM-12 was no longer to be found on Ameetec Arms online catalogs, because it was discontinued after its pre-production run. Only a few WM-12s were built using USAS-12 demilitarized shotguns.

The semi-automatic version of the original USAS-12 is manufactured by DGN Enterprises Inc. near Martinsville, Indiana, under the store front Guns & Ordnance. The new production USAS-12 is still registered as a "destructive device". While they can still be legally purchased and owned by civilians, destructive devices, as with all other NFA items, require the buyer to pay a $200 tax and complete an extensive background check process.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Lee, Jerry (23 April 2013). The Official Gun Digest Book of Guns & Prices 2013. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. p. 1162. ISBN 978-1-4402-3543-6.
  2. 1 2 Modern Firearms – USAS-12. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
  3. ↑ Walker, Robert E. (2013). Cartridges and Firearm Identification. CRC Press. p. 369. ISBN 978-1-4665-8881-3.
  4. ↑ Ameetec Arms WM-12. Retrieved on December 28, 2007.

External links

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