(Article courtesy of Tactical Life)
I’ve been using AK-style weapons, including shotguns, for a long time. My go-to tactical shotgun is a VEPR, and I’ve run more than a few Saigas over the years. Properly tuned, they run well, shoot softly and provide ergonomics more in line with a rifle than your typical tube-fed shotgun, which can be slow to reload, limited in capacity and harder to train with. But a rifle-style shotgun solves many of those issues. Depending on their design, they can cycle practice loads more reliably than similar semi-automatic shotguns, and the AK platform is one of the most proven combat designs ever engineered, so it’s well suited to home defense and tactical environments. Of course, AK-style shotguns are not without their problems. The controls aren’t very friendly, and it can be hard to add rails for optics and accessories thanks to import restrictions. Some AK-style shotguns are pretty rudimentary right out of the box, meaning they’ll require substantial upgrades for duty, self-defense or competition. Thankfully, Fostech Outdoors has come up with an interesting modular design that seems to fulfill a variety of roles with ease. And the Origin-12 shotgun is built right here in the U.S., so import restrictions don’t apply. Couple this fact with all of the upgrades that went into the Origin-12’s design and you’ll quickly see what makes it such an interesting shotgun.
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