I appreciate two things in the gun world: weird guns and shotguns. Combining the two is, to me, the Reese’s Cups of firearms. While many people doomscroll social media, I doomscroll various Wikis, examining guns I’ve never heard of. As a weird shotgun enthusiast, I’ve noticed South Africa is a hot spot for unusual shotgun designs.

Why? I can’t really say. Most of the weird designs date to the 1990s. I’m not sure if there was a shotgun resurgence in South Africa in the 1990s, or if it was just one of those strange coincidences. Either way, I’ve found four fairly bizarre shotguns from South Africa. I aimed to find five, but unfortunately, you’re stuck with just four.

I’m not going in any specific order, but the first model is likely the oddest and, honestly, my favorite. Sadly, none of these are widely produced or available these days; if they were, I’d have a pile of them.

Techno Arms MAG-7

Techno Arms is such a great name for a 1990s gun company. They produced the MAG-7. The MAG-7 is what happens when you want your Uzi to fire shotgun rounds, and I love it, especially the original short-barreled shotgun models. The gun uses a magazine that fits in the grip, and as you’d imagine, it uses a proprietary 12-gauge cartridge.

The shells were 60mm long, or approximately 2.36 inches overall. These short shells allowed for a reasonable grip, but they’re still way bigger than most people prefer. A five-round magazine in the grip makes the MAG-7 quite small in its original configuration. A top-folding stock kept the gun compact when necessary, and the 12.6-inch barrel kept things maneuverable.

The MAG-7 is a pump-action design, and it directly encouraged “poor” trigger discipline. If you racked the gun with your finger flat on the receiver and off the trigger, it would be impacted by the pump moving rearward. Some of the ergonomics were odd, especially the safety, the trigger was known to be quite heavy, and ultimately, the gun was never highly successful.

These weird shotguns were imported to the United States in civilian-legal designs with 18-inch barrels, but they are exceedingly rare.

Armsel Striker

South Africa’s most famous weird shotguns are the Armsel Striker series. The Armsel Striker was designed by a Rhodesian named Hilton Walker. Hilton Walker emigrated to South Africa and produced the Striker. The Striker is essentially a massive double-action revolver that fires 12-gauge rounds.

The gun held 12 rounds, which was a ton of ammo for that era. The Striker had a short 12-inch barrel and a top-folding stock. This provided a compact package.

The Striker was a bit cumbersome. The trigger was heavy even with the manually wound cylinder clockwork spring. Empty shells had to be punched out by an ejection rod one at a time. Various models of the Striker would be produced to correct these flaws. The Protecta added an auto-cartridge ejection design. The Protecta Bulldog was a super small, stockless variant of the gun.

The gun made it to America and was produced by Sentinel Arms as the Striker-12, and Cobray produced the famed Street Sweeper model. These guns were banned by the Treasury Secretary and regulated as destructive devices.

NeoStead 2000

The NeoStead 2000 was designed in the 1990s but didn’t enter production until the 2000s, thus the name. The NeoStead 2000 did KelTec before KelTec made it cool. These weird shotguns used dual tube magazines that each held six rounds of ammo. The NeoStead 2000 also used a bullpup format.

Beyond that, the tubes were top-mounted. The gun opened like a double barrel to access the tubes and chamber. This made it easy to load the gun in its unusual configuration. It keeps getting weirder: instead of going back and forth like a normal pump shotgun, the pump goes forward and rearward.

That’s quite nice for a bullpup shotgun since your hand isn’t going to slide forward in front of the barrel when working the action. There seems to be a degree of thought put behind the gun.

The NeoStead 2000 looks like it came from the future and operates like it came from the future. It’s a weird shotgun that’s super quirky. I would love to get hands-on to see if the unusual configuration makes any sense and could challenge conventional shotgun operation. A few of these guns have made it to the States, but they are very rare.

The Jumbo

The Jumbo is our final entry into the weird shotguns of South Africa. This isn’t an original design. It’s clearly a clone of the High Standard Model 10B. It’s a bullpup, semi-auto shotgun that feeds from a tube magazine. The High Standard model premiered in the 1960s, but it’s tough to tell when the Jumbo came about.

Only 36 were ever produced, and I can only find one reference book that promises information but seems to be out of production. The Jumbo effectively cloned the High Standard to a near “T.” This includes the rotating stock for firing it, braced against your bicep. The front sight folds, and there are dual charging handles as well.

Much like the High Standard, I doubt it was all that reliable. Since there are only 36 of them, it’s easier to find a High Standard than a Jumbo.

Weird Shotguns Rule

I really want a MAG-7, a NeoStead, and a Striker. I have a High Standard, so the Jumbo can get “Dumbo’ed.” These weird shotguns all tried something a little different, and the Striker was even a successful gun by all accounts. Sadly, unless I hit the lottery and some collections come to auction, I don’t see it happening.

Does the combat shotgun still matter in modern warfare? Does it have a place amongst the infantry or with civilian minutemen? Has the combat shotgun been replaced with the light and maneuverable 5.56 carbine? It would certainly seem so. As a very biased source, I do think the combat shotgun is still a capable weapon that excels in a few niche roles.

When I say niche roles, I don’t mean breaching, anti-drone operations, or even less-lethal options. That turns the shotgun into a tool rather than a combat shotgun. There is a difference, and while the tool use of the shotgun is notable, it’s not what I’m discussing today. I want to talk about the shotgun as a combat weapon.

Where It Falters

The downsides to the shotgun are numerous, especially compared to the carbine. A shotgun, loaded with buckshot, has an effective range of about 50 yards with basic buckshot ammo. Even 50 yards is a bit generous, and it excels within 35 yards and closer. Those shotgun pellets can still kill and seriously harm beyond those ranges, but it’s less likely to hit where you’re aiming.

Shotgun ammo is incredibly bulky compared to 5.56. Eight shotgun shells take up the same space as 30 5.56 rounds. Shotguns also hold less ammo, with five to eight being fairly typical. This means reloading must be a trained skill in modern warfare. The combat shotgun requires a lot of specialized training to master.

If an infantry squad or infantry unit is willing to train its troops to a high degree of competency with the shotgun, it can be an extremely effective combat tool in some niche scenarios.

Jungle Warfare

Jungle warfare is what got me thinking about the shotgun’s effectiveness. I live in the swampy part of Florida. It’s not necessarily a jungle, but it has some of the same restrictions. It’s tight, close quarters, and anything you run into is likely to be close. I hunt with a shotgun most often because in the swamps of Florida, the weapon shines.

In jungles, the shotgun can be a capable tool because it’s likely you’ll stumble into enemy forces. The thickness of the jungle kills your vision and ability to detect threats. When you stumble into the enemy, the shotgun excels at dealing with threats. In the book Pointman, Navy SEAL Chief James Watson famously carried an eight-shot Ithaca 37 loaded with No. 4 buckshot in Vietnam.

His book Pointman details the use of the shotgun and why it was such an effective tool. The Ithaca used by Chief Watson is even on display at the Navy SEAL Museum. It was effective then, and it’s effective now. The spread of buckshot helps guarantee a hit when fired through dense vegetation.

It allows for a faster reactive shot, and the spread allows your aim to be less than perfect but still effective. Its spread becomes a strength in the jungle where you can’t always see your threat, but you might see muzzle flashes or slight bits of movement. While you still have to aim a shotgun, you don’t need to refine your aim as well. You can react. With the Marine Corps’ focus on fighting China in littoral areas, the shotgun could be handy for an island-hopping campaign.

Urban Warfare

Shotgun use in Iraq was centered on urban warfare. Iraq had huge, dense cities with people stacked on top of each other. Guns like the Benelli M1014 and the Mossberg 590 were used for breaching, but also for combat purposes. Cities are urban jungles, and combat shotguns excel in both jungles for the same reason.

In urban environments, you’re also often forced into close-quarters fighting. The reactive, speed-based, and decisive design of the shotgun can again excel. If your enemy pops out of a window to spray an AK at you, the combat shotgun is an excellent way to respond. It allows for a quick, decisive shot to be made.

The spread of shot can help cover a multitude of sins, and while it’s not a wall of lead, accuracy is a game of inches. Multiple projectiles tend to be a decisive way to end an engagement, and even a single pellet can be lethal. Much like a jungle, the enemy has lots of places to naturally hide, and the shotgun can be a capable tool for those quick, running shots. Shotguns work well on moving birds and moving bad guys.

Night Fighting

Night fighting is another realm where speed and decisiveness win. If you’re stuck up close in a night fight, the shotgun can be an excellent tool to have. If you’re in a situation where you have night vision and the enemy does not, the fight is much likelier to be up close.

When both forces have night vision devices, the combat shotgun and its advantages fade away. Again, we come down to the need for quickly fired shots, which often don’t have refined aim. Instead of spraying with a carbine, a shotgun can deliver that spread of shot into and at a target. Being a few inches off can still result in a successful shot.

Close Ambushes

The combat shotgun excels in close ambushes. A close ambush is defined as an ambush at 50 yards or closer. Shotguns allow you to put a lot of pellets in the air very quickly with a quick reaction speed. You can shoot at muzzle flashes and have a greater chance of landing a hit. It’s not guaranteed, but your chance is a bit higher.

SEALs experimented with full-auto shotguns for this very task in Vietnam. Full-auto shotguns were always a bit of a mess, but semi-auto and even pump shotguns can still be excellent anti-ambush tools.

The Combat Shotgun Today

The combat shotgun can be an extremely useful tool. It’s a niche tool, and that niche design has made it less likely to be fielded and even less likely to be trained with by modern military forces. The carbine is the better tool, and if you only have time to train troops with one weapon, make it the carbine. However, the combat shotgun can be a viable weapon for the modern military