Home Built Revolving Shotgun

Sometimes, you just need more ammo available. In this weapon mod, the chamber of a 12 gauge shotgun, a hammer from an 1857 Remington Perc Revolver, and other parts from an Italian auto shotgun were all combined to make this happen. The gun is of questionable legality depending on what state or country it resides in. Don’t quote us on it, but the members of the forum seem to think it should be fine anywhere in the US but California. Slightly more practical than other shotgun mods we have seen, the inventor has been kind enough to share some stills of the inner mechanisms to see how this gun ticks.

[via Neatorama]

61 thoughts on “Home Built Revolving Shotgun

  1. I agree with legal anywhere but California, but maybe not for hunting. Most states only allow 1 in the chamber and 3 in the tube to keep hunting more sporting. Now he needs to make moon clips for faster reloads.

  2. I won’t ask “why”, we all know “why”.
    I won’t ask “how”, the build details will discuss that.
    What I will ask is: What problem does this solve?
    Is there anything that this does that something else doesn’t? Does it do something “better” than all the other options?

    Just asking…

  3. As far as I know, this would be legal in most states, unless being used for hunting. If I remember, shotguns that are used for hunting purposes can have a maximum of five rounds, but I could be wrong. On the other hand, I don’t think there would be any reasons (other than safety) why this would be illegal for skeet/trap shooting.

  4. Wow…Very retro & very cool. While I wouldn’t feed it 3.5″ magnum shells, 2 3/4″ should be just fine.

    Throw in a bandoleer of old style all brass (CBC) shells and you’re good to go for 1895.

  5. Brilliant! Now it just needs a full-auto setting :D

    BTW, I think you found something to replace the “circuit-bending” article and/or ping-pong ball clock off to the right, there…

  6. As far as the point on hunting with it goes, hunting laws are state laws, not federal. There’s no universal ammo limit, though most states set it fairly low for hunting. Check your state and local laws and regulations. Also, some states will let you use weapons with a higher capacity if you take some action to make it unable to fire more rounds, like putting in non-firing plugs in some of the chambers, etc. But again, this depends entirely on state regulations.

  7. i see no legality issues in owning this firearm, or hunting with a few exceptions. as moxlon said, some states limit ammo capacity for different types of hunting. for deer hunting in NY where i grew up, you can have 6 rounds in a shotgun for deer hunting as well as smallgame and water fowl.
    here in Ohio, youre limited to 3 rounds for deer hunting. to do this you must have a plug in your magazine limiting you to 2 rounds in the tube, and the plug must removable only by removing the magazine tube assembly from the receiver.
    with that being said, if youre in a state that limits mag capacity for a certain type of hunting, this probably wouldnt fly with the DEC, as plugging and unplugging a revolving cylinder could be done without disassembly.

    my final thoughts on this, being quite the gun nut.. id love to take the time to build a shotgun like this.. or better yet, a pump action double barrel!

  8. @moxlon69

    It varies from state to state. Here in Maryland it a max of 8 rounds for hunting. If the gun holds more than that you don’t need to modify anything, just don’t get caught with more than 8 loaded. I assume this is to accommodate the M1 Garand and its enbloc clip, though I have seen special clips that take only 5 rounds.

    keeping up with all the latest Federal and state and local laws; and BATFU letters and judgments and whatnot is a major pain in the a$$. Don’t let anyone tell you that old saw that firearms are completely exempt from regulation.

  9. Neat hack. It makes me happy to think we now have something useful for Chicago Cockroach hunts. Though the roaches are useful in the urban ecosystem they prey upon the rats. Don’t forget- Zombies are messy eaters and absent scavengers, the areas where Zombies have been feeding will reek to high Hell even after we exterminate the undeads I fondly recall shooting the first EDM ported .44 revolver we’d ever seen and ever since, I wanted to hack an EDM rig to port cheap junk pistols and make them “less wicked” to handle. Look at this:

    http://www.magnaport.com/hgun.html

    They’ve been Hacking firearms a long time at a really high tech level. As IIRC hearing it- the “first” prototypical DIY muzzle porting was done with hacksaws literally baking the term “Hack” into the process itself!

  10. @ejonesss: Technically… removing/modifying a firearm’s identifying marks, modifying a firearm into a fully automatic weapon, or shortening barrel length would be offenses. Modifying a stock or sight, or changing out cylinders, or mounting a scope could all be considered modifcations, and aren’t illegal. A blind statement of “modifying firearms is a federal offense” is just wrong. :p

  11. Mmmm, reminds me of the South African Striker streetsweeper. You can have different kinds of ammo ready for random access. Not really meant for hunting. Animals, that is.

    I like it!

  12. This is a very nice build!

    However — the legality of this gun is not nearly as clear as many of you seem to believe. In fact, it would need to be decided by the ATF. I’d tend to believe they’d let it slide, but the truth is that it’s in their power to regulate it if they wish. Anyway, here’s the relevant law on the matter. Hopefully some of you find it as interesting as I did. :)

    Federal law has a classification of weapon called “Destructive Device.” Among other things, this category includes guns which have “barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than one- half inch in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell which the Secretary finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes.” This is defined in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(4): http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000921—-000-.html

    A 12-gauge shotgun, like the one featured here, has a bore diameter of 0.729″. That means that, by default, it IS a Destructive Device and subject to additional regulation, registration, and taxes, unless specifically recognized by the ATF as “particularly suitable for sporting purposes.” Especially given the fact that he used parts from an “Italian auto shotgun” in his build, the ATF may not view this as a sporting shotgun.

    For real life examples of shotguns of a similar design that are restricted by the ATF under this law, check out the Streetsweeper or Striker-12 shotguns. Both use a revolving mechanism to feed ammo, like this build. Both are considered Destructive Devices. You may read the ATF’s ruling on the matter in ATF Ruling 94-2: http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5320-8/atf-p-5320-8-appendix-b.pdf

  13. Looks like a great build. For those who have a shotgun should already know the laws regarding how many shells they’re allowed to hold in the gun. Those people should be able to count :)

  14. Shooting a homemade weapon is BALLS.

    I’m no weapons expert; but this guy better be careful, while they tolerate a lot; the authorities don’t mess around with firearms. ATF may be all over this guy.

  15. Why is shooting a homemade weapon BALLS? In the era of muzzleloaders, many people made their own rifles. You can legally make a flamethrower. Aside from the fact that you REALLY need to know what you are doing metallurgically and material science wise (containing mini explosions reliably over tens of thousands of rounds and all) – why, as you say, without even being an expert do you suggest that he may have issues? If you know he will, say so. If you don’t then don’t just speculate because it “seems like somebody might”.

  16. @ lucas you pegged it.

    It’s people like this and the ones who hand them ammo that will survive.

    RELOADING!

    In all seriousness this is a beautiful modification.
    It looks badass.

    -and yes I would also like a sawed-off pump action.

    -but only for the zombies, mind ya.

  17. @salec:

    Not really. Since the cylinder and frame are of the loading gate (as opposed to swing-out) design, one could simply fab up a semicircular shield type thing that encloses the left (or right, depending on user’s handedness) front of the cylinder, with a metal band projecting 5mm or so back from the shield’s outer edge.

    Any gas would have to travel from the topmost chamber all the way down to the 8 o’ clock position, do a 90° turn, and still be hot enough to hurt. I just don’t see that hapenning, since shotguns are generally low-pressure, as opposed to rifles.

    Well, that, or go all-out and build a huge version of the Nagant revolver.

  18. @salec
    The guy who built it states that blowby is not a problem.

    @ejonesss
    Modifying sertain apects of a gun are offences, like removing serial numbers, shortening the barrel under legal lenght without SBR tax-stamp or modifying a firearm for full auto without the proper paperwork.

    And I’d not concern myself with modifying laws as that gun is a scratch build, only the hammer,barrel and cutoff chambers are factorymade. Everything else is homebrew.

    You guys should check out the forum, loads of cool builds. From ar-15 rifles from blocks of Al to junkbox .22lr pistols.
    Homegunsmith.com and Weaponsguild.com are good sites for the qurious.

  19. To answer the question:

    “Is there anything that this does that something else doesn’t? Does it do something “better” than all the other options?

    Just asking…”

    Why, yes. Remedial action for a revolver is: pull the trigger. What that means in english: If I’m firing a revolver, and something doesn’t work, my remedial action (way to fix it) is to pull the trigger again.

    For a home defense weapon I can think of no better design. Scatter so you don’t have to aim well, and revolver so you don’t have to worry about complications during a defensive situation. Absolute brilliance!

  20. @The Steven What is solves is ejected shells all over the place, and you’d think california would appreciate that this keeps them in the gun, they are largely plastic for shotguns after all and california cares for the environment.

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