Why it matters: The AA-12 is one of the most recognizable shotguns in gun media and gaming, yet very few exist and few people have fired one. This review of an early example puts its recoil system, ergonomics and reliability on camera, with the gun's owner adding notes on maintenance.
The YouTube channel Garand Thumb posted a review of the AA-12 on November 1 under the title “The Coolest Shotgun Ever Made.” The AA-12 is a select-fire, drum-fed 12-gauge shotgun whose design dates to the 1970s. The host opens with a short summary of its record: in the host's telling, it was never really used by the military or by anyone else, but it was used in Call of Duty. “Maybe that's all that matters,” the host says.
The gun on camera belongs to a private owner. The host describes it as serial number 12, a very early example the host would consider a prototype, and says it has quirks not found on later guns. The host puts the price of an AA-12 at about $90,000. The extractor broke during filming, so the host says the team could not run drills, though it did shoot the gun extensively before the part failed.
AA-12 constant recoil and the long-stroke gas piston
According to the host, the AA-12 runs at a cyclic rate of about 300 rounds per minute, and the rate changes with the load: lighter birdshot cycles slower and buckshot faster. The frame and body are stainless steel, which the host says resists corrosion, and the internals leave generous room around the moving parts, which the host links to function in harsh conditions.
The host spends the most time on the operating system. The AA-12 uses a long-stroke gas piston combined with constant recoil, in which the bolt never bottoms out against the back of the receiver and spring tension cushions every shot. The host notes that the idea “is not anything that's new” and points to the Ultimax light machine gun as the best-known example. The host calls the AA-12 very controllable, adds that this one has no muzzle brake, and suggests that porting could make it more controllable still. The host's caveat: “It's not defeating physics.”
The host also places the recoil reduction in time. While the design was developing from the 1970s into the 1990s, the host says, its low recoil was a big deal. Next to newer shotguns such as the Gen 12 and the Beretta 1301, the host says it is less remarkable, but credits its unusual shape with keeping it “rent-free in all of our heads.”
Open-bolt trigger, drum magazine and clamshell ergonomics
The AA-12 fires from an open bolt, so the bolt rides forward when the trigger is pulled. The host says this takes a little practice but is not hard to learn, and estimates the trigger at about four to five pounds, calling it good. The stick magazine ribs into the front of the trigger guard. The host says the 20-round drum has worked “extremely well” but is out of production, and that the team handles the old plastic magazines gently to avoid breaking brittle parts. This example has a top Picatinny rail, and the host says an absolute-height optic mount puts the optic right in the shooter's sight line.
The complaints center on the two-piece clamshell housing. The host says the seam pinches beard hair at the cheek weld, and that movement near the buttstock catches skin and fingers “quite often.” The host calls the design “clunky” in certain ways and says the gun has many small moving parts, some of them more susceptible to breakage.
Is the AA-12 reliable? The host and the owner weigh in
“The host's verdict splits the gun in two: a recoil system worth studying, wrapped in a design that still needs work.”
J.D. Whitfield, The ReticleThe host declines to call the AA-12 either reliable or unreliable, saying its development “never really got to a point where it was ready for a military contract.” On that basis, the host disagrees with people who say the Marine Corps should have adopted it. The host's overall assessment is that the shotgun is not “all that great,” that it recoils very lightly, and that “more development is needed.” The host adds that new production would be welcome because the design is “compelling.” Small Arms Review has reported that the Marine Corps tested the AA-12 in 2004 and that small numbers were later sold to foreign users.
The owner, promoted in the video under the Instagram handle BRCH Arms 1776, says they drove about 23 and a half hours to bring the gun. The owner traces their interest to FPSRussia videos and Call of Duty and says they bought this gun at auction after obtaining special occupational tax status. When the host describes the gun as possibly not the most reliable but “the best shotgun,” the owner agrees.
On maintenance, the owner pushes back on a claim they say appears all over the internet: that the AA-12 needs no cleaning or lubrication. The owner says a couple of springs needed replacing on arrival, and that after a thorough cleaning the gun ran worse. The owner's theory is that some tolerances are loose and carbon buildup takes up the slack. The owner says they do not know whether that is by design or a flaw, and that the gun has not yet failed because it was dirty.
To close, the owner removes the clamshell to show the gas system, the bolt and a recoil spring the host describes as about five feet long. The team then fires the gun uncovered on a Phantom high-speed camera. Because of the broken extractor, the spent shell did not extract, but the host says the footage still shows the recoil system cycling. The owner says a deeper history of the gun is planned with Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons. The video is sponsored by Primary Arms, G-Code and Bravo Company USA, and Last Shot Arizona supplied the ammunition.
For context
- Maxwell Atchisson designed the Atchisson Assault Shotgun in 1972, and in 1987 Jerry Baber of Military Police Systems bought the rights and renamed it the Auto Assault-12.
- Small Arms Review reports that Baber spent about 18 years reworking the design, including a switch from blowback to a gas-operated long-stroke piston, and that around 70 handmade guns had been built and sold.
- Small Arms Review also reports that the Marine Corps tested the AA-12 in 2004 and that foreign sales began in 2010, including small numbers to the Saudi Royal Guard.
- The AA-12 appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 and in later entries in the series.
