Box fed shotfun - what's the current recommendation ?

[meles meles]

Well oomans, now winter has descended and we're locked up in the sett, our ikkle mind has turned to adding a section 1 shotgun to the armoury to complement our old pump action Browning. What's the current recommendation for a magazine fed shotfun ? We're not looking to be competitive at PSG, just to enjoy some fun. Is the Armsan RS1 still a safe bet? Does the Bora 99 still cut the mustard ? And how about lever actions such as the FQ Bobcat and Adler 110 ?

[Sim G]

A friend has a typhoon F12. I wasn’t sure he’d made a good choice going box fed over a tube, but I have to say that it’s been 100% reliable over this last year.

And whilst not a parameter that concerns you, the lay out of the controls and “feel” are the same as his semi .22 and straight pull AR.

[shellshokt]

Armsan RS-S1 gets my vote. I got one to replace the UTAS I had. As my other firearms all had AR style controls it took a bit of getting used to but it has been extremely reliable. Great straight out of the box and if you do decide to get 'competitive' plenty of aftermarket goodies to trick it out.

[RDC]

Typhoon F12 or RS-1 would be my pick. I've seen both run pretty solidly both in the club and at comps. I still kick myself for not buying my mate's RS-1 that he didn't get on with.

[38Super]

My BR99 is still going strong after 5 years. 100% reliable and runs any 70mm ammo I can find.
Well it's still mostly a BR99

[meles meles]

Yes, we suppose that a benefit of the BR99 and RS-1 is that both are known and proven designs whose foibles are now well understood, and both have a supply of aftermarket Gucci gear to enhance them and fix and problems whereas perhaps the spares and repair back up on the newer offerings is not so solid?

[Daryll]

Or what about the Hatsan Raider..??... not in the same class as those mentioned, but if you only want it for fun...??? and its cheaper...

[Blackstuff]

If money was no object then a Dissident Arms KL-12 is currently considered one of the, if not the best box mag shotgun. Unless you've found some Saxon gold while digging out the sett I doubt you're going to part with that sort of money for something you aren't going to be using for serious competition though.

If you can get away with the AK platform controls layout the RS-S1 is the way to go IMO. After the first batch was recalled I've never seen one fail to work once its dietary requirements are sorted. However this is the case for the majority of box-mag guns these days. If you're not willing to put in the time and effort to see what your gun feeds reliably on a box-mag shotgun will make your life a misery. There are upgrade/modification parts available that some people, far more talented than myself, have used to convert them into borderline/KL-12's with a more AR style control layout.

I use a Typhoon F12 for competition purposes having come from a heavily modified BR99 as I am much more used to an AR platform controls layout. All of the budget (<£1000) Turkish guns steal one anothers designs and they can all suffer from poor quality control with both my BR99 and F12 self-destructing their bolt carriers. The difference between the two is they're relatively easy to fix/prevent from happening on the F12 (with just additional welding required) than the BR99. You just have to accept its a consumable part with the BR99 and be happy if one lasts more than 12 months with relatively serious use.

The downside to the F12 is that its a heavy beast, especially the Sport and Maxi versions. If you're just having a play around with it this might not be an issue, and the weight does drink up recoil.

All of the Turkish box mag guns are much of a muchness with the MKA1919 being the 'original', copied by the BR99, copied by the F12, copied by the Derya MK12 and on and on it goes. The UTAS XTR was an attempt to make a more AR like shotgun but the early versions destroyed the brands reputation (in the UK PSG scene anyway) and only heavily modified versions were able to make it through whole matches (that being said, those versions, used by very capable shooters, did reign supreme for a year or so on the UKPSA Open circuit)

The 'new' kid on the block is the Tigris which seems to be a hybrid between the F12 and XTR, as yet i've never seen one in action/got my hands on one or heard any independent reviews.

[Blackstuff]

Underlevers are an entirely different kettle of fish. I've had both the Adler and FQ Bobcat (still have that) and they are a lot of fun. You're never going to keep up with a decent pump in Manual division but they're great fun nonetheless! Especially as the Bobcat has 13.5" barrels available for it..... (raises a few eyebrows when you pull that out of an incredibly small bag )

The Bobcat is both of better build quality* and has an action that will eventually smooth out over time. The Adlers action means its almost impossible to do anything with other than some very basic polishing, which even then doesn't make a great deal of difference. The only downsides to the Bobcat over the Adler, which aren't likely to make much difference to someone not competition orientated, is that you can't dual/quad-load the Bobcat (easily anyway), due to the very large attachment point of the lever, and you can't ghostload it either (being able to add an additional cartridge onto the shell latch). If you're looking for either Practical Shooting Supplies is the place to go

*they both still use Turkish walnut which doesn't feel great.

[meles meles]

Many thanks for the comments and advice so far, it's much appreciated. Both the BR99 and the RS-1 seem to be pretty decent and known quantities, and both probably very adequate for our needs. The Typhoon sounds to be good too, but may be more gun than we need for some basic practical shotfun. From the videos we have seen of the lever actions, they don't seem all that smooth out of the box, but perhaps they run in over time and presumably can be tweaked and polished along the lines of a lever action rifle in any case. Our instinct at this moment is to look at the BR99 and RS-1 whilst we wait to see if Mr Plod will let us have one. Or both