LAS VEGAS -- SRM Arms is pitching a fully automatic, 16-round tactical shotgun to potential military customers, including foreign defense forces, officials said.
The Boise, Idaho-based gun-maker displayed the so-called SRM 1216 as part of a family of high-capacity 12-gauge shotguns this week at SHOT Show.
The select-fire version with full-round burst is lightweight, weighing only about 7 pounds, with an 18-inch barrel and a removable magazine of four-cylinder tubes that hold four rounds apiece.
"All you have to do is just manually index the next cylinder tube and it'll automatically load the next round," Chase Wolfe, a salesman with GSA Direct, the exclusive distributor for SRM Arms, said in an interview. "It is an extremely powerful shotgun."
SRM has received praise for its innovative shotgun design. It was awarded the 2013 Shotgun of the Year from the National Rifle Association. The 1216 was also featured in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Yet sales of the full-auto version haven't taken off, perhaps because military and law enforcement customers are slow to embrace non-traditional designs. Presumably, tactical units could use the shotgun for breaching doors and clearing rooms, maybe even clearing minefields.
The company has sold between 15 and 20 of the fully automatic shotguns, though officials didn't specify the customers. It has demonstrated the weapon to U.S. military units, including Navy SEAL teams. This week, it did the same to potential foreign military customers.
At SHOT Show, SRM also displayed semi-automatic versions for the civilian and commercial market, including the 1216; the 1212, which has a 13-inch barrel and holds 12 rounds; and the 1208, which has a 10-inch barrel and holds eight rounds. The firearms retail for about $2,400.
With law enforcement agencies in Michigan and Texas already embracing the semi-automatic version, company officials are optimistic more states will allow officers to carry shotguns other than pump-action.
"A lot of them will allow their deputies and sheriffs to be carrying these," Wolfe said.
Here's a video of the full-auto 1216 unloading 16 rounds in about three seconds:
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