Shotgun

:This article is about the firearm. For alternative meanings of shotgun, see: Shotgun (disambiguation).

Definition

The United States legal code (18 USC 921) defines the shotgun as "a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger."

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This definition, however, does not exactly match the technical use of the term, which would include the growing number of shotguns specifically designed to fire single projectiles instead of shot. A rifled slug, with finned rifling designed to spin the bullet and stabilize it in order to improve its accuracy, is an example of a single projectile. Some shotguns have rifled barrels and are designed to be used with a "saboted" bullet. A saboted bullet is typically encased in two-piece plastic ring (sabot) which is designed to fall away after it passes the end of the barrel, leaving the bullet, now spinning after passing through the rifled barrel, to continue toward the target. These shotguns, although they have rifled barrels, still use a shotgun-style shell instead of a rifle cartridge. Hunting laws may differentiate between smooth barreled and rifled barreled guns.

Related Topics:
Slug - Rifling - Sabot

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Also, technically speaking, many people would likely call a fully automatic shotgun a shotgun, even though legally it would fall under a different category. Amongst the general populace, any gun that fires shotgun shells could be considered a shotgun.

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Riot gun has long been a synonym for a shotgun, especially a short barreled shotgun. During the 19th and early 20th century, short-barreled shotguns were used to disperse rioters and mobs. This use gave birth to the term. The wide spray of the shot ensured a large group would be hit, but the light shot would ensure more wounds than fatalities. When the ground was paved, peace officers would often richochet the shot off the ground, slowing down the shot and spreading the spray out even further. This practice became known as being read the Riot Act, and to this day specialized police and defensive shotguns are called riot shotguns. The introduction of rubber bullets and bean bag rounds ended the practice of using shot for the most part, but riot shotguns are still used to fire a variety of less than lethal rounds for riot control.

Related Topics:
Synonym - Riot shotgun - Rubber bullets - Bean bag - Less than lethal

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A sawn-off shotgun refers to a shotgun whose barrel has been shortened, leaving it more manouverable and easier to use at short range, more readily concealed, and more lethal. The sawn-off shotgun is sometimes known as a "Lupo" (Italian: "Wolf") in Southern Italy and Sicily.

Related Topics:
Sawn-off shotgun - Italy - Sicily

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