The “Non-Sporting” Smoothbore

Are High Round-Count Bullpups Now The
Future Of Fighting Shotguns?

By Payton Miller

As a kid I was always fascinated by the riot guns kept by officers of our small PD in their black-and-white cruisers. They were Ithaca Model 37’s housed muzzle-up in a dashboard rack. Later, as a summer city employee, I discovered those short, choke-free barrels often doubled as ashtrays for some of the old timers on the force who smoked cigars (to be fair, our little town was more Mayberry than Dodge City).

Those Ithacas were pretty cool, as was a Winchester Model 97 Trench Gun a buddy of mine had. It seemed (and still does) like the coolest, most eye-grabbing specimens somehow fell into the “riotous” category of tactical or combat shotguns.

Several of the most unconventional looking have been 12-gauge bullpups. Specifically, the High Standard Model 10, a defunct 5-shot semi-auto introduced in 1967, the 14-shot pump-action Kel-Tec KSG (introduced 2011) and the most recent, the 16-shot SRM 1216 semi-auto. Obviously, the selling point for the last two is capacity as well as compactness.

The heart of the SRM 1216—aside from its recoil-operated, roller-lock action is a quick-detachable handguard assembly consisting of four 4-round rotating magazine tubes. Each tube can be loaded with varying types of 2-3/4 or 3-inch shotshells—buck, slug or birdshot. Rotating the tube cluster clockwise brings a different pre-loaded tube in line. If the bolt is left locked open, it will automatically chamber the first round from the next tube as it clicks into place. This actually takes longer to explain than to accomplish.

Double-Ought Deterrence: Roy Huntington’s old San Diego PD squad car
(circa 1987) sports a racked Remington 870 riot gun. Photo: Roy Huntington

A major advantage of the bullpup design—a short overall length—is apparent
here with two 18-inch barreled guns, a Benelli M2 Tactical (top) and the
SRM 1216 (bottom).

Originally—in keeping with the Buck Rogers aspect of the gun—we’d planned on using an Aimpoint Micro on an SRM 1216, but we lacked a tall enough mount to bring it up sufficiently to use with anything resembling a normal cheekweld (one AR-like drawback to a bullpup’s straight-line stock). Fortunately, we had the solution on hand and quickly installed a set of Meprolight flip-up sights on the 1216’s Picatinny rail. After some serious cranking on the elevation for the front and a bit of windage tweaking on the rear, we were good to go.

The trigger pull on our test sample was quite rough and heavy and the bolt stop/release—situated about an inch below the front of the ejection port—required considerable effort to depress (for the most part, we made use of the auto-chambering feature when moving on to the next tube).

We loaded a tube with Federal Tru-Ball slugs to group at 25 yards and one with Winchester Super-X No. 1 Buck to pattern at the same distance. It handled the buckshot very well, a fairly even dispersion with 14 of 16 .30-caliber pellets in the 17-1/4-inch Shoot-N-C target. Our best effort with the slugs was 3 in 1-1/2 inches. Recoil was stout (at least in comparison to a gas-operated action) but manageable.

The muzzle is externally threaded for a rather intimidating flash suppressor/breaching device which we did not employ. The barrel is Cylinder Bore and not threaded for internal tubes.

The fixed choke aspect is really nothing to quibble about. With an item like this, you’re unlikely to find yourself in the same quandary as a Sporting Clays competitor wondering whether to go with IM or F at the “High-Flyin’ Canadas” station.

Not anyone’s first choice for aerial targets, the SRM 1216 was,
nevertheless, surprisingly effective on clay birds.

Tactical loads performed very well at 25 yards in the SRM 1216. Winchester
Super-X No. 1 Buck delivered 14 of 16 .30 cal. pellets in a 17.25-inch circle.
Federal Tru-Ball slugs (below) were impressive as well at the same distance.

Initially, we experienced several failures to eject and a few instances of stovepiping. So after spritzing the action with Tetra Gun Spray, we decided to compress the “shoot-in” period with some 3-inch Remington Premier 4×6 Duplex Turkey Loads. No problems, although they were monstrously unpleasant to shoot in the little bullpup. Empties were thrown nearly 20 feet away. After this it cycled slug and buckshot loads much more reliably, although lighter target loads were still problematic in terms of reliability.

Using Winchester 1-1/8-ounce Heavy Trap loads, we tried our hand at a little wingshooting with a clay target thrower. Surprisingly, we actually did pretty well shooting more by feel than by anything resembling conventional shotgun technique—just ignore anything you may have on the rail, point the gun and keep things moving. Granted, you probably won’t “go clean” at skeet, but it’s a hoot.

A shorter OAL is, of course, the main appeal of the bullpup configuration. The SR16 has an 18-inch barrel, a 32-1/2-inch OAL and a curb weight (unloaded) of 7-1/4 pounds. Dimensionally, this adds up to a 7-1/4 inch shorter OAL than Benelli’s flagship M2 Tactical. The other current bullpup I’m aware of, Kel-Tec’s KSG pump, is about 6 inches shorter than the 1216 overall. But if you’re enamored of the bullpup configuration and prefer a “high round-count” autoloader to a pump, your choice is clear.

Shooting facilities provided by: Angeles Shooting Ranges, 12651 Little Tujunga Rd., San Fernando, CA 91342, (800) 499-4486, www.angelesranges.com

Regal Rimfire

A Colt Woodsman .22 pistol in any shape (within reason) would be a find worth crowing about. But a factory-engraved exhibition-grade “Pre-Woodsman” with the original box, accessories and factory letter would be a perfect capper to a career in collecting. The name “Woodsman” was not used on the Browning-designed masterpiece until 1927. Prior to that the “Pre-Woodsman” morphed thru several variants (as did the later Woodsman). This one—which looks to be a 1st Series with a 6-7/8-inch medium barrel—was one of the star attractions at December’s RIA Premiere Auction last December. For information on RIA’s auction schedule, contact them at www.rockislandauction.com, (800) 238-8022. Photo courtesy RIA.

The Mako Group (Meprolight)
107 Allen Blvd, Farmingdale
NY 11735
(631) 843-0490
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/the-mako-group/

1216
Maker: SRM Arms
4375A W. McMillan Rd
Meridian, ID 83646
(208) 887-9395
www.srmarms.com

Type: Semi-auto, delayed roller lock
Gauge: 12 (3-inch chamber)
Capacity: 16, Barrel length: 18 inches
Overall length: 32.5 inches
Weight: 7.25 pounds
Stock: Synthetic (bullpup configuration)
Sights: None. Picatinny rail
Price: N/A

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