Pancor Jackhammer

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The Pancor Corporation Jackhammer is a combat shotgun. It is a 12 gauge, gas-operated automatic weapon. It is one of very few fully automatic shotguns, and although patented in 1987, it never entered full scale production. Only a few working prototypes of the Jackhammer were ever built. Some sources state that only two fully automatic prototypes exist. In the late 1990s, the current owner of the design, Mark III, attempted to sell the patents, prototypes, and production rights for $350,000 (US).

1 General Statistics
2 Technical Definitions
3 Legality
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] General Statistics

Type: gas-operated, select-fire
Gauge: 12
Length: 787 mm
Barrel length: 525 mm.
Weight unloaded: 4.57 kg
Capacity: 10 rounds in removable revolver-type drum magazine
Rate of fire: 240 rounds per minute (four rounds per second)

[edit] Technical Definitions

The weapon, excluding the barrel, is constructed largely of a rynite plastic in order to reduce weight. It features a bullpup layout to preserve a 525 mm barrel length in an overall 787 mm package. The gun is fed by a 10 round capacity center-rotating drum using conventional 12 Gauge cartridges. The gun weighs 4.57 kg and has a maximum rate of fire of 240 rpm. The drum's method of rotation is very similar to the Webley-Fosbery semi-automatic revolver.

The floating barrel is driven forward by gas pressure from the fired round. It is returned by a spring and moves the drum operating rod, breaking the tight seal between the barrel and the drum and allowing the drum to revolve to offer the next round. On the return stroke the barrel and drum are re-sealed allowing the round to be fired without loss of gas. Spent cartridges are not ejected, remaining in the magazine.

As an interesting additional feature, it is possible to take the drum magazine off the gun, attach a detonator and use it as an anti-personnel mine that fires all of the cartridges at once when tripped.

[edit] Legality

Technically being a military weapon the Pancor Jackhammer along with most other automatic shotguns are considered a destructive device by the United States and are regulated as such by the BATFE.