Airsoft Shotguns?
 

I'm just curious about this question. Do airsoft shotguns fire just 1BB when fired or do they fire a cluster of BBs when fired.

Depends which shotgun you buy, most common ones shoot between 1 - 6...

You have the basic springer shotguns that shoot 1 bb at a time, basic tri-shots that shoot 3 at a time, TM gas ones that shoot 3 or 6 by flipping a switch...

There's also the ones like the APS 870 which shoot as many as you can get into the shell, and load much like the real thing.

I thought that was a good reply. To me a shot gun should mimic the real ones with multiple bb's in each shell, but I imagine the range or distance they can shoot would be much shorter than a regular rifle or hand gun just like in real life

Depends, the Tokyo Marui gas 3/6 shots shotgun can be tweaked to shoot really far, and the single shots like the G&Ps are pretty much sniper rifles in a shotgun body, so they too can be tweaked to shoot really far. The only ones with short ranges are the really under-powered cheapos or those using gas-in-shell system like the APS because they don't have hop-ups.

I'm curious about the noise difference between the gas and springer models if anyone can comment, I've only ever owned the springer models and it can be hard to tell from watching videos. How loud are the gas shotguns? Is the sound comparable to a gbb pistol?

Don't know for the gas-in-shell ones, but for the TM gas shotgun, the noise is pretty much the same as the spring 3-shots, but the racking sound is much more satisfying.

Don't waste your time with 1 shot shotguns.

Budget:
- Cyma Tri Shot (Metal, air-cocked) - 30 bbs in 1 shell, shoots 3 each.
- PPS Shell Ejecting - Would avoid PPS in general though (3 bbs in a shell, up to 6 for CO2)

Good budget:
- APS 870 - hands down most realistic, and funnest; shoots far and hard with the wads. It's a price gun though. (12 shots, sling shot rounds, metal balls, basically anything you can fill into the hole you can shoot out :)) (check out Chiinnature on youtube, he puts crazy shit in his APS and can make it go over 25 Joules in some videos)

New gun:
- DM870 (Dominator 870) the AAC store in Mississauga had gotten them in back in November I think? Full steel, haven't checked it out, but shell ejecting, only 3 shots though.

You're collecting it anyways, so whatever you feel is needed for your shtogun situation, go on that. TM's are great for skirmishes, the racking sounds better then spring, but they aren't worth the mark up in Canada IMO <new> atleast.

Thanks

Spring:
- sound louder imo, the "thunk" sound that comes from the air pressure you cocked.
- hard to cock (cymas are easier then the tm clones)

TM:
- Racking sound is sexy af
- Sounds ok when shooting

APS:
- People run from you, period :)

Interesting, 'preciate the input.

I've never seen shotguns as reasonable tools for airsoft. Any CQB gun or pistol would have a much higher potential for effect. Shotguns are okay for cool factor if that's what you're going for. As for distance, even at higher velocity they don't stack well at all versus other systems.

Springers make a 'thud/doink' sound, but the gas ones I've seen or shot are typically louder, but that doesn't mean they all are. If you're going to actually field it avoid shell-ejecting.

If you're going for cool factor, get a nice big metal, shiny gas one. If you want to go for effect, get a short tri-shot that shoots good and hard.

A rarer gas shotgun that can put out 5 BBs/shot without having to deal with annoying shells is the Marushin M500 SSB (6mm) and the ACM clone of it. BBs are held in the tubular magazine shotgun shells would go in. The gas reservoir on the clone tends to be problematic (leaks), dunno how reliable the Marushin one is. There's no hopup, but given that its a shotgun, it's neither long range nor do I want 5 BBs going into the same hole anyway, and this allows me to use the shotgun at any angle (urban prone, for example).

It sounds very realistic racking it, but the shot is just an NBB "pop" (you know what I mean). Mixing BB weights can produce interesting patterns. Since it has 3 separate 6mm magazine (rotating) you can load different combinations, too, as long you remember which one is which and put some kind of indexing mark on the front knob. But you could load one tube with just .12s for more of a close range open choke/birdshot pattern, etc.

Be careful, there are multiple versions of this shotgun (3 shot/8mm, single shot, etc)

A friend of mine plays with a 3 shot shotgun I think... He uses it to snipe in cqb... Scary accurate for some reason...

I myself am a shotgun enthusiast as well! My wallyworld clearsoft lasted 300 pumps before it broke.

There's also the TM AA-12 automatic shotgun, but I've never used one myself. I think there's one for sale in the classifieds.

http://www.popularairsoft.com/files/...m_aa_12_04.jpg

I very much enjoyed my TM gas shotgun at a few local CQB games we had in Armstrong. It was a big old barn and has some corridors meant to lead livestock down that you could cover off with one shot.

The downsides were the tendency to run out of gas towards the end of the action.