Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This week’s special edition is going to depart from our normal subject and instead focus on another cartridge design that is only a couple of decades older – pinfire. Similar to rimfire cartridges, pinfire cartridges were invented in the earlier half of the 19th century as firearms technology was rapidly progressing. The pinfire cartridge design was one of the trailblazers of what would eventually become modern cartridges for the time and is also noteworthy for being one of the first metallic cartridge designs of the 19th century. Today in this special edition of The Rimfire Report, we’ll dive into the history, design, and firearms that existed within the pinfire world and how they eventually became obsolete after a short-lived era of widespread adoption.

Is that a SCAR? No, no it isn’t. But it kinda looks like one! James is at IWA 2023 visiting the Hunt Group to see the SCX12, a SCAR lookalike Turkish shotgun coming to the US.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves is at IWA 2023 visiting the Francolin booth to talk about an odd shotgun that caught his eye: The Francolin XR-20, a 20 gauge revolver that is a carbine built around a revolver cylinder. It’s surprisingly well-made and surprisingly inexpensive, too.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves is at IWA visiting Prima Armi, the Italian distributor to see the SDM M870 Shorty, an inexpensive, short-barrel, pump action, mag-fed 12 gauge shotgun.

Beretta occasionally puts some effort into reminding the world that the oldest gunmaker still has in-house a top-notch custom shop capable of impressive masterpieces of artisan work. Again the chosen canvas is the premium O/U shotgun, the SL3, now declined in an unconventional tribute to the pharaoh Tutankhamon.

Photo Of The Day and we have the M500 Shotgun on the flight deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60), during a visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) gun shoot. The Paul Hamilton is part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, in the U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners. The ship is named after Paul Hamilton, who was the third Secretary of the Navy and served in that role from 1809 to 1813.

Let’s head this off at the pass: There are not a lot of details about this short barrel shotgun, it may not make it to the United States, and even if it does, who knows how good it will be or if the price will be anywhere close to the $160-$180 it’s available for in other markets. However, there is absolutely no denying that this concept is amazing, and after all, James Reeves goes to these shows, not to judge, but to bring you content on intriguing designs, no matter how far-fetched they may be. TFBTV visits the Hunt Group booth to see this XRS semi-automatic folding 12 gauge shotgun, have some fun, and maybe dare some importers to bring this into the country. What a design!

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves reviews the brand-new Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol. In this video review, James takes an in-depth look at the features and performance of the Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol, including its operating system, features, design, and reliability. You’ll also see how it handles on the range with a variety of different types of home defense and buckshot ammo. Lastly, do you consider this less expensive tactical shotgun, or the more expensive Beretta 1301?

With the new Burris SpeedBead Vent Rib Mount, you can turn your shotgun into a dynamic hunting tool without any drilling or tapping. According to Burris, their new mount makes it easy to attach and secure any FastFire Series Red Dots, to let you shoot clays, waterfowl, upland birds, and turkeys faster and more accurately. According to the list of features, the red dot will always be centered on the rib and gun when mounted, with no play left or right. There are rib adapters included in the package, to fit multiple rib widths. The MSRP for the new mount is $60.

Today’s Photo Of The Day is a special Beretta SO Sparviere over and under shotgun from  Pietro Beretta Custom Atelier made for Sylvester Stallone as a “unique tribute to his acting career and to the legendary role of the Italian American boxer he’s been playing since 1976″. The engravings and inlaid elements of the SO Sparviere Rocky shotgun are dedicated to Rocky Balboa, Stallone’s character in the famous movie franchise.

APEX Ammunition have introduced a new turkey hunting round – the APEX Mossy Oak Greenleaf Turkey TSS Blend, this builds out their high-end Tungsten Super Shot line of cartridges. The new cartridges are available in 12 Gauge (at $62.99 per 5-round box) and in 20 Gauge (at $49.99 per 5-round box).

Mesa Tactical continues to expand its accessory options for shotguns, particularly for the Beretta 1301 and Benelli M2. New for 2023, the Truckee forend is now available for M2 and 1301 shooters.

New this year from KelTec, formerly known as Kel-Tec, is the KSG410, a dual mag tube, single-barrel shotgun that fits into the footprint of KelTec’s KS7.  Also new from KelTec is their R50, a 16″ barreled rifle version of their P50 5.7×28 pistol, complete with a folding stock that attaches to the bottom of the grip.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves is at the Kel-Tec booth during SHOT Show 2023 to discuss the new Kel-Tec .410 KSG. While there’s little doubt that the 12 gauge is the king of tactical shotguns, the .410 KSG manages to bring something to the table in that its smaller barrel and tubes make this version of the KSG much smaller and lighter than the original 12 gauge KSG. Like a baby Kel-Tec shotgun! (Aww, so cute!)

In this episode of TFBTV, SDS boldly challenges James Reeves, a slayer of Turkish shotguns, to try the new Military Armament Corporation M2 shotgun. James gets his hand on this new Benelli M2-style shotgun for a brief moment at the range, but will it stand up to the 500-round torture test? Time will tell.

At this year’s SHOT Show, there were a number of interesting ammunition manufacturers. One of which was BioAmmo from Spain. Their ammunition is specially designed for hunters and clay shooters looking for quality cartridges with maximum efficiency in terms of speed and penetration but also minimise plastic usage. BioAmmo explain that their ‘cases and wads are made with 100% compostable and biodegradable biopolymers that do not leave toxic residues in nature.’

Hidden away in Mossberg’s SHOT booth was a few new shotguns: Mossberg 590S models with the Optic Ready capability, as well as new M-LOK forends.  Able to mount a low-profile optic, and cycling everything from mini shells to 3″, the new 590S Optic-Ready models are available with 18″ and 20″ barrels, both retailing at $704 MSRP.

In this episode of TFBTV, @JamesReeves speaks with Ernie Langdon himself about the LTT version of the Beretta 1301 Shotgun. Langdon Tactical has tweaked the 1301 with its own accessories and, of course, famous trigger job.

Back at SHOT 2020 we tried Wilkinson Tactical’s AR shotgun. This year we caught up with them again at this year’s Industry at the Range Day and they ran us through their new models and their conversion combo that allows the lower to be used with either a shotgun or AR-10 .308 upper. The conversion takes seconds.

Today at Beretta’s pre-SHOT Show 2023 range day, we got to check out their new A300 Ultima Patrol.  This new shotgun brings near-1301 Tactical capability at the lower price point of the A300 lineup.

Today at Beretta’s pre-SHOT Show Range Day, we got to try out Beretta’s new 28 Gauge A400 Upland Magnum.  This svelte semiauto shotgun may be small in stature and meant for upland game, but according to Beretta reps it has the ability to take down ducks and geese with the right loads.  First announced in September 2022, this shotgun should be available now.

The new firearms announced by Browning Arms Company for 2023 include four new configurations of the X-Bolt bolt action rifle, fifteen shotguns added to different lines of their shotguns, and three new models of the Buck Mark rimfire pistol. You can find the list of all new Browning 2023 products below. The model names are linked to corresponding product pages where you can find more information.

It’s not every day you see a Benelli M4 shotgun, especially one with wood furniture and a shortened barrel (SBS). Today’s Photo of the Day comes from Josh Herring of Cotton Branch Custom Firearms, featuring his SBS Benelli M4. You may have already seen some of his other photos with his now iconic rough finished wood table, coat of arms patch of his business, and of course, a customer’s finished product. Josh describes his SBS Benelli M4 below.

In a few years, we’ve seen WOOX bringing to market anything from innovative rifle furniture to axes and knives. The common trait is the rather unconventional use of wood elements. Their latest product, the Gladiatore, brings the WOOX signature aesthetics to Mossberg pump action shotguns.

Welcome everyone to the 174th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only has a Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

Shooting shotguns with a red dot makes a lot of sense, and they are a lot of fun to shoot as well. The new Mossberg 940 Pro Tactical comes ready for optics, including receiver cuts that accept a low-profile direct mounting of any Shield RMSc footprint micro dot sight. So it’s no surprise that one of Mossberg’s new packages conveniently includes a Holosun HS407K open reflex sight, so everything is ready out-of-the-box. The 940 Pro Tactical Holosun 6 MOA Micro Dot Combo has an MSRP of $1,333 and the Optics-Ready version goes for $1,189. They both come with an 18.5-inch barrel and a tube for 7+1 rounds.

Mossberg are adding the possibility to use red dots (with the Shield RMSc pattern) for their 500 Turkey and 835 Ulti-Mag Turkey pump action shotguns. The 500 Turkey Optic-Ready is available in 410 bore 3″ and 20 gauge 3″, while the 835 Ulti-Mag Turkey Optic-Ready is a 12 gauge shotgun with a 3.5-inch chamber. The price is between $644 and $693.

When it comes to purchasing firearms, there are certain types out there that aren’t practical or even all that useful. Sometimes it tugs at your heartstrings for no reason and you absolutely have to have it. For some odd reason, I have always felt the Remington 870 TAC-14 Hardwood has that classic cool pump action shotgun vibe and I’ve always wanted to have one to test out. These smaller shotguns can be quite a handful to shoot, but they do offer a number of advantages over something like a full-length shotgun for home defense. Let’s take a closer look at the Remington 870 TAC-14 Hardwood shotgun.

As much as I like to poke James Reeves about the era of the shotgun being a thing of the past, he and everyone else continues to prove me wrong. Many of you may not be old enough to remember the days before the mass adoption of the AR-15 platform, but the shotgun was the long gun of choice for law enforcement and home defense for decades. The primary reason being that the 12 gauge shell in either 00 buck or slug, has devastating terminal ballistics within defensive scenario ranges. The Vang Comp Model 764 takes a standard Mossberg and adds proven features for short money.

In this episode of TFBTV, JamesReeves reviews the cheapest shotgun he’s reviewed to date: The SDS Imports SLB X2 12 Gauge Pump. The SLB X2 is a Turkish pump action shotgun that costs only about $159-$180 online. Surely, a gun that’s this cheap can’t outlast the #TFBTV 500 round 12 gauge shotgun burndown torture test, right? Let’s see how it does on today’s episode.