I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun!
(Please don't sue me, Miranda.)
Okay, so we've covered one Horror Icon's weapon, so what's next? Well, since it's October, We'll be covering weapons from horror fiction all month! This time, we'll be looking at something a little more..... Exotic, shall we say?
The Quadruple Barreled Shotgun:
(Phantasm films)
First, let's take a look at this.... MARVELOUS tool of destruction.
The weapon appears to be homemade by the character Reggie, and from the digging I did, it is made out of 2 Rossi Squires, apparently fused together somehow. We can see electrical tape near the fore-grip of the gun, but that doesn't appear to be what is holding it together proper. Examination of props, models, and screenshots shows me that the gun appears to be pinned together at the stock, which likely means epoxy or gunsmithing adhesives, along with steel or brass pins.
Other features of note include a wooden foregrip, which appears to be taken off another gun, possibly a Thompson, but I can't tell for certain, and the fact that the barrels are cut down. This is to probably make the weapon lighter and easier to handle, as well as to increase the spread of the shot fired.
Let's discuss the efficacy of this weapon. The Rossi Squire came in 3 calibers, 12 Gauge, 20 Gauge, and .410 bore. The caliber used for Reggie's gun appears to be the 12 gauge. I say this based on comparing the bore size to other shotguns of Known caliber in the films, as well as screenshots like this one:
As you can see, the barrel appears to be about 7/10ths of an inch, this is .72 caliber, or 12 gauge. Now, what does this mean? It means this thing is absolute terrifying. A 12 gauge shotgun is massively powerful, easily able to kill animals the size of deer or even larger. It has a proven history as a weapon, both in war and in domestic situations, such as home defense or by policemen. Depending on the load used, it is capable of anything from hunting small game or waterfowl to killing Polar Bears. So as far as this being an effective weapon: Yes, EXTREMELY, a 4 barreled shotgun, in any caliber, would be devastating. In 12 gauge, it would border on "OP, Plz nerf" levels of effectiveness.
Now we're going to go over what kind of ammo Reggie is using. I will do this for most ranged weapons, as ammo used matters almost more than the gun itself. Based on the shot patterns, Reggie seems to be using 00 (double-aught) buckshot, possibly high-brass or military grade loads. This means the gun is firing a group of lead balls, or shot, each one 8.38mm in diameter, or a little over 30 caliber. There are between 9 and 18 of these per shell, depending on the length and brand. 00 buckshot is the round of choice for home defense and large game hunting. As the name implies, it is often used for deer hunting, and the shells have enough charge to blast cleanly through a car door and out the other side.
Yeah, that'll do the trick for demons.
Next up: Could you use it?
As it happens, yes, an ordinary person COULD use this weapon. There's nothing physically dangerous to the user's body about wielding this, beyond the obvious risk of a bruised shoulder. Provided a person used proper technique for handling a powerful shotgun, it wouldn't even be that difficult. The lack of sights would make longer distance shots impossible, but given the lack of a choke due to the barrels being cut down, the weapon is clearly meant to be a close to medium range weapon that favors power over precision.
Realism of the weapon:
As it happens, not only is this weapon shown in fairly realistic fashion, it's power is DOWNPLAYED. The "Dwarves", small imp-like demons from the film, should have been blasted to PIECES by this weapon, it should have looked like a salad bar exploded after the first shot, little bits of green monster all over the place!
Reggie occasionally fires all 4 barrels at once. While this would be painful, the way he has the gun set up makes it not only physically possible, but actually NFA compliant, of all things. If somebody fired all 4 barrels of a gun like this, they would likely destroy anything in front of it. The user would suffer a deep bruise to the shoulder, but if you leaned into the gun and used the right buckshot load, you could probably manage without too much difficult until the next day. Additionally, the somewhat rough and patchwork construction does look like something a person might make in their garage, which I think is a nice touch, as it makes it seem more plausible than a company producing this monster of a weapon.
Could we make it?
Yes, actually. This weapon is 2 modern shotguns with the stocks cut off, slapped onto the spare stock of another and cobbled together with epoxy, bolts, and likely some welding. It has 4 triggers, which makes it not only more likely, but actually LEGAL in some areas! With the exception of the sawn off barrel, somebody with access to the tools needed could build one right now, it wouldn't be very difficult, either. As it happens, your author is not very mechanically inclined, but even *I* could make this thing up, given the time and money to do it.
Now, although you CAN make this, you probably shouldn't. The ATF frowns on people modifying guns to this extent, and if you end up firing more than one barrel with a single trigger pull, it is legally a MACHINE GUN, and that is a HUGE no-no. Further, you need a tax stamp to cut the barrel on a shotgun, and that is assuming state law even permits such a thing.
So while we CAN make it, and quite easily, you really, really shouldn't, and I will not be held responsible if you get your butt probed by the government.
On the other hand, if an Overly Tall demon who sounds like Angus Scrim comes to town with metallic death orbs, feel free to whip up a Quad-Shot and go Dick Chaney on his ass.
Okay, so we've covered one Horror Icon's weapon, so what's next? Well, since it's October, We'll be covering weapons from horror fiction all month! This time, we'll be looking at something a little more..... Exotic, shall we say?
The Quadruple Barreled Shotgun:
(Phantasm films)
First, let's take a look at this.... MARVELOUS tool of destruction.
Other features of note include a wooden foregrip, which appears to be taken off another gun, possibly a Thompson, but I can't tell for certain, and the fact that the barrels are cut down. This is to probably make the weapon lighter and easier to handle, as well as to increase the spread of the shot fired.
Let's discuss the efficacy of this weapon. The Rossi Squire came in 3 calibers, 12 Gauge, 20 Gauge, and .410 bore. The caliber used for Reggie's gun appears to be the 12 gauge. I say this based on comparing the bore size to other shotguns of Known caliber in the films, as well as screenshots like this one:
As you can see, the barrel appears to be about 7/10ths of an inch, this is .72 caliber, or 12 gauge. Now, what does this mean? It means this thing is absolute terrifying. A 12 gauge shotgun is massively powerful, easily able to kill animals the size of deer or even larger. It has a proven history as a weapon, both in war and in domestic situations, such as home defense or by policemen. Depending on the load used, it is capable of anything from hunting small game or waterfowl to killing Polar Bears. So as far as this being an effective weapon: Yes, EXTREMELY, a 4 barreled shotgun, in any caliber, would be devastating. In 12 gauge, it would border on "OP, Plz nerf" levels of effectiveness.
Now we're going to go over what kind of ammo Reggie is using. I will do this for most ranged weapons, as ammo used matters almost more than the gun itself. Based on the shot patterns, Reggie seems to be using 00 (double-aught) buckshot, possibly high-brass or military grade loads. This means the gun is firing a group of lead balls, or shot, each one 8.38mm in diameter, or a little over 30 caliber. There are between 9 and 18 of these per shell, depending on the length and brand. 00 buckshot is the round of choice for home defense and large game hunting. As the name implies, it is often used for deer hunting, and the shells have enough charge to blast cleanly through a car door and out the other side.
Yeah, that'll do the trick for demons.
Next up: Could you use it?
As it happens, yes, an ordinary person COULD use this weapon. There's nothing physically dangerous to the user's body about wielding this, beyond the obvious risk of a bruised shoulder. Provided a person used proper technique for handling a powerful shotgun, it wouldn't even be that difficult. The lack of sights would make longer distance shots impossible, but given the lack of a choke due to the barrels being cut down, the weapon is clearly meant to be a close to medium range weapon that favors power over precision.
Realism of the weapon:
As it happens, not only is this weapon shown in fairly realistic fashion, it's power is DOWNPLAYED. The "Dwarves", small imp-like demons from the film, should have been blasted to PIECES by this weapon, it should have looked like a salad bar exploded after the first shot, little bits of green monster all over the place!
Reggie occasionally fires all 4 barrels at once. While this would be painful, the way he has the gun set up makes it not only physically possible, but actually NFA compliant, of all things. If somebody fired all 4 barrels of a gun like this, they would likely destroy anything in front of it. The user would suffer a deep bruise to the shoulder, but if you leaned into the gun and used the right buckshot load, you could probably manage without too much difficult until the next day. Additionally, the somewhat rough and patchwork construction does look like something a person might make in their garage, which I think is a nice touch, as it makes it seem more plausible than a company producing this monster of a weapon.
Could we make it?
Yes, actually. This weapon is 2 modern shotguns with the stocks cut off, slapped onto the spare stock of another and cobbled together with epoxy, bolts, and likely some welding. It has 4 triggers, which makes it not only more likely, but actually LEGAL in some areas! With the exception of the sawn off barrel, somebody with access to the tools needed could build one right now, it wouldn't be very difficult, either. As it happens, your author is not very mechanically inclined, but even *I* could make this thing up, given the time and money to do it.
Now, although you CAN make this, you probably shouldn't. The ATF frowns on people modifying guns to this extent, and if you end up firing more than one barrel with a single trigger pull, it is legally a MACHINE GUN, and that is a HUGE no-no. Further, you need a tax stamp to cut the barrel on a shotgun, and that is assuming state law even permits such a thing.
So while we CAN make it, and quite easily, you really, really shouldn't, and I will not be held responsible if you get your butt probed by the government.
On the other hand, if an Overly Tall demon who sounds like Angus Scrim comes to town with metallic death orbs, feel free to whip up a Quad-Shot and go Dick Chaney on his ass.
I would most certainly endorse such a weapon for demon-defense!
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