Shotgun in battle
Recent conversations on armory topic with interesting people led me to think. Can a shotgun be considered a military weapon or not? Here are my thoughts on this matter.
To begin, let's take a little dip in history use shotguns in reluctant purposes. The most well known use of shotguns in the army and law enforcement structures of the United States since the beginning of the twentieth century. Some models of shotguns have been temporarily adopted by the American forces during the First and Second World Wars, the Vietnam campaign. Then it was necessary to urgently give the units weapons for conducting combat at short distances and in cramped conditions, the so-called "trench guns". In the same police services and in many special forces, shotguns have long become standard weapons. Often in the US units a shotgun is used in a capacity in which another army would use another weapon. This is explained not by the qualitative superiority of the first, but still by the historical traditions of the Wild West and the development of new territories.
It should also be noted that quite recently, at the end of the nineties, the United States Armed Forces operated the program “Joint Combat Combat Shotgun Program”, the purpose of which was to develop requirements for a future shotgun and to adopt a single model for all armed forces. . But in reality, the new shotgun was adopted and purchased in large quantities only by the Marine Corps. He became adapted for the needs of the military Benelli M4 semi-automatic, adopted by the name of the M1014.
The army, navy, air force, and military police units (Military Police, MP) continued to use Mossberg 500 and 590 and Remington 870 pump-action shotguns in different configurations — both with a full-stock butt full-stock shotgun, as well as full-size shortened shotguns with a pistol grip without any stock (non full-stock shotgun).
Shotgun applied:
1. For breaking doors - door breaching; A shot for this purpose is a heavy self-destructive bullet, which, due to kinetic energy, can destroy a door lock or a hinge holding the door, but also completely collapses. Such bullets are used from a distance of 10-15, see. Their range is short, but when fired at point-blank range, such a bullet is deadly. Their advantage is that they do not hit the space outside the door, which is why the special units of the civilian police around the world use them. Ricochet any fragments of such a bullet is excluded.
2. As a non-lethal weapon, or a weapon with a "lower (lower) mortality." Here we have in mind the situation when the troops and the police are forced to fight with mass protests and riots on the streets - riots and firing to kill is undesirable. For these purposes, there are two types of non-lethal ammunition, for firing at individual targets and at group. Both of them are rubber striking elements (canister or feathered bullet) in a standard sleeve.
3. As an offensive weapon - offensive weapon;
Consider the use of shotguns in US Statutes.
The main charter in which one would expect the rules for the use of a shotgun is the charter of the FM 3-06.11 COMBINED ARMS OPERATIONS IN URBAN TERRAIN (General Military Operations in Urban Areas).
This is a very well developed instruction that takes into account all possible aspects of combat in built-up areas, up to and including the protection of troops from Russian jet flamethrowers.
In this charter, the use of a shotgun is stipulated only for one case - the need to break down the door. This is done in Chapter 3, Urban Combat Skills (CHAPTER 3. URBAN COMBAT SKILLS), in the 3-20 Hacking section (BREACHING).
That's what it says.
Shotgun is used for the so-called "ballistic breaking" of the door, when the elements holding the door in the opening (lock and hinges) are destroyed by shots from a shotgun. The section says that fractions №9, canister or bullet are used for hacking. Special ammunition for breaking the door in the statute is not mentioned (this is strange, given that they are adopted).
It is indicated that with proper execution technique, the door is cracked in a few seconds. It is also indicated that the fraction minimizes possible undesirable damage to those behind the door.
There are two types of hacking - hacking through the door handle and hacking through the hinges. In the first case, a soldier armed with a shotgun shoots into the space between the door handle and the door frame. He must make at least two shots, even if the castle was destroyed from the first. If after two shots the lock is still intact, then the procedure should be repeated. During all repetitions, two shots are fired. The shooter must be prepared for the fact that the broken door will have to be “docked” with his foot.
In the second case, when breaking through the hinges, the shooter makes a shot at the adjacent areas with the intended location of the hinges in order to separate the hinges and the door. First, the zone of the middle loop is affected, if there is one, then the upper, then the lower.
Regardless of the burglary method, after the shooting is completed, the shooter with a shotgun pushes or pulls the door toward himself, and moves back, opening the way for other fighters in the group who previously were behind him.
According to other statutes, the search of building sectors is made by fighting groups (fireteams), which ideally should consist of 4 people.
A fighter with a shotgun bursts into the room, the door into which he hacked, the last of them. Thus, in any case, he should not come into contact with the enemy first. The charter does not necessarily require to continue using a shotgun for something after burglary, or vice versa, to switch to the use of the main weapon.
The statute does not provide for any other methods of using a shotgun in a city general combat.
I want to note that for Russia this instruction is largely useless, given the huge number of metal doors opening to the outside.
There are two more points that are mentioned in this charter, and which may necessitate the use of shotguns. The first is that in urban battles zones with the presence of non-combatants, that is, civilians not participating in hostilities, are possible.
The Charter requires that this be taken into account when selecting weapons in a platoon that conducts hostilities. The platoon commander is obliged to take into account this possibility and have weapons that would allow to operate in such places without putting civilians in danger.
The second point is that it is impossible to use grenades in buildings with thin walls or in those that received damage to the supporting structures during the fighting, for example, because of shelling, as this can lead to the collapse of a part of the building or its entirety.
A brief summary - according to this charter, a shotgun in street fighting is a means for breaking doors, and although its other use is not explicitly prohibited, the situation in which a fighter armed with them would rush into the cleaned room was not allowed. This should be done by a machine gunner.
Another charter that interests us is FM 3-19.15 CIVIL DISTURBANCE OPERATIONS from 2005 of the Year (CIVIL WAVE OPERATIONS).
This statute regulates the actions of troops in civil unrest, riots and riots that occur in the territory controlled by a military unit or unit. It is also a very well-developed document that gives combat commanders a complete picture of the nature of the riots, their development stages and effective preventive measures. The statute describes a wide range of influences on crowds of revolting civilians, the purpose of which may be to disperse the crowd or to control it. The main emphasis in the actions of the troops was made on the use of non-lethal ammunition while simultaneously restraining the crowd with forces of soldiers with shields, batons and protective equipment. The charter also regulates actions to open fire to kill, if the commander considers that it is impossible to stop unrest by means of lethal means. At the same time, the opening of a fire to kill civilians is defined as an extreme measure.
It, in particular, says the following about shotguns.
In the chapter on 2 on conducting operations to control the growth of unrest and their avoidance, in paragraph 2-2, devoted to preparing for combating unrest:
In offices, platoons and companies, the equipment with special means may increase, or decrease, if necessary. Some examples.
- Use МХNUMX pistols to arm the groups for detecting and apprehending [riot participants]. The use of long-barreled weapons with non-lethal equipment (such as M9 rifle grenades with non-lethal shots or 16 shotguns) mounted on automatic rifles of the M4 and the M203 carbines is also recommended, especially for support groups (the term owerwatch personnel is used here, those who follow for the development of the actions of the crowd or groups of hostile people, watching them and upon receipt of the order, or according to the situation, use weapons against them, both to suppress actions and to protect other military forces This personnel performs actual fire support tasks for soldiers in the first line or guarding detention groups, and can use both lethal and non-lethal weapons and ammunition).
-Add non-standard weapons, such as the 12 caliber shotgun, to increase your ability to use non-lethal effects.
IMPORTANT. Shotgun is used to protect the shooter with an M203 grenade launcher when he reloads a weapon.
Thus, this statute already provides for the use of a shotgun with non-lethal equipment to prevent unauthorized demonstrations. And further, in the same paragraph:
-Use non-lethal means to keep the crowd at the required distance from the system.
It also states that soldiers using non-lethal ammunition against the crowd should be able to immediately use lethal ones. In the case of a shotgun, this suggests the need to either have live ammunition (bullet, shotgun), or an automatic rifle or carbine. In principle, for soldiers participating in a hand-to-hand fight with rioters, it is required to carry a rifle behind their back with the magazine removed, but for a fighter armed with a shotgun, such a requirement is not directly stated.
The 4 chapter in the list of equipment for non-lethal impacts provides a pump-action shotgun for a cartridge with a sleeve length of 76 mm. It also lists non-lethal shotgun shots - one with rubber grape-shot (М1013), the other with a feathered rubber bullet (М1012).
It is curious that in the previous version of the same charter, from 1985, the role of shotguns was defined differently. That's what happened in FM 19.15.
Shotgun (riot shotgun in the text, a shotgun to eliminate riots, in fact - the same weapon that is used in battle), an extremely versatile weapon, the appearance and possibilities of which have a strong psychological effect on the rioters. In some cases, it is a particularly suitable weapon for operations in civil unrest.
When used with the #00 canister, it is effective at limited range. However, the use of grapes must be limited to special tasks.
For example, this is the ideal “covering weapon” in an antisniper role, during “room by room” inspections, or at important checkpoints that can be rammed by a speeding vehicle (if here it means searching for a sniper — a poorly-armed non-military combatant hiding in premises, it seems so, if not, this is a very controversial statement).
When varying ammunition from the canister No. 00 to the fraction No.7 1 / 2 (currently not used, the Russian equivalent is No.7,5) or No.9, the shotgun can be used with a much lower probability of severe injury or death. This gives the commander the flexibility to choose ammunition suitable for existing conditions.
When using the No. 7 1 / 2 fraction or No. 9, the shotgun is suitable for shooting at single targets, such as those encountered in anti-sniper operations. Due to the fact that the firing range of a shotgun is small, the danger of accidental losses at a distance of 60-70 meters is much less than from other types of weapons.
However, the serious destructive ability of a shotgun at short ranges requires serious restraint in its use in operations against civilian uprisings.
The use of hazardous canister No.00 should be limited.
What the authors of the charter meant by the term anti-sniper struggle, I honestly did not understand.
In addition to these two statutes, the mention of shotguns is contained in the FM 22.6 GUARD DUTY (Guard) service, which says that guard units may be armed with shotguns. Also, a ceremonial statute allows the use of shotguns for ritual purposes. No more mention of shotguns in the statutes.
However, the theoretical studies of the military in the United States go beyond the charters.
Already not often, but still regularly it is necessary to meet statements that the shotgun can perform the role of the main weapon. Some articles indicate that a full-fledged shotgun with a high-capacity magazine (6-10 ammo) equipped with a #00 canister can be used for close combat with an opponent.
In the September issue of INFANTRY (Infantry, Russian, the name of this magazine is often translated as “Infantry Magazine”) for 2006 for a year, first-year sergeant D. Robert Clements published an article “Combat Shotgun in Brigade Combat Group (compound, created on the basis of the brigade, which is part of the division, to participate in hostilities, may have a different composition, depending on the situation during the formation) ".
In this article, Sergeant Clements considers the possibility of using a shotgun in combat in the previously mentioned qualities - breaking doors, non-lethal weapons, and fighter’s offensive weapons. Here is what he writes about the last opportunity (abbreviated):
During the war on terror, the shotgun found a second life in the infantry. In the transition to a "modular" structure, the Brigade Combat Team received 178 shotguns for service.
Unfortunately, there is no single information resource on the use of shotguns, and in parts they have to study different charters, depend on the opinion of some experts, or just do what they can. As a result, shotguns are not used correctly - for example, a short shotgun is used as the main weapon without the support of a spare pistol, and a full-fledged shotgun is used as an auxiliary weapon.
...
A soldier leading a skirmish between houses at close distances can work well with a standard shotgun. However, he must have acquired the skills of charging the cartridge, which he now will shoot and go to the gun.
With only six rounds of ammunition, the shooter can easily find that he has run out of intense skirmishes. Recharging should occur at every opportunity.
Switching to a pistol is another way to remain able to fight when the shotgun's ammunition has run out.
Simply put, when the shotgun hangs, the gun shoots and vice versa. The soldier with a shotgun is fighting with a pistol until he gets the opportunity to reload the shotgun.
...
As an offensive weapon, a shotgun must have a butt and belt. The cartridges must be equipped with grading case No. XXUMX, and there must be an M-00 pistol as an auxiliary weapon. With grape shot, the effective firing range is 9-25 meters, if a short shotgun is used - 35 meters. Using a bullet or future FRAG-10 shots (see below) with improved sights can raise this range to a hundred meters.
Frankly, such recommendations leave ambivalent impressions, and in addition to the infantryman fighting with the shotgun, he must leave his standard weapon somewhere - the M-16 rifle automatic rifle or the M-4 carbine. But then the shotgun in something must give a decisive advantage over this weapon. And this is unlikely.
Perhaps Clements simply tried to convey to the commanders the idea that if they took up a shotgun for some reason, then let them do it right, but there is no direct indication of exactly such an attitude to the subject.
An interesting point is the use of a regular weapon - a rifle or a carbine and a shotgun in turn, by quickly changing one weapon to another in the hands. Clements points out that this tactical method is studied by soldiers at special courses on the use of a shotgun organized in a division. The change technique is described quite well. Apparently this is necessary so that a soldier with a shotgun in his hand would not be taken unawares by an enemy attack after breaking the door or in front of him.
The rest of the article describes the breaking of doors, the use of non-lethal ammunition and training techniques, and also offers a qualification standard for handling a shotgun. Questions on these provisions of this article does not arise.
The certificate of the author states that he served in the 10-th Mountain Division, in the training center. At the beginning of the article, he points out that these recommendations reflect the experience gained by units in battles.
Clements can hardly be called a practitioner, since he did not participate in the battles personally, at least there is nothing about the certificate, and there are no references to personal examples and generally any examples of using a shotgun in a fight.
A very curious complaint from Sergeant Clements is that there is no official qualification standard for using a shotgun as a weapon and separately as special means for breaking doors in the Army.
This article is a typical example of how the idea of using a shotgun as the main weapon is promoted.
There is one more persistent conviction, growing from the fights in the jungle between the Japanese and the Americans during World War II, through the war in British Malaya in the fifties of the last century and then through the war in Vietnam.
It is a conviction that in a very rugged terrain, jungle, thickets, very dense buildings, when the characteristic distances do not exceed twenty meters, the shotgun is able to give a decisive advantage in a collision with the enemy.
It still needs a short historical excursion.
Often the jungle has so dense vegetation that a person simply cannot pass through it without using a machete. The line of sight in such conditions may be less than ten meters, the speed of advancement of the military unit will be measured in a few kilometers per day, or even less. Under such conditions, in the troops of the Anglo-Saxon armies, specific methods of movement of the unit appeared.
The soldiers move in such a situation with a very elongated formation, while the most experienced of them do what they call the take point - “take a place”, that is, take the most risky position that is key for the unit. Such a soldier was named point man - pointman. The Pointman moved somewhat apart from the rest of the group, albeit with preservation of visual interaction, trying not to make any noise. Sometimes he stopped and listened for a long time, examined the ground under his feet for the presence of traps, stretch marks, etc. The rest of the group slowly followed, focusing on its signals. Pointman usually did not use a night vision device, so as not to bring down night vision. He relied on hearing, smell, touch, and intuition. This was a very risky task, since in a sudden encounter with an enemy, the Pointman first came under fire. All the mines and traps also fell to him.
In such circumstances, the power of the first shot from the pointman often decided whether he would survive or not. Since the usual distance with a sudden encounter with an enemy in the jungles of Asia was about 20-30 meters or even less, a shot with a canister in a situation of shooting without thinking actually increased Pointerman’s chances of surviving compared to a semi-automatic rifle. Although it must be said that the popularity of shotguns among these soldiers during the Second World War and the war in Malaya today is overestimated.
Changed everything Vietnam. At first, the American troops did not really need shotguns, since they were armed with the old M-14 automatic rifle, caliber 7,62 mm. The line of this rifle allowed the destruction of one or several enemy soldiers through dense vegetation, and its reliability in general was comparable to the reliability of a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
But by the beginning of the Vietnam War, the days of this rifle were already numbered and it was massively replaced by a new weapon - the M-16 rifle. The latter did not have such reliability, and its bullet caliber 5.56 mm could not always “reach” the enemy through the thickets, so some of the soldiers remembered the shotguns. By the end of the first year of the war, they were firmly registered in the units leading the battles in the jungle, usually one or two per platoon. They were often used by the most experienced soldiers, who fought regularly to be the first to go, that is, to play the role of a Point Man.
Soon, the M-79 single-shot grenade launcher appeared, comparable in weight to a shotgun and a card shot to it, immediately followed by a shot with feathered arrow-shaped striking elements (it was more effective when shooting at people, but it was worse to break through dense vegetation than a canister). Then - the under-barrel grenade launcher M203 and a card shot to it too. All this, as well as the captured AK, and the non-transmitted, in spite of everything, M-14 allowed to conduct dense fire through the thickets, with high chances of hitting the target first, with a hasty aim or without it at all.
Shotgun, moreover, did not require several cleanings a day. Some soldiers confessed that they cleaned it a couple of times a month.
In proportion to the M-16, the rest of the weapon was a small percentage, and although M-16 in most cases justified itself, there were many such commanders and soldiers who did not perceive the shotgun as a full-fledged weapon, since firmly established the glory of weapons, suitable for the first fighter in the column better than the other. In the Army, the Marine Corps and the National Guard under, there are still instructors who are fluent in shotguns.
And even now this point of view is often found in journalism and on propaganda photos of the Ministry of Defense.
Now let's compare how the actual use of shotguns in combat units looks like on the background of the theoretical conclusions voiced.
The practice of using shotguns in the US Armed Forces.
In practical terms, everything is unambiguous. For commanders of all levels and soldiers, a shotgun is a special tool for breaking doors and shooting non-lethal ammunition during police operations. The military police stand out a little apart, but this is a special case.
In the army, no soldier harbors illusions about the use of a shotgun as the main weapon. And now nobody uses it like that, unlike Vietnam.
To get started, let's take a look at Captain Ryan J. Morgan’s article “Tactical shotgun in urban operations” (The tactical shotgun in urban operations by Ryan J. Morgan), which was published in the same journal as Sergeant Clements’s mentioned article in the November issue for 2004 year.
Unlike Sergeant Clements, Captain Morgan was precisely the combat commander - he commanded the companies from the 101 air assault division, and personally led the soldiers into battle.
His conclusions are brief.
Shotgun - a means for breaking the door, and in this capacity it is extremely in demand. Morgan argues that with the use of a shotgun it is often possible to achieve a surprise factor. Morgan believes that the troops should have at least one shotgun in the squad, whereas in reality there were only two per company. Morgan also argues that the shotgun should have the shortest possible barrel, but also a carrying strap and a quick change of weapon from the shotgun to the main one. He says that a soldier may be taken by surprise by the need to use a shotgun as a weapon, and should be ready to do that. Ryan considers the presence of special shots for breaking doors to be extremely important, and if they are not there, then you need to use the fraction number XXUMX.
It is important to organize the familiarization of soldiers with a shotgun. Morgan believes that all the soldiers in the company should be able to use it, although they should not be in every soldier.
The whole article is in fact a confirmation of the thesis that a shotgun is a means for hacking.
At the end of the article, Morgan mentions the extreme usefulness of a shotgun in operations to eliminate civilian strikes.
Morgan also argues that the lighting signals to the shotgun also showed themselves very well and should be at the disposal of the units leading the battle.
The article has an interesting point. Since the fighter armed with a machine gun, according to Morgan, is the least useful in clearing a room, the shotgun is given to him, and he enters the room last. This is a direct violation of the requirements of FM 3-06.11, which say that the machine gunner is the third in a row, and the last - a fighter with a shotgun. One of the reasons for the transition to such tactics Morgan calls a shortage of people in the army, because of which there were seven people in the squad instead of nine.
One way or another, it’s clear from Morgan’s article that the military’s shotgun doesn’t interest as a weapon, but it is very interesting as a special tool.
Also of interest is the opinion of an unnamed soldier from the 75 Infantry Regiment of the Rangers who told the Soldier of Good Luck journalists the following: “One thing I want to clarify, and there’s no confusion, is that we don’t use a shotgun during stripping, or else somehow as a primary weapon. Only breaking doors.
Further, the Ranger explains that they have special ammunition for breaking doors - he calls them the old-fashioned bullet Hutton, and how the shotgun is used when breaking. In general, there is the same as in the charters, and the same as that of the paratroopers, only the absence of problems with ammunition draws on itself.
If you surf the Internet, you can find such references to the use of a shotgun by modern soldiers in American military forums.
1. 82 Airborne Forces soldier, Iraq: We had them, 500 Mossberg, we broke doors. Infrequently. They shot a canister from a short distance, we had nothing more.
2. Soldier, Company I, 3 Battalion, 5 Marine Regiment, Afghanistan: I was an M153 rocket launcher and I only had an M9 pistol in my staff. But when we stood on the bases and we were used as parts of the guard, we took shotguns. On the towers stood with m-4, at the bottom - with shotguns. At the same ranges, I would prefer a shotgun to a pistol.
3. Soldier, Iraq: I was not allowed by the company commander to take tools for hacking due to the fact that I did not recognize the shotgun as a suitable means.
4. A soldier, Iraq, writes to a forum from a base in Iraq: Yesterday they were used, mainly for breaking doors.
5. Soldier, Afghanistan: We always had them in our arms, we used them in the guards, the commander did not want an extra ricochet.
6. Sailor, warship: When we stood on the guard below the deck, we always had shotguns and pistols. And for those outside - M-4 and pistols.
7. Soldier, Iraq: I have seen a lot of them with others, it was even the case that the guys dragged full-fledged shotguns with rifle butts, but no one used them as the main weapon, only for breaking doors. Even those who wore a full-fledged shotgun had an M-4.
This comment is of interest:
8. I was in the Philippines at the end of the eighties, and participated in many exits to the forests. We had 870 Remingtons, with six cartridges in the store, and spare in the cells on the belt, I don't seem to remember the 16 pieces. Each also had a pistol with two spare stores. In the territories around the Clark and Subic bases, we always had point men with shotguns, 2 people per group.
This interesting moment is again connected with the jungle. If you work hard to find the same messages from Vietnam veterans, then the use of shotguns there was much broader than it is now.
There were several comments from former mercenaries who “worked” in South Africa and Latin America. Both of them constantly carried Remington 870 with them, for self-defense, but they used automatic weapons in offensive battles.
All this was no later than the beginning of the nineties, in the jungle and bush.
There are actually a lot of examples. And they all talk about this. Since the days of Vietnam, the role of the shotgun is more and more reduced to the performance of special tasks - hacking, shooting signal and non-lethal ammunition. As a military weapon, it is used now only by the military police and there is an unclear situation of the jungle.
But what about the police, you ask. The movies regularly show how brave cops are at the ready with a shotgun and storming buildings with villains inside.
Alas, the situation here is somewhat different, and it is again connected, not with the stunning properties of a shotgun.
First of all it is necessary to take into account that there is no single police department in the USA. All security forces are on the local balance sheet. And the balance, this one can be very scanty. Shotguns are cheap, and do not require large costs with weapons, and therefore are so loved by the police, as weapons of "gain". This is the main reason, after the "centuries-old traditions."
However, at the moment, due to the improvement of funding in the framework of antiterrorist activities, many departments have begun to switch to rifled automatic weapons (MP-5, AP-15, etc.). The age of shotguns ends here, remaining only in the niche of the “door burglars”
However, the development of a shot FRAG-12, developed by the UK, in partnership with the United States Marine Corps, can give impetus to the development of a shotgun. This is a feathered grenade with three types of warhead - high-explosive, fragmentation and armor-piercing. Initially, this shot is intended for armament of small UAVs carrying a smooth-bore weapon, which is much easier to impart the desired firepower than a rifled small caliber.
But these munitions were tested in Iraq by ground forces. Their development is currently under completion.
The shot of the FRAG-12 turns any shotgun into a grenade launcher, and into a multi-shot one. A fighter with such ammunition can inflict much more damage to the enemy than with a machine gun or rifle. With such ammunition, a shotgun is difficult to call such a word.
The FRAG-12 shot turns the rifle-shotgun into a multi-shot grenade launcher, and the firepower of the infantry’s personal weapons increases by an order of magnitude. Of course, the shot of a standard grenade launcher is more powerful, but an 12 caliber grenade is larger.
To begin, let's take a little dip in history use shotguns in reluctant purposes. The most well known use of shotguns in the army and law enforcement structures of the United States since the beginning of the twentieth century. Some models of shotguns have been temporarily adopted by the American forces during the First and Second World Wars, the Vietnam campaign. Then it was necessary to urgently give the units weapons for conducting combat at short distances and in cramped conditions, the so-called "trench guns". In the same police services and in many special forces, shotguns have long become standard weapons. Often in the US units a shotgun is used in a capacity in which another army would use another weapon. This is explained not by the qualitative superiority of the first, but still by the historical traditions of the Wild West and the development of new territories.
It should also be noted that quite recently, at the end of the nineties, the United States Armed Forces operated the program “Joint Combat Combat Shotgun Program”, the purpose of which was to develop requirements for a future shotgun and to adopt a single model for all armed forces. . But in reality, the new shotgun was adopted and purchased in large quantities only by the Marine Corps. He became adapted for the needs of the military Benelli M4 semi-automatic, adopted by the name of the M1014.
The army, navy, air force, and military police units (Military Police, MP) continued to use Mossberg 500 and 590 and Remington 870 pump-action shotguns in different configurations — both with a full-stock butt full-stock shotgun, as well as full-size shortened shotguns with a pistol grip without any stock (non full-stock shotgun).
Shotgun applied:
1. For breaking doors - door breaching; A shot for this purpose is a heavy self-destructive bullet, which, due to kinetic energy, can destroy a door lock or a hinge holding the door, but also completely collapses. Such bullets are used from a distance of 10-15, see. Their range is short, but when fired at point-blank range, such a bullet is deadly. Their advantage is that they do not hit the space outside the door, which is why the special units of the civilian police around the world use them. Ricochet any fragments of such a bullet is excluded.
2. As a non-lethal weapon, or a weapon with a "lower (lower) mortality." Here we have in mind the situation when the troops and the police are forced to fight with mass protests and riots on the streets - riots and firing to kill is undesirable. For these purposes, there are two types of non-lethal ammunition, for firing at individual targets and at group. Both of them are rubber striking elements (canister or feathered bullet) in a standard sleeve.
3. As an offensive weapon - offensive weapon;
Consider the use of shotguns in US Statutes.
The main charter in which one would expect the rules for the use of a shotgun is the charter of the FM 3-06.11 COMBINED ARMS OPERATIONS IN URBAN TERRAIN (General Military Operations in Urban Areas).
This is a very well developed instruction that takes into account all possible aspects of combat in built-up areas, up to and including the protection of troops from Russian jet flamethrowers.
In this charter, the use of a shotgun is stipulated only for one case - the need to break down the door. This is done in Chapter 3, Urban Combat Skills (CHAPTER 3. URBAN COMBAT SKILLS), in the 3-20 Hacking section (BREACHING).
That's what it says.
Shotgun is used for the so-called "ballistic breaking" of the door, when the elements holding the door in the opening (lock and hinges) are destroyed by shots from a shotgun. The section says that fractions №9, canister or bullet are used for hacking. Special ammunition for breaking the door in the statute is not mentioned (this is strange, given that they are adopted).
It is indicated that with proper execution technique, the door is cracked in a few seconds. It is also indicated that the fraction minimizes possible undesirable damage to those behind the door.
There are two types of hacking - hacking through the door handle and hacking through the hinges. In the first case, a soldier armed with a shotgun shoots into the space between the door handle and the door frame. He must make at least two shots, even if the castle was destroyed from the first. If after two shots the lock is still intact, then the procedure should be repeated. During all repetitions, two shots are fired. The shooter must be prepared for the fact that the broken door will have to be “docked” with his foot.
In the second case, when breaking through the hinges, the shooter makes a shot at the adjacent areas with the intended location of the hinges in order to separate the hinges and the door. First, the zone of the middle loop is affected, if there is one, then the upper, then the lower.
Regardless of the burglary method, after the shooting is completed, the shooter with a shotgun pushes or pulls the door toward himself, and moves back, opening the way for other fighters in the group who previously were behind him.
According to other statutes, the search of building sectors is made by fighting groups (fireteams), which ideally should consist of 4 people.
A fighter with a shotgun bursts into the room, the door into which he hacked, the last of them. Thus, in any case, he should not come into contact with the enemy first. The charter does not necessarily require to continue using a shotgun for something after burglary, or vice versa, to switch to the use of the main weapon.
The statute does not provide for any other methods of using a shotgun in a city general combat.
I want to note that for Russia this instruction is largely useless, given the huge number of metal doors opening to the outside.
There are two more points that are mentioned in this charter, and which may necessitate the use of shotguns. The first is that in urban battles zones with the presence of non-combatants, that is, civilians not participating in hostilities, are possible.
The Charter requires that this be taken into account when selecting weapons in a platoon that conducts hostilities. The platoon commander is obliged to take into account this possibility and have weapons that would allow to operate in such places without putting civilians in danger.
The second point is that it is impossible to use grenades in buildings with thin walls or in those that received damage to the supporting structures during the fighting, for example, because of shelling, as this can lead to the collapse of a part of the building or its entirety.
A brief summary - according to this charter, a shotgun in street fighting is a means for breaking doors, and although its other use is not explicitly prohibited, the situation in which a fighter armed with them would rush into the cleaned room was not allowed. This should be done by a machine gunner.
Another charter that interests us is FM 3-19.15 CIVIL DISTURBANCE OPERATIONS from 2005 of the Year (CIVIL WAVE OPERATIONS).
This statute regulates the actions of troops in civil unrest, riots and riots that occur in the territory controlled by a military unit or unit. It is also a very well-developed document that gives combat commanders a complete picture of the nature of the riots, their development stages and effective preventive measures. The statute describes a wide range of influences on crowds of revolting civilians, the purpose of which may be to disperse the crowd or to control it. The main emphasis in the actions of the troops was made on the use of non-lethal ammunition while simultaneously restraining the crowd with forces of soldiers with shields, batons and protective equipment. The charter also regulates actions to open fire to kill, if the commander considers that it is impossible to stop unrest by means of lethal means. At the same time, the opening of a fire to kill civilians is defined as an extreme measure.
It, in particular, says the following about shotguns.
In the chapter on 2 on conducting operations to control the growth of unrest and their avoidance, in paragraph 2-2, devoted to preparing for combating unrest:
In offices, platoons and companies, the equipment with special means may increase, or decrease, if necessary. Some examples.
- Use МХNUMX pistols to arm the groups for detecting and apprehending [riot participants]. The use of long-barreled weapons with non-lethal equipment (such as M9 rifle grenades with non-lethal shots or 16 shotguns) mounted on automatic rifles of the M4 and the M203 carbines is also recommended, especially for support groups (the term owerwatch personnel is used here, those who follow for the development of the actions of the crowd or groups of hostile people, watching them and upon receipt of the order, or according to the situation, use weapons against them, both to suppress actions and to protect other military forces This personnel performs actual fire support tasks for soldiers in the first line or guarding detention groups, and can use both lethal and non-lethal weapons and ammunition).
-Add non-standard weapons, such as the 12 caliber shotgun, to increase your ability to use non-lethal effects.
IMPORTANT. Shotgun is used to protect the shooter with an M203 grenade launcher when he reloads a weapon.
Thus, this statute already provides for the use of a shotgun with non-lethal equipment to prevent unauthorized demonstrations. And further, in the same paragraph:
-Use non-lethal means to keep the crowd at the required distance from the system.
It also states that soldiers using non-lethal ammunition against the crowd should be able to immediately use lethal ones. In the case of a shotgun, this suggests the need to either have live ammunition (bullet, shotgun), or an automatic rifle or carbine. In principle, for soldiers participating in a hand-to-hand fight with rioters, it is required to carry a rifle behind their back with the magazine removed, but for a fighter armed with a shotgun, such a requirement is not directly stated.
The 4 chapter in the list of equipment for non-lethal impacts provides a pump-action shotgun for a cartridge with a sleeve length of 76 mm. It also lists non-lethal shotgun shots - one with rubber grape-shot (М1013), the other with a feathered rubber bullet (М1012).
It is curious that in the previous version of the same charter, from 1985, the role of shotguns was defined differently. That's what happened in FM 19.15.
Shotgun (riot shotgun in the text, a shotgun to eliminate riots, in fact - the same weapon that is used in battle), an extremely versatile weapon, the appearance and possibilities of which have a strong psychological effect on the rioters. In some cases, it is a particularly suitable weapon for operations in civil unrest.
When used with the #00 canister, it is effective at limited range. However, the use of grapes must be limited to special tasks.
For example, this is the ideal “covering weapon” in an antisniper role, during “room by room” inspections, or at important checkpoints that can be rammed by a speeding vehicle (if here it means searching for a sniper — a poorly-armed non-military combatant hiding in premises, it seems so, if not, this is a very controversial statement).
When varying ammunition from the canister No. 00 to the fraction No.7 1 / 2 (currently not used, the Russian equivalent is No.7,5) or No.9, the shotgun can be used with a much lower probability of severe injury or death. This gives the commander the flexibility to choose ammunition suitable for existing conditions.
When using the No. 7 1 / 2 fraction or No. 9, the shotgun is suitable for shooting at single targets, such as those encountered in anti-sniper operations. Due to the fact that the firing range of a shotgun is small, the danger of accidental losses at a distance of 60-70 meters is much less than from other types of weapons.
However, the serious destructive ability of a shotgun at short ranges requires serious restraint in its use in operations against civilian uprisings.
The use of hazardous canister No.00 should be limited.
What the authors of the charter meant by the term anti-sniper struggle, I honestly did not understand.
In addition to these two statutes, the mention of shotguns is contained in the FM 22.6 GUARD DUTY (Guard) service, which says that guard units may be armed with shotguns. Also, a ceremonial statute allows the use of shotguns for ritual purposes. No more mention of shotguns in the statutes.
However, the theoretical studies of the military in the United States go beyond the charters.
Already not often, but still regularly it is necessary to meet statements that the shotgun can perform the role of the main weapon. Some articles indicate that a full-fledged shotgun with a high-capacity magazine (6-10 ammo) equipped with a #00 canister can be used for close combat with an opponent.
In the September issue of INFANTRY (Infantry, Russian, the name of this magazine is often translated as “Infantry Magazine”) for 2006 for a year, first-year sergeant D. Robert Clements published an article “Combat Shotgun in Brigade Combat Group (compound, created on the basis of the brigade, which is part of the division, to participate in hostilities, may have a different composition, depending on the situation during the formation) ".
In this article, Sergeant Clements considers the possibility of using a shotgun in combat in the previously mentioned qualities - breaking doors, non-lethal weapons, and fighter’s offensive weapons. Here is what he writes about the last opportunity (abbreviated):
During the war on terror, the shotgun found a second life in the infantry. In the transition to a "modular" structure, the Brigade Combat Team received 178 shotguns for service.
Unfortunately, there is no single information resource on the use of shotguns, and in parts they have to study different charters, depend on the opinion of some experts, or just do what they can. As a result, shotguns are not used correctly - for example, a short shotgun is used as the main weapon without the support of a spare pistol, and a full-fledged shotgun is used as an auxiliary weapon.
...
A soldier leading a skirmish between houses at close distances can work well with a standard shotgun. However, he must have acquired the skills of charging the cartridge, which he now will shoot and go to the gun.
With only six rounds of ammunition, the shooter can easily find that he has run out of intense skirmishes. Recharging should occur at every opportunity.
Switching to a pistol is another way to remain able to fight when the shotgun's ammunition has run out.
Simply put, when the shotgun hangs, the gun shoots and vice versa. The soldier with a shotgun is fighting with a pistol until he gets the opportunity to reload the shotgun.
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As an offensive weapon, a shotgun must have a butt and belt. The cartridges must be equipped with grading case No. XXUMX, and there must be an M-00 pistol as an auxiliary weapon. With grape shot, the effective firing range is 9-25 meters, if a short shotgun is used - 35 meters. Using a bullet or future FRAG-10 shots (see below) with improved sights can raise this range to a hundred meters.
Frankly, such recommendations leave ambivalent impressions, and in addition to the infantryman fighting with the shotgun, he must leave his standard weapon somewhere - the M-16 rifle automatic rifle or the M-4 carbine. But then the shotgun in something must give a decisive advantage over this weapon. And this is unlikely.
Perhaps Clements simply tried to convey to the commanders the idea that if they took up a shotgun for some reason, then let them do it right, but there is no direct indication of exactly such an attitude to the subject.
An interesting point is the use of a regular weapon - a rifle or a carbine and a shotgun in turn, by quickly changing one weapon to another in the hands. Clements points out that this tactical method is studied by soldiers at special courses on the use of a shotgun organized in a division. The change technique is described quite well. Apparently this is necessary so that a soldier with a shotgun in his hand would not be taken unawares by an enemy attack after breaking the door or in front of him.
The rest of the article describes the breaking of doors, the use of non-lethal ammunition and training techniques, and also offers a qualification standard for handling a shotgun. Questions on these provisions of this article does not arise.
The certificate of the author states that he served in the 10-th Mountain Division, in the training center. At the beginning of the article, he points out that these recommendations reflect the experience gained by units in battles.
Clements can hardly be called a practitioner, since he did not participate in the battles personally, at least there is nothing about the certificate, and there are no references to personal examples and generally any examples of using a shotgun in a fight.
A very curious complaint from Sergeant Clements is that there is no official qualification standard for using a shotgun as a weapon and separately as special means for breaking doors in the Army.
This article is a typical example of how the idea of using a shotgun as the main weapon is promoted.
There is one more persistent conviction, growing from the fights in the jungle between the Japanese and the Americans during World War II, through the war in British Malaya in the fifties of the last century and then through the war in Vietnam.
It is a conviction that in a very rugged terrain, jungle, thickets, very dense buildings, when the characteristic distances do not exceed twenty meters, the shotgun is able to give a decisive advantage in a collision with the enemy.
It still needs a short historical excursion.
Often the jungle has so dense vegetation that a person simply cannot pass through it without using a machete. The line of sight in such conditions may be less than ten meters, the speed of advancement of the military unit will be measured in a few kilometers per day, or even less. Under such conditions, in the troops of the Anglo-Saxon armies, specific methods of movement of the unit appeared.
The soldiers move in such a situation with a very elongated formation, while the most experienced of them do what they call the take point - “take a place”, that is, take the most risky position that is key for the unit. Such a soldier was named point man - pointman. The Pointman moved somewhat apart from the rest of the group, albeit with preservation of visual interaction, trying not to make any noise. Sometimes he stopped and listened for a long time, examined the ground under his feet for the presence of traps, stretch marks, etc. The rest of the group slowly followed, focusing on its signals. Pointman usually did not use a night vision device, so as not to bring down night vision. He relied on hearing, smell, touch, and intuition. This was a very risky task, since in a sudden encounter with an enemy, the Pointman first came under fire. All the mines and traps also fell to him.
In such circumstances, the power of the first shot from the pointman often decided whether he would survive or not. Since the usual distance with a sudden encounter with an enemy in the jungles of Asia was about 20-30 meters or even less, a shot with a canister in a situation of shooting without thinking actually increased Pointerman’s chances of surviving compared to a semi-automatic rifle. Although it must be said that the popularity of shotguns among these soldiers during the Second World War and the war in Malaya today is overestimated.
Changed everything Vietnam. At first, the American troops did not really need shotguns, since they were armed with the old M-14 automatic rifle, caliber 7,62 mm. The line of this rifle allowed the destruction of one or several enemy soldiers through dense vegetation, and its reliability in general was comparable to the reliability of a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
But by the beginning of the Vietnam War, the days of this rifle were already numbered and it was massively replaced by a new weapon - the M-16 rifle. The latter did not have such reliability, and its bullet caliber 5.56 mm could not always “reach” the enemy through the thickets, so some of the soldiers remembered the shotguns. By the end of the first year of the war, they were firmly registered in the units leading the battles in the jungle, usually one or two per platoon. They were often used by the most experienced soldiers, who fought regularly to be the first to go, that is, to play the role of a Point Man.
Soon, the M-79 single-shot grenade launcher appeared, comparable in weight to a shotgun and a card shot to it, immediately followed by a shot with feathered arrow-shaped striking elements (it was more effective when shooting at people, but it was worse to break through dense vegetation than a canister). Then - the under-barrel grenade launcher M203 and a card shot to it too. All this, as well as the captured AK, and the non-transmitted, in spite of everything, M-14 allowed to conduct dense fire through the thickets, with high chances of hitting the target first, with a hasty aim or without it at all.
Shotgun, moreover, did not require several cleanings a day. Some soldiers confessed that they cleaned it a couple of times a month.
In proportion to the M-16, the rest of the weapon was a small percentage, and although M-16 in most cases justified itself, there were many such commanders and soldiers who did not perceive the shotgun as a full-fledged weapon, since firmly established the glory of weapons, suitable for the first fighter in the column better than the other. In the Army, the Marine Corps and the National Guard under, there are still instructors who are fluent in shotguns.
And even now this point of view is often found in journalism and on propaganda photos of the Ministry of Defense.
Now let's compare how the actual use of shotguns in combat units looks like on the background of the theoretical conclusions voiced.
The practice of using shotguns in the US Armed Forces.
In practical terms, everything is unambiguous. For commanders of all levels and soldiers, a shotgun is a special tool for breaking doors and shooting non-lethal ammunition during police operations. The military police stand out a little apart, but this is a special case.
In the army, no soldier harbors illusions about the use of a shotgun as the main weapon. And now nobody uses it like that, unlike Vietnam.
To get started, let's take a look at Captain Ryan J. Morgan’s article “Tactical shotgun in urban operations” (The tactical shotgun in urban operations by Ryan J. Morgan), which was published in the same journal as Sergeant Clements’s mentioned article in the November issue for 2004 year.
Unlike Sergeant Clements, Captain Morgan was precisely the combat commander - he commanded the companies from the 101 air assault division, and personally led the soldiers into battle.
His conclusions are brief.
Shotgun - a means for breaking the door, and in this capacity it is extremely in demand. Morgan argues that with the use of a shotgun it is often possible to achieve a surprise factor. Morgan believes that the troops should have at least one shotgun in the squad, whereas in reality there were only two per company. Morgan also argues that the shotgun should have the shortest possible barrel, but also a carrying strap and a quick change of weapon from the shotgun to the main one. He says that a soldier may be taken by surprise by the need to use a shotgun as a weapon, and should be ready to do that. Ryan considers the presence of special shots for breaking doors to be extremely important, and if they are not there, then you need to use the fraction number XXUMX.
It is important to organize the familiarization of soldiers with a shotgun. Morgan believes that all the soldiers in the company should be able to use it, although they should not be in every soldier.
The whole article is in fact a confirmation of the thesis that a shotgun is a means for hacking.
At the end of the article, Morgan mentions the extreme usefulness of a shotgun in operations to eliminate civilian strikes.
Morgan also argues that the lighting signals to the shotgun also showed themselves very well and should be at the disposal of the units leading the battle.
The article has an interesting point. Since the fighter armed with a machine gun, according to Morgan, is the least useful in clearing a room, the shotgun is given to him, and he enters the room last. This is a direct violation of the requirements of FM 3-06.11, which say that the machine gunner is the third in a row, and the last - a fighter with a shotgun. One of the reasons for the transition to such tactics Morgan calls a shortage of people in the army, because of which there were seven people in the squad instead of nine.
One way or another, it’s clear from Morgan’s article that the military’s shotgun doesn’t interest as a weapon, but it is very interesting as a special tool.
Also of interest is the opinion of an unnamed soldier from the 75 Infantry Regiment of the Rangers who told the Soldier of Good Luck journalists the following: “One thing I want to clarify, and there’s no confusion, is that we don’t use a shotgun during stripping, or else somehow as a primary weapon. Only breaking doors.
Further, the Ranger explains that they have special ammunition for breaking doors - he calls them the old-fashioned bullet Hutton, and how the shotgun is used when breaking. In general, there is the same as in the charters, and the same as that of the paratroopers, only the absence of problems with ammunition draws on itself.
If you surf the Internet, you can find such references to the use of a shotgun by modern soldiers in American military forums.
1. 82 Airborne Forces soldier, Iraq: We had them, 500 Mossberg, we broke doors. Infrequently. They shot a canister from a short distance, we had nothing more.
2. Soldier, Company I, 3 Battalion, 5 Marine Regiment, Afghanistan: I was an M153 rocket launcher and I only had an M9 pistol in my staff. But when we stood on the bases and we were used as parts of the guard, we took shotguns. On the towers stood with m-4, at the bottom - with shotguns. At the same ranges, I would prefer a shotgun to a pistol.
3. Soldier, Iraq: I was not allowed by the company commander to take tools for hacking due to the fact that I did not recognize the shotgun as a suitable means.
4. A soldier, Iraq, writes to a forum from a base in Iraq: Yesterday they were used, mainly for breaking doors.
5. Soldier, Afghanistan: We always had them in our arms, we used them in the guards, the commander did not want an extra ricochet.
6. Sailor, warship: When we stood on the guard below the deck, we always had shotguns and pistols. And for those outside - M-4 and pistols.
7. Soldier, Iraq: I have seen a lot of them with others, it was even the case that the guys dragged full-fledged shotguns with rifle butts, but no one used them as the main weapon, only for breaking doors. Even those who wore a full-fledged shotgun had an M-4.
This comment is of interest:
8. I was in the Philippines at the end of the eighties, and participated in many exits to the forests. We had 870 Remingtons, with six cartridges in the store, and spare in the cells on the belt, I don't seem to remember the 16 pieces. Each also had a pistol with two spare stores. In the territories around the Clark and Subic bases, we always had point men with shotguns, 2 people per group.
This interesting moment is again connected with the jungle. If you work hard to find the same messages from Vietnam veterans, then the use of shotguns there was much broader than it is now.
There were several comments from former mercenaries who “worked” in South Africa and Latin America. Both of them constantly carried Remington 870 with them, for self-defense, but they used automatic weapons in offensive battles.
All this was no later than the beginning of the nineties, in the jungle and bush.
There are actually a lot of examples. And they all talk about this. Since the days of Vietnam, the role of the shotgun is more and more reduced to the performance of special tasks - hacking, shooting signal and non-lethal ammunition. As a military weapon, it is used now only by the military police and there is an unclear situation of the jungle.
But what about the police, you ask. The movies regularly show how brave cops are at the ready with a shotgun and storming buildings with villains inside.
Alas, the situation here is somewhat different, and it is again connected, not with the stunning properties of a shotgun.
First of all it is necessary to take into account that there is no single police department in the USA. All security forces are on the local balance sheet. And the balance, this one can be very scanty. Shotguns are cheap, and do not require large costs with weapons, and therefore are so loved by the police, as weapons of "gain". This is the main reason, after the "centuries-old traditions."
However, at the moment, due to the improvement of funding in the framework of antiterrorist activities, many departments have begun to switch to rifled automatic weapons (MP-5, AP-15, etc.). The age of shotguns ends here, remaining only in the niche of the “door burglars”
However, the development of a shot FRAG-12, developed by the UK, in partnership with the United States Marine Corps, can give impetus to the development of a shotgun. This is a feathered grenade with three types of warhead - high-explosive, fragmentation and armor-piercing. Initially, this shot is intended for armament of small UAVs carrying a smooth-bore weapon, which is much easier to impart the desired firepower than a rifled small caliber.
But these munitions were tested in Iraq by ground forces. Their development is currently under completion.
The shot of the FRAG-12 turns any shotgun into a grenade launcher, and into a multi-shot one. A fighter with such ammunition can inflict much more damage to the enemy than with a machine gun or rifle. With such ammunition, a shotgun is difficult to call such a word.
The FRAG-12 shot turns the rifle-shotgun into a multi-shot grenade launcher, and the firepower of the infantry’s personal weapons increases by an order of magnitude. Of course, the shot of a standard grenade launcher is more powerful, but an 12 caliber grenade is larger.
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