M26 MASS, a modular 12 caliber for all eventualities

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
04/12/17

The US Army was the first to use, in combat, a long-barreled weapon with broken lead ammunition.

Already in the course of the war for independence the continental militias employed pushers, or muzzle-loading muskets with a smooth barrel of sufficient diameter to hold more than one lead ball at a time. In the course of a close combat, this type of weapon was able, with a single blow, to seriously injure an entire enemy platoon.

However, we must wait until the beginning of the 20th century to see the use of large-scale shotguns - shotgun. During the Moros uprising in the Philippines, American troops used the Winchester Model 1897 model - pumped, with a shortened barrel and equipped with a bayonet hook - to stop the rebel suicide charges.

Following the entry into the First World War of the United States of America, troops sent to the western front, under the orders of General John Joseph Pershing, a convinced supporter of the effectiveness of shotguns, carry a large quantity of these weapons, even the new 1912 model. 

The effectiveness of broken ammunition provides further demonstration during the fighting taking place in the narrow space of the trenches. However, the use of smooth-barreled shotguns in France is short-lived, the German High Command issued a circular warning that all enemy soldiers captured and found in possession of weapons loaded with broken lead ammunition - similar to Dum Dum and expansive balls, banned by international conventions - would have been considered war criminals and executed on the spot.

In the ensuing conflict, the Marine Corps resumed the use of 12-gauge rifles against the Japanese, using for the first time a semi-automatic - the Browning Auto-5, in a short barrel version - as well as numerous pump models such as the already mentioned M-97 and the Ithaca M-37.

The conflict in the jungle of Southeast Asia leads to a further increase in the use of 12 caliber weapons among American troops. Just during the Vietnam war, insiders begin to raise doubts about a weapon that does not allow long distance targets to be engaged, in fact forcing the infantryman to carry with him the additional weight of an extra shotgun with relative ammunition.

Based on these limitations, in the second half of the 80 years the concept of the military shotgun was developed as an accessory weapon, that is to design an 12 caliber able to integrate with the assault rifle, in order to reduce the encumbrances and complications the operator and at the same time giving him the possibility to face multiform threats even at long distances.

The US Army began developing, at the end of the 90 years, a program called LSS (Lightweight Shotgun System), whose aim is the realization of a repetitive smooth-bore weapon system in the 12 caliber, modular, usable as accessory or stand alone (stand-alone), through the installation of a telescopic kick.

At the 2008 Shot Show participates in the C-More System which on that occasion presents its project: a weapon made with machined aluminum components 6065-T6, except for the stainless steel barrel fitted to the mouth of a large flame arrester dimensions, with numerous vent openings, which simultaneously acts as a muzzle brake, fire extinguisher and from Breacherthat is, it makes it possible to use the weapon to knock down a door by shooting point-blank on a lock or on a hinge without the risk of creating dangerous pressures inside the barrel.

The obturator is cylindrical with longitudinal milling, in fact it is very similar to that of a M4 carbine. The manual sliding of the shutter is operated by a type lever straight-pull positioned on a guide along the left side of the weapon case; the cocking lever of the mechanism is designed so that it can be folded down in the rest position and, to put the shot into the barrel, you must pull it back to the end of the stroke and then release it. The large ejection window is on the right side of the case; the single-acting trigger is equipped with a manual safety device and is powered by a removable mono-filing box magazine made of polymers, with the capacity of 3 or 5 cartridges, 12 / 76 caliber.

Free of metallic sights, as designed as an accessory weapon, the C-More Systems 12 caliber can be mounted on any M16 / M4 assault rifle through a system not unlike that used for the M-203 grenade launcher. In case of necessity, using a torx key you could mount the gun with a pistol grip M16 type, or a tactical butt with handle and telescopic kick M4 style, making it a full-fledged shotgun, moreover a rail MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny positioned on the upper castle allows the installation of target organs.

In the 2009 the American Armed Forces began a cycle of assessment tests at some of the main Army departments, such as the 101 Airborne Division and the Special Groups of the USSOCOM, the Joint Special Forces Command.

The results of these tests constituted the basis for a series of changes, concerning the barrel, the obturator and the butt: the only pistol grip is no longer provided as an option, but a tactical kick that includes a M16 handle and butt pad telescopic four-position M4 type. In the accessory version, the M26 can be hooked under the barrel of any M16 / M4 derivation weapon, through a system identical to that used by the M203 grenade launcher, or alternatively by means of a quick hook / release hinge that can be installed on a slide Picatinny.

In February of the 2012, the 101 ° Airborne was equipped with the new M26 MASS system, using it extensively in the Afghan theater.

The advantage of having such a weapon system available is undoubted: in addition to a weapon that allows you to hit a target effectively on short and very short distances without having to give up the scope and accuracy of the rifle, the M26 it allows forced entry by quickly breaking down doors or barricades, as well as quickly adapting to the possible change in mission typology typical of asymmetric conflicts, passing from different types of lethal ammunition to non-lethal, simply by changing loader and carrying out an armament cycle.

(photo: US Army)