USAS-12

Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12
The Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12 automatic shotgun.
Type	Automatic shotgun Semi-automatic (Civilian)
Place of origin	South Korea United States
Service history
Used by	See Users
Production history
Designed	1989
Manufacturer	Daewoo Precision Industries, Interord Corp.(Nashville, Tennessee,) RAMO Defense Co., Ameetec Arms LLC
Produced	1989–present
Variants	Semi-automatic only for civilian commercial sales; select-fire for military and police
Specifications
Weight	5.45 kg less magazine. 6.2 kg (with 10-round magazine)
Length	960 mm
Barrel length	460 mm
Caliber	12-gauge
Rate of fire	400-450 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity	400 m/s (1,300 ft/s)
Effective firing range	30–40 m
Maximum firing range	50 m
Feed system	10-round detachable box magazine or 20-round drum magazine
Sights	Iron sights

The Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12 (Universal Sporting Automatic Shotgun 12 gauge) is an automatic shotgun designed as a combat shotgun manufactured in South Korea by Daewoo Precision Industries during the 1980s.

The USAS-12 is a gas-operated, selective fire weapon, designed to provide sustained firepower in close-combat scenarios. It accepts detachable 10-round box magazines or 20-round drum magazines. Both types of magazine are made of polymer, and drum magazines have their rear side made from translucent polymer for quick determination of the number of shot shells left. It has an effective range of 40 m. In the early 1990s, a new CQ model of the USAS-12 was created. It looks similar to the original model, but unlike the original, it lacks the front sight and has a re-modeled carry handle.

The history of the USAS-12 dates from the 1980s vintage designs of Maxwell Atchisson. In about 1989, Gilbert Equipment Co. (USA) decided to bring up the selective fired weapon, broadly based on principles employed in Atchisson shotguns. The design of the new weapon was produced by John Trevor, Jr. Since Gilbert Equipment Co. had no manufacturing capabilities, it started to look for possible manufacturers. It turned out that the only maker that agreed to produce this weapon was the South Korean company Daewoo Precision Industries, a part of the high-tech Daewoo conglomerate. Daewoo engineers adapted the new weapon to their manufacturing techniques, and mass production commenced in the early 1990s. The USAS-12 sold well to military and security forces of several (unspecified) countries in Asia, and more than 30,000 of USAS-12 shotguns were made by mid-1990s.

During the same timeframe, Gilbert Equipment Co. tried to bring semi-automatic version of USAS-12 to the U.S. market, but Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen classified this firearm as "having no sporting purpose", so it became a "destructive device" under the U.S. National Firearms Act of 1934. This greatly restricted its civilian use. During the late 1990s, RAMO Defence Co. began to assemble USAS-12 shotguns from Korean and U.S.-made parts for sale on the domestic market, but sales of this weapon were limited to government agencies only. Today, this shotgun is still being manufactured by S&T Daewoo in Korea for military and law enforcement sales only.