Kalashnikov USA KS12 KS12 12GA

The handguard to the rear is similar to the Saiga series, but likewise improved. The styling is a bit more modern. The handguard includes quick-detach cups for sling-attachment points and screw holes for add-on accessory rails.

The operating bits, are also in this area. They’re identical to the Saiga and Molot series of A-style shotguns. In theory, this means that aftermarket parts made for those firearms will fit here as well.

This is also where the iron sights reside — on top of the gas tube. There’s no independent front-sight block like on a traditional AK-47; the front sight is simply tacked onto the front of the gas tube. That gives you less than a hand’s width of sight radius, definitely not ideal for precision shooting. Then again, this is a shotgun.

Things have changed a bit in the receiver.

The telescoping dust cover is still present. As the bolt carrier is smaller than the size of a spent shotgun shell, Kalashnikov needed a way to cover the rear of the action, and that’s as good a way to do it as any. The dust-cover extension is attached to the recoil spring. It may make getting the bolt in and out slightly easier; it’s a set-it-and-forget-it arrangement.

What isn’t still present: a bolt hold-open mechanism.

There was a button underneath the receiver on the earlier Saiga shotguns. Hold that button down, cycle the action to the rear, and the action remains locked open. It was a nifty design but often malfunctioned, sticking open and causing the gun to jam at inopportune moments. KUSA fixed this issue by removing the button and relying on the same safety-lever cutout as their other designs. (The KS-12T has fixed sights and a manual safety selector lever.)

The pistol grip is another welcome change.

Saiga and Molot shotguns had traditional style stocks. As imported semi-auto shotguns, they needed to fit the “sporting purposes” requirements. Pistol grips were right out and only available with heavy modification. The Kalashnikov design is built in the USA, so the pistol grip is built in from the factory.

A standard Russian-style optics rail sits on the other side of the receiver. The rail enables a red dot or other optics. The iron sights are usable but an Aimpoint would be pretty clutch on this setup.

There’s a nice buttstock with another QD sling mount and the shotgun takes standard Saiga mags. If you already have a stockpile of 20-round drum magazines you don’t need to throw them out and start anew.

Jeremy and I took the KS-12 out to the range to put it through its paces, feeding a wide variety of ammunition through the gun

We started with two versions of slugs: Federal high brass and managed recoil 1-ounce slugs. The high-brass slugs worked just fine. The managed-recoil slugs worked . . . mostly fine. We had one failure to extract on the managed-recoil slugs early on out of about 50 rounds. I’m happy to attribute that to the crappy magazine we were using at the time.

High-brass loads in general seemed to work very well. Full power cartridges — we ran 00 buckshot, high-speed steel-birdshot hunting rounds, and various slugs — were cycling the action perfectly. When we switched things up, the gun started having all too familiar issues.

Low-brass loads like the usual trap-and-skeet target loads (common in 3-gun competitions as well as practice ranges) rarely worked.

The malfunction you see above is par for the course. The low-brass load simply doesn’t provide enough pressure to the gas piston to kick the spent cartridge out of the action and clear the rear edge of the next round on the magazine

I solved this issue in my Saiga-12 by changing the gas system. I’m hopeful that an aftermarket modification — such as the work done by Lone Star Arms, who lent us this gun — can make the KS-12 run on low brass.

I ran the KS-12 all morning. As long as I was using high-brass ammunition it chugged away happily. Shooting one clay pigeon out of the sky after another, the accuracy was good enough for government work. Shooting slugs I was nailing specific rocks at about 50 yards without an issue. In short, for everything you’d want to use the gun to do it should be OK. As long as you feed it well.

The KS-12 is a fine firearm. The fit and finish is remarkably good for an AK shotgun. The action feels smooth compared to the other Saiga examples I’ve owned, and it has some welcome features not on the original. The biggest issue, and possibly the deal breaker: The inability to fire common target loads without swapping any parts.

To me that seems extremely odd. The vast majority of the time shooters are going to want to feed the dirt cheap target loads through the gun, not full-power high-brass slugs.

Whether for recreational target shooting or 3-gun competitions, high-brass ammo is more expensive, more recoil to mitigate, and more annoying to try and find. A lot of people are going to buy the KS-12 expecting it to work out of the box without reading the “high-brass only” instructions. They could well give the gun a reputation for unreliability.

When you boil it down though, what you’re paying for is a magazine-feeding system. For $100 less you can get yourself a Mossberg 930SPX, a more compact shotgun that will reliably cycle both high-brass and low-brass shotgun loads straight out of the box, with no configuration changes needed. The KS-12 doesn’t do that. What it does do, however, is feed from detachable box magazines. And that’s pretty cool.

Specifications: Kalashnikov KS-12 Shotgun

SKU#: KS12-SHOTGUNhttp://www.kalanikov-usa.com/firearms/autoloading-shotgun-ks-12

UPC: 811777021743

Caliber: 12 Gauge

Barrel Length: 18.25-inch smoothbore barrel with flash suppressor, threaded for a choke muzzle device

Size: 44″ overall length

Weight: 8.5 lbs

Operation: Semi-automatic short-stroke recoil

Magazine Capacity: (1) 5-round magazine included (KS-12T includes (1) 10-round magazine

Finish: Manganese phosphate

MSRP: $999 – $825 Street