Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Question about semi-auto shotguns

Which, if any, semi-auto shotguns can be loaded by just pulling back the charging handle and letting it go forward of its own accord?

I.e., with my Remington 1100 I have to pull the charging handle back which will lock the bolt back and stage a shell on the lifter, then you have to press a lever on the lifter to close the action and feed the shell into the chamber.

Looking for something that works like a semi-auto rifle - load magazine, pull back the charging handle, let it go and it's loaded and ready.

Does anything like that even exist?







Gee, wouldn't it be great if we had a shotgun forum?

We do! This was posted here since it's more of a tactical shotgun question than a Birds and Dogs shotgun question.

I know my Berettas 1301 Tactical can be set up like that, i.e., you can load the mag up (leaving the chamber empty), then push a little button at the rear of the loading port (which deposits a round from the mag into the carrier). After that, all you need do is rack the action to get it into action. But if you don't push that little button, racking the slide won't do anything.

The purpose of this feature is to allow you to direct load whatever type of round you want into the chamber, if you decide (for example) you need a slug in there instead of the buckshot that's in the magazine.

My Remington 1187 does. Also long out of production, original Winchester Super X Model 1s do.

Auto 5; benelli if there is a shell on the carrier.

Browning Maxus and A5 have a speed load feature. Lock the bolt back, push one into the magazine and it auto feeds into the chamber.

Browning

I may be off about exactly what you are asking. My Beretta ES 100 Pintail is an inertia action. You can load the mag and when you pull the charging handle it doesn't load from the mag. You drop a round in the chamber by hand and drop the charging handle. You can extract just that round without engaging the mag as well. It makes it easy to fool with loading and unloading the chamber and leaving the mag loaded.

Load the 1100 magazine and rip the charging handle - kinda like sling shotting a 1911.

Yes the Saiga, AK 47 style Russian shotguns in 12 and 20 guage with 10 round box magazines. They are setup for 3-5 rounds but modified for 3 gun competition they function multiple 10 round mags. Like an AK they load and fire off of a charging handle.

AR-12

RIA model VR-60

Beretta 1301 Tactical, A300 Patrol, Comp and I presume A400.

That...

Browning Auto 5 works that way. One of the things I like about it. You just thumb shells in. No buttons to hold down to load.

I scored a like-new Gold Hunter 20 a few years ago at an LGS. Was surprised and pleased to find it worked just like my A5.

Shooting clays, I see other shooters fumbling with their autos all the time trying to single load. One old guy lost the tip of his thumb when someone hit the release while they were trying to clear a misfeed.

Much as I like my GH and pumps, more and more I appreciate the simplicity of guns that bend in the middle….