Rotary Shotgun

Why?

The rotary shotgun, or assault shotgun, was created by Neo-Soviet engineers for the legendary Chernobyl Brigade. This Russian tactical response unit was largely responsible for containing dimensional fatigue events across the Ukraine, and were facing an unexpectedly high number of 'bug hunts'. This sort of dimensional incursion requires a large amount of high volume short range firepower, often more than conventional units could bring to bear and the larger combat walkers, bogatyrs, and superheavy tanks were too large and too slow to engage such a numerous enemy. The answer was to take two of the most effective weapons, the shotgun, and the mini-vulcan, and merge them together. This staggering amount of short range firepower proved adequate for the tasks the Chernobyl Brigade routinely faced.

The Basics

The Rotary Shotgun is a gas driven five barrel rotary or mini-gun that has barrels and a receiver designed to handle commonly available Neo-soviet 8 guage shotgun rounds. It deals normal damage as per the type of shotgun round fired, but has a very high rate of fire. The larger bore size of the shotgun rounds and the need to eject the large spend case reduces the overall speed so it is quite a bit slower than a normal minigun but magnitudes faster than even the fastest automatic shotgun. The weapon is heavy, the recoil is substantial, and the weight of the ammo is more than the weight of the gun. Only power armor troopers, high end cyborgs, or brute type genetic mods can use this weapon. They still have to enter a braced firing position to use it.

Vehicles can mount a rotary shotgun and carry more ammo, but lose the mobility inherent in power armor and heavy infantry.

Drawbacks

The rotary shotgun is heavy, and it requires a massive amount of equally heavy ammunition. It can build up a large amount of heat, and in long range engagements, it is of little to no value.

Production

Building rotary shotguns is straight forward, and almost any polyforge capable of producing weapons can make them. The design was not strongly protected and can be found easily. The Neo-Soviets did it first, and have the main factory producing this ludicrous gun system.

Service and Use

The Rotary Shotgun requires regular maintenance, and the gas recoil system can foul relatively quickly, causing rounds to jam and the gun to lock up. Routine cleaning and oiling prevents this, but in long protracted battles this can be a problem. The heat generated by the weapon also reduces the service life of the barrels, and these have to be replaced on a regular basis. Most rotary shotgun operators take great care of their weapons, and have a great fondness for them.

The men and women who use the weapon are proud, and are aware of just how important they are and how much dakka their guns can throw in a heated firefight. They are heroes in their own minds, and in the minds of their comrades.

Rivals

A number of other weapons were floated against the rotary shotgun, and considering the need for firepower, they were all put into some level of production. The two most successful rivals were the 00 gauge power armor shotgun and the belt fed 4 gauge. The Double Aught shotgun was a conventional semi-automatic shotgun scaled up to fire a 00 gauge shotgun round, roughly the size of a common beer or soda can. The gun was heavy, the ammo was heavy, and the wide array of special munitions made it popular among commando forces, and it proved valuable. The belt fed 4 gauge was a fully automatic single barrel shotgun noted for having a large cooling shroud and a comically large receiver and autoloader. The weapon wasnt popular among power armor troopers, but vehicle operators like jeeps and wheeled vehicles loved the weapon loaded with solid slugs.