The Komrad is essentially a 12 gauge based on the famous AK-47. Again, it’s technically not a shotgun, but we considered it one for this evaluation. The short, threaded barrel, railed forend, vertical foregrip and pistol stabilizing brace make it look iconic, to say the least. The shorter barrel also made it far more maneuverable than the other shotguns in tight areas. When you are trying to make entry into a bedroom from the hallway of a single-wide, an 18-inch barrel is simply too long. The included five-round removable magazines also made for fast reloads. However, in true AK fashion, the bolt closes after the last round is fired. You have to flip the safety up to lock the bolt open.
Every part of this gun looked sharp and fun. The Kalashnikov produced more felt recoil than any other gun tested here, simply due to the arm brace. But you can always solve that problem by registering the gun with the BATFE and throwing on a padded stock. The sights seemed a little crude but turned out to be quite functional. Attaching a side mount to the receiver and then adding a red-dot sight would fix any sight issues.We made one huge mistake during the testing: Initially, we did not adjust the gas regulator. The gun functioned well with Federal’s TruBall Deep Penetrator slugs but failed to extract on everything else. Finally, I switched the gas to “low,” and voilà, problem solved. It ran every type of ammo. It even cycled with reduced-recoil buckshot, which is notorious for jamming even the best short-barreled semi-auto shotguns. Kudos to the Komrad.
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