The gun ships with two 5 round magazines that are the same color as your gun. High cap mags are being retrofitted and tested right now and should be available within a couple months. You cannot import shotgun mags over 5 rounds under current law.

If you click and look at this picture bigger you will see that out of the box, the MKA-1919 has a one piece polymer receiver, stock and handgaurd combination. It can be and is modified to take AR-15 furniture and internal parts, but it works great like it is out of the box.

This is the Recon Cigar girl who gave away over 1500 cigars to GunsAmerica dealers over the course of SHOT Show from our booth. She is a shooter and hunter and liked the gun a lot.

These are just some of the guns that were on display by Firebird Precision. Every race gun manufacturer in the country is figuring out these guns right now and how to create modifications and custom parts. The Firebird designs are based around a stock AR-15 trigger group, and the rest of the parts are made to go with that. They are backed up right now so if you want one, get your order in quick.

The RAAC shotgun was the talk of the show downstairs especially. Who knows where this thing is going to go. We could be seeing the birth of the most common shotgun sold in the next decade.

Because of the mercury lights at the Show it was hard to get a good picture of this gun on the floor so we are using the manufacturer picture. Click for a larger version. It reallly is a 12 gauge shotgun.

RAAC MKA-1919 Semi-Auto Shotgun

http://www.raacfirearms.com/

If there is a must have product at SHOT 2012, it is the Akdal MKA 1919 semi-auto shotgun, exclusively imported in the US by RAAC. It looks like an AR-15, but it is a super-sized version made for 12 gauge shotgun shells in both the 2 3/4″ and 3″ size.

The concept of a semi-automatic shotgun with a detachable box magazine isn’t a new one. Russian imports have been around for many years in the AK configuration, in limited supply from off and on importers. They aren’t known for being reliable out of the box, and a lot of people buy them in hopes of getting a reliable, big firepower, shotgun, only to be disappointed with a gun that doesn’t work so good. For a box magazine fed shotgun, the Russian guns have been a big disappointment.

Last year at SHOT Show a new company called RAAC introduced a new design in magazine fed semi-auto shotgun, but they haven’t been available to the public until recently. It is an AR-15-ish design, but out of the box, AR-15 hardware doesn’t fit the gun. It does however look like an AR, and it comes with an M-16 like carry handle and front sight. The gun is called the MKA-1919, and… second drum roll of the week… the MSRP is $699 in the black, and $799 in the camo you see here, and they are available now.

The guns are made in Turkey, and from what I have seen in talking to the owners, the Turkish approach is very different than the way the Russians do business. These guns work great right out of the box, and the Turks have agreed to send a good supply of parts for the guns, unlike the Russians who won’t. This means the gun is probably here to stay, in personal defense, competition and the hunting market. Word on the street is that it is the gun to beat in all three categories in a semi-auto shotgun.

Already it is difficult for the dealers to keep the MKA-1919 on the shelves, so if your dealer doesn’t have any yet, just tell them that they can get them from one of several distributors for you, including RSR, Ellett Brothers, Horton, Acusport and Bill Hicks. Even though RAAC has a good regular supply from Turkey, I predict that they will quickly not be able to keep up with demand once the word is out.

We somehow missed this gun at Media Day at the Range this year, but from what I have heard, the RAAC shotgun was a big hit. I was curious about how often you have to clean it to keep it running reliably, and they fired 1800 rounds in a row on Media Day with no failures until the magazine finally failed because of all the sand blowing around in the desert. Even under those harsh conditions (take a look at all the range day pics there is sand all over everything), the internals of the gun never failed. For good measure you should plan to clean the gun every 500-600 rounds if you use it for competition according to the manufacturer though. Every gun needs an occasional cleaning.

When you first get your gun, I was told by Clyde Woods, who was handling marketing at the SHOT Show for RAAC, that you should shoot a couple boxes of at least 3 1/4 Dram equivalent 12 gauge at first. This will sufficiently break the gun in, then you can shoot much lighter loads for practice and competition. A Dram is actually a black powder measurement of a 1/16th of an ounce, and shotshells are still measured in the equivalent power factor of the old black powder loads. The RAAC shotgun has a self regulating gas system, so you don’t have to mess with it once it is broken in now matter what shells you want to shoot. We hope to get a test gun in soon and we will put the MKA-1919 through its paces with light loads and see how she runs.

Notice in the pictures that the stock and receiver are one polymer piece on an unmodified MKA 1919. It may look like an AR-15, but there are no interchangeable parts. You will also see pictures of modified guns from the RAAC booth, because they have invited a customizing company, called Firebird Precision, to display several guns that had been adapted to an AR-15 trigger group and stock hardware. Already a number of 3-Gun competitors have begun shooting the RAAC, and one of the more popular shooters in the sport, Pat Kelly, said he couldn’t outrun the trigger on it. The gun runs just that fast. For under $2,000, James Lambert at Firebird can make you an AR-15 hardware compatible shotgun that will last you a lifetime, and as you can see, they look pretty cool too. He is backordered, as are the other gunsmiths that are customizing the MKA 1919, so get in line.

There is a two round magazine available for the MKA-1919 for hunting, and it ships with two five round mags, one for 2 3/4 inch shells and one for 3 inch shells. The gun shoot both equally well. High capacity mags should be available by March where they are legal. That thumbwheel you see on the front of the handguard is how it field strips and though we didn’t get a chance to take it apart at the show, we were told it is simple. The side charging handle is removable, so aftermarket handles will be made for the gun by competition parts companies. There is a last round hold-open on an empty mag, and that handle and front sight do come off the top to reveal a standard mil-spec rail for optics.

Sometimes you see a gun at SHOT Show and you know that it will be gone in a few years, and that it is destined to only be a piece of firearms history. The RAAC MKA-1919 I predict will not be one of these. Both the exclusive importer, RAAC, and the Turkish manufacturer seem to have a plan for the future that is sound, and with a commitment to affordable pricing, there is no way that this gun won’t be a huge success. If you want one, I would jump quick and get in line for orders with the distributors through your local dealer. This is the absolute must have gun that is actually available today to buy that we have seen in SHOT 2012 and we can’t wait to shoot one soon.