Gas shotguns

[Brotato]

My questions are simple:
1. Are they good for CQB? If not what are they good for?
2. What are some you can suggest?

[TheEnd]

There are two general types of gas shotguns. Shell ejecting, and internal magazine.

Shell ejecting sounds cool, but those shells can get expensive and you will need to run a shell catcher to prevent them from being dropped on the floor. To be effective you will need some shells. An example is the Maruzen M1100, a 5 pack of shells is $17. Those shells can only be fired once before you need to reload them with BB's. For $17 you can only shoot 5 times. As a shotgun enthusiast I think this would be the most fun thing to shoot ever, but your looking at about $400-500 to get the shotgun and 25 shells to your door. Even with 25 shells I question it's usefulness in a long running game like capture the flag.

The internal magazine bypasses the need for shells. You fill the reservoir with gas, and then pour bb's into the shell tube. There is a system of rotating tubes that act as magazines. These are cheaper to use because you won't need to buy any extra shells. The Marushin M500 is the original, and costs around $300. It has two large problems. First, the cocking arms are weak and tend to break (steel replacements are/were available). Second, it's 8mm. Most fields I've been to don't allow 8mm guns on the field. There is a Chinese made clone, known as the ACM M500 that can be purchased for about $200. It comes in 6mm. It has weak cocking arms as well, and they are generally horribly inaccurate. I don't think they have a hop up either They do have a hop up. I knew a player who had an ACM M500. If it wasn't broken or leaking, it was shooting horribly.

In my opinion, gas guns (other than pistols) go through two quality phases. Someone makes an innovative product that is really cool, but has a lot of problems. Then someone comes and makes it work. For example GBBRs. I remember reading about how everyones WA and WOC's were always broken or not working right. Now I read about how everyones KJW is working great.

To my knowledge gas shotguns are still in phase one. I don't know of one that you can take right out of the box and use trouble free for a long time with good results. I do know that the tri shot spring powered shotguns are cheap, reliable, and the shells are also cheap and easy to find. I would pick a tri shot over a gas shotgun any day of the week.

That said, if you want to try a gas shotgun do it. I've wanted to for a long time, but I don't think their performance is equal to their cost. Their limited ammo capacity will hinder you in long running games like capture the flag. I'm sure firing and reloading a shell ejector is fun as hell though.

[Brotato]

Thanks for the help, this was very enlightening.

[PHX02]

Were money not an object, I would buy one of these in an instant:

www.airsoftcolorado.org/buy-and-sell.html?view=annonce&id=30

It would be absolutely unfair to use in cqb, but It still would be a huge hassle to pick up shells after every game.

Honestly, The UTG/TM/DE spring shotguns are great for cqb. I can't justify spending a massive amount of money on a gas shotgun when the spring ones are so reliable, effective, and cost efficient.

[Brotato]

Jeez! that is a sweet shotgun!