Buckwheat Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Hi all, Sorry if this sounds kind of dumb, but I have an opportunity to buy a Spas-12 (a shotgun that I have always liked), but would like to use it for 3-gun comps. I know it probably is not the first choice, but I have fairly limited funds available, and with it being pump/semi-auto selectable, it would fit in well with a few roles (plinking, home defense, 3-gun, etc) better than a more competition oriented shotgun. However, if there is something I am missing (illegal for use in 3-gun, consistantly jams, blows up like a Pinto in a rear end collision) would this shotgun be competitive? Any thoughts on how this gun fits into the 3-gun world would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 I don't have any experience with the Spas.... But you'd definitely get bonus style points! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intel6 Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 My personal experiences with a SPAS 12 has all been bad. It won't run on anything other than very heavy loads, the choke sleeves are hard to find and the pump mode has lots of friction and you are pumping a large chunk of plastic and metal which makes it extremely hard to pump. There is one pump/auto made worth having and that is the Benelli M3S90. The benelli is a sports car compared to the school bus SPAS. IMHO, the SPAS is only good as a novelty piece and has no place in 3 gunning. Neal in AZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Beverley Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 I had some experience with the SPAS 12 back in the late 80s. There was one guy who was very much a top shooter and he had done a lot of work on his gun to achieve reliability. He was also a big, strong guy. Most people couldn't get on with them. A couple of other points. They are very heavy. There is very little felt recoil. The pump action was virtually never used, as intel6 said - a lot of friction. Could come in handy in the case of a malfunction. There are 2 safeties. The one on the right of the trigger guard we used to call the full safety. It had to be turned through 180 degrees to work. There was an easier safety on the left which we used to call the combat safety. We used to only insist on this second safety being on at the start but would ask the full safety to be applied at the end of a C of F. A word of warning - I'm aware of 3 different guns, and have stood next to 2 of them, which fired when the safety was disengaged. Definitely safety related NOT finger on the trigger. We were able to replicate the fault. Unfortunately for the life of me I can't recall which of the 2 safeties caused the problem, it's going back 15 or more years. As previously said, consider these as a novelty gun but not for serious competition use. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Dunlop Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 I fired one about a year ago, it hurt! That folding stock was horrible, gave my cheek bone a real bruising. I was totally unimpressed with the piece generally and would never ditch my Remmy for one P.D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted July 13, 2004 Author Share Posted July 13, 2004 Thank you for the info. After a bit of research last night, I found that the Spas was recalled for that safety "glitch" and it was the lever style safety that would actually fire the weapon when moved from fire to safe Which, of course, is the style of the safety the one I was looking at has . So, after a bit of consideration (hmm...setting the safety will fire the gun...) it probably won't be my choice. Although I am disappointed about missing out on the extra style points. Thanks again guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Buff Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 And if you shoot like me - style points are the only points at the end of the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhino Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 If you're buying it because you like it and just feel like shooting it in 3-Gun, then go for it! If you're buying it specifically for 3-Gun, then it's not a very good choice. It's very heavy and the folding stock looks cool, but it's not very good for actually mounting the gun quickly and shooting the gun. But you would definitely look cool if you shot with the stock collapsed and from the hip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 The season premiere of Stargate SG-1 had Teal'c sporting one against the Replicators while on Thor's ship the Daniel Jackson... in pump-action mode. Definitely gonna get you style points, but I'd go for an Rem. 870 before one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wakal Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 I was amazed that Teal'c traded in his USAS-12 for that SPAS-12. Bleah. I think if you are going to tote around a shotgun that weighs WAY too much, ya might as well make it something that confers some sort of advantage. Like...magazines... Not that I would know The SPAS-12 is neat, but isn't much of a gun for our games. Fun to have in the safe for cool points, though. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 Yeah... the USAS-12 seemed to do the job much better (remember the sub episode?). I still can't get over the P90's doing as much damage as they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhino Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 I think the reason Teal'c was pumping his SPAS12 was because he was firing blanks that probably wouldn't cycle it otherwise. I'm guessing! I've noticed that how much damage a weapon does depends heavily on the story and script. In the original movie, 5.56 and 7.62 NATO had no effect on Goa'ulds or Jaffa, yet in the TV show sometimes they bounce off and sometimes they wax the bad guys easily. Comparing a 5.56 that has zero effect to a P90 that kills instantly means ... lots of artistic license on the part of the writers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tewlman Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 if you have limited funds i would think you could buy a new competition master for the price of a spas-12 and be much happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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