Nine .33 caliber projectiles or a one ounce slug can have devastating ballistic impact upon a criminal suspect bent on your destruction.  Since most police gunfights are measured in feet not yards and the vast majority take place inside 21 feet, a double aught shotgun blast looks more like a large single “rat” hole than nine separate holes.  The energy dumped into a target by a 12 gauge slug is awesome.  Yes, it is more “high speed / low drag” to talk about tactical carbines today but the 12 gauge shotgun has served the police and military for years and offers a large variety of options from effective anti-personnel rounds such as the 00 buck and slugs, to less-lethal bean bag rounds and chemical munitions, to specialty door breaching rounds (even the new Taser® EXREP – Extended Range Electronic Projectile).  The scattergun is not fading away anytime soon and with an updated shotgun from Nighthawk Custom® the shotgun’s future is looking good.

Yeah, it looks good and has some great custom options but how does it shoot?  Well let me put it to you this way – it’s a great shooter.  I ran this pump gun with a variety of different bird, buck and slug loads and it didn’t have a hiccup.  I shot it on multiple targets and on the move at narcotics search warrant speed, I shot at targets near and far and the Nighthawk Custom Tactical Shotgun simply delivered.  My firearms co-instructors couldn’t believe the gun’s rate of fire and accuracy potential.

Nighthawk Custom has taken a plain Jane shotgun and improved and updated it so that this devastating weapon can be even more effective.  All the things that should have been done, have been done with their product.  They’ve blown the dust off an old and reliable design and made it combat effective for today’s tactical operator. For a more in-depth review, make sure to read the November 2008 issue of GUNS & WEAPONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT!