The HK CAWS, or Close Assault Weapon System, was an assault shotgun co-produced by Heckler and Koch and Winchester/Olin during the 1980s. A pump-action and two semi-automatic action shotguns, 20 boxes of shotgun shells, a target thrower, and 3 boxes of clay targets. ... Heckler und Koch GmbH (H&K) is a German weapons manufacturing company famous for various series of small firearms, notably the MP5 submachine gun, the MP7 personal defense weapon and the G3 and G36 assault rifles. ... Winchester is a city in southern England, with a population of around 40,000 within a 3 mile radius of its centre. ...

The CAWS itself was developed by HK, while its ammunition was produced by Winchester. It is a 10-round, 12-gauge, bull-pup shotgun with three firing modes: safe, semi-auto, and 3-round bursts. Another unique feature of this gun was that it was ambidextrous, making it an ideal shotgun for the civilian market. Boxes of ammunition clog a warehouse in Baghdad Ammunition is a generic military term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. ... 12 gauge is the most common size of shotgun shell. ... Bullpup refers to a firearm configuration in which the firearm action (or mechanism) and magazine are located behind the trigger, increasing the barrel length relative to the overall weapon length, thus permitting shorter weapons for the same barrel length or longer barrels for the same weapon length. ... Ambidexterity is the ability of being equally adept with each hand (or, to a limited degree, feet). ...

Although tested by the US military, the CAWS, like the Pancor Jackhammer, was cancelled, and production, military and civilian, has halted. The Pancor Corporation Jackhammer is a combat shotgun. ...

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• Modern Firearms