POTD: USAS-12 – The Shotgun That Scared the ATF
Sam.S 06.23.25

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! This Interord USAS-12 is one of the most notorious regulatory flip-flops in American gun history. The ATF imported it as a regular semi-auto shotgun in the late 1980s, then decided overnight it wasn’t “sporting” enough and reclassified it as a “Destructive Device.” The USAS-12 borrowed heavily from Maxwell Atchisson’s 1970s assault shotgun concept. Gas operation and AR-15 ergonomics created a magazine-fed 12-gauge that handled like a rifle. The inline barrel design reduced felt recoil by aligning the bore with the shoulder, making rapid fire more controllable than traditional shotgun layouts. What killed the USAS-12 wasn’t mechanical problems but regulatory panic. The ATF uses subjective language in the National Firearms Act that exempts shotguns from “Destructive Device” classification only if they’re “generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes.” Translation: if the ATF doesn’t like how your shotgun looks, it becomes a DD requiring registration and a $200 tax stamp.
The USAS-12 got caught in this trap alongside the Armsel Striker-12. Both got reclassified as Destructive Devices despite working exactly like other semi-auto shotguns. The difference was appearance—these looked too “military” for ATF comfort. The drum magazine in this example particularly worried regulators. Two stick magazines came with it too. The AR-style controls and tactical appearance sealed its fate. Function didn’t matter. Looks did. The gun worked fine. Fed reliably, ejected spent shells, chambered new rounds when you pulled the trigger. Same as any other semi-auto shotgun. But it looked scary to bureaucrats who probably never fired one.
Today, transferable USAS-12s command premium prices as artifacts of regulatory overreach. Functional reminders of how quickly legal firearms become prohibited items through bureaucratic reinterpretation. Own one legally? You’re holding a piece of regulatory history that shows how arbitrary gun laws really are.
“Interord Corp. USAS-12 Shotgun, Class III/NFA Destructive Device.” Rock Island Auction Company, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4094/3611/interord-corp-usas12-shotgun-class-iiinfa-destructive-device. Accessed 17 June 2025.