| The DAO-12 Shotgun was the brainchild of Hilton Walker, a Rhodesian expatriate. While living in Rhodesia, he devised a shotgun that employed a fixed revolver magazine,
giving it a higher ammo capacity and rate of fire than virtually all contemporary shotguns. However, before Walker's shotgun could be evaluated by the Rhodesian government,
Rhodesia became Zimbabwe and Walker moved to South Africa. While in South Africa, Walker's shotgun impressed the Armscor firm, which began production of a refined
version in the early 1980's - the DAO-12. Further refinement of the DAO-12 led to a more advanced version (without a cylinder key, among other smaller
changes), first produced in the late '80's.
The DAO-12 is a revolver-action shotgun. It feeds from a fixed, 12-round, Rotary Magazine which accepts 2 3/4-inch 12 Gauge shells. Shells are loaded through a loading port to
the rear and right on the weapon. Spent shells are ejected by their own gasses, except the last spent shell which must be removed via the spring-loaded ejector rod.
The DAO-12 has since been procured by the South African military, and many police departments. Though originally designed as an anti-insurgency weapon, the DAO-12's utility
has made it effective for crowd control, self-defense, even hunting. These attributes have also made it an extremely successful export product --- particularly in the third world,
where cheap, powerful, and plentiful firearms like this one are always in high demand.
The shotguns of updated design, called 'Protecta' with a manually-rotated magazine are still manufactured in South Africa by the Reutech Defense Industries.
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VARIANTS OF THE SERIES
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GENERAL RECOGNITION POINTS
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- Contoured pistol grip and foregrip.
- Large drum-style magazine.
- Collapsible butt stock that folds over top.
- Barrel surrounded by thermal sleeve. Short 8" barrel (Protecta only)
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