Range testing proved that even after 20 rounds of rapid fire from MD Arms or Alliance Armament’s drum, the Red Jacket RTS-ZKS/S-12 remained operationally effective, with no problem digesting another drum.
Leave it to the utilitarian Russians to create a tactical shotgun by adapting the legendarily reliable AK action, thus turning the entire combat shotgun genre upside down by employing a detachable magazine and piston long-stroke operation. Leave it to Will Hayden’s Red Jacket Firearms to take it to the next level by refining the concept and incorporating a suppressor. Many comments would have you believe that suppressing a shotgun is simply a figment of Hollywood’s imagination. Red Jacket Firearms proves this wrong with a system equal or superior to anything Hollywood could have dreamed up.
While the process of modifying an imported “sporterized” Saiga 12 gauge into the a familiar AK profile—with pistol grip and trigger placement, albeit with much larger hole in the barrel compared to an AK rifle—is relatively straightforward, Red Jacket takes this process to a higher level with the RTS-ZK-S/S-12.
This autoloading 12 gauge is all business, with its matte black receiver, skeletonized folding rear stock, enlarged barrel with suppressor and dull black synthetic forend.
Red Jacket Firearms has been a Type 7 manufacturer for over a decade now. What began with private projects involving AK-type weapons quickly evolved into a main product line for Red Jacket. Will prides himself on producing weapons that are capable of hard use with a reputation for producing unique solutions to previously thought intractable firearm conundrums. Red Jacket’s new television series on the Discovery Channel, “Sons of Guns,” is introducing Red Jacket to a large audience. Fortunately, I knew Will before the show catapulted him and Red Jacket into prominence, and had the opportunity to obtain several of his weapons for personal use.
