The Masterkey is a
door breaching
Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available depending on the door's opening direction (inward or outward), construction materials, etc., ...
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...
system manufactured by
Knight's Armament Company
Knight's Armament Company (KAC) is an American firearms and firearms parts manufacturer, known for producing the Rail Interface System (RIS) and the Rail Adapter System (RAS) grips for firearms use. The company produces a variety of firearms, ...
.
The Masterkey project was initiated during the 1980s to provide
assault rifle
An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...
s with a potent built-in door breaching tool. Individual soldiers were often forced to carry a breaching shotgun in addition to their standard-issue rifle, but the Masterkey removes this need. The system consists of a shortened
Remington 870
The Remington Model 870 is a pump-action shotgun manufactured by Remington Arms Company, LLC. It is widely used by the public for shooting sports, hunting and self-defense, as well as by law enforcement and military organizations worldwide.
De ...
12 gauge pump-action
Pump action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock. When shooting, the sliding forend is pulled rearward to eject any expended cartridge (firearms), cartridge and typically to co ...
intended to be mounted under a firearm's barrel, similarly to the
M203 grenade launcher. It has a 3-round internal tubular magazine and can carry an additional round in the chamber, for a total of 4 rounds.
The shotgun can only be awkwardly operated independently because it has no grip behind the trigger—when firing the Masterkey, the rifle's magazine must be used as a makeshift pistol grip. Independent stocks and grips for the 870 are available for use, but they are incompatible with the M16 barrel mount. KAC makes an independent stock for the Masterkey that also can be used with the
M203 grenade launcher.
The Masterkey inspired the
M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System, an attachable shotgun in use with the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
. The M26 was chosen by the Army over the Masterkey as a breaching tool.
The weapon is named "Masterkey" in reference to its ability to "unlock" virtually any standard lock.
Users
* :
Delta Force
The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), also known as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as Task Force Green, is a Special operation forces, special operat ...
See also
*
Ciener Ultimate Over/Under
*
Combat shotgun
A combat shotgun is a shotgun issued by militaries for warfare. The earliest shotguns specifically designed for combat were the trench guns or trench shotguns issued in World War I. While limited in range, the multiple projectiles typically us ...
*
M26 MASS
References
External links
Knight's Armament Masterkey Page
Pump-action shotguns
Shotguns of the United States
Underbarrel weapons
{{Shotgun-stub