shotgun
A gun that fires shells containing pellets, rifled slugs, or other munitions. Shotguns have short effective range but high close-range destructive power due to the spread of the pellets. Shotguns generally have smoothbore barrels for firing multiple projectiles at once or in quick succession. There are numerous types of shotguns in different designs and configurations, such as:
- double-barrelled shotgun (traditionally break action)
- bullpup
- lever action
- pump action
- sawn-off shotgun
- underbarrel shotgun