Last week at SHOT Show’s Media Day at the Range, I couldn’t help but notice that the MKA 1919 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun was receiving a great deal of attention. This unique, AR-15 style shotgun is made by Turkish company Akdal Arms, and was being showcased at the range by U.S. importer RAAC.  Stock MKA 1919’s are currently available online for around $700-800.

In addition to the stock models, they also had a model customized for 3-gun competitions in the open division by Firebird Precision, which was incredibly popular for those that wanted to give one of the MKA’s a try. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to test it out, but I talked to a few people that shot the race gun version, and they were surprised by the lack of recoil and said it was very fun to shoot.

The MKA 1919 ships with two 5-round metal detachable magazines, 3 internal chokes, and almost all of the controls are identical to an AR.  The barrel is 19.7 inches, and it weighs only 6 1/2 pounds when empty.

I expect the MKA 1919 shotgun to give the Saiga-12 shotgun a run for the money in 3-Gun competition. It’s two pounds lighter than the Saiga, would make transitioning from rifle to shotgun almost effortless, and aftermarket competition accessories are already available.  The tricked-out race gun will set you back somewhere around $1800, and you can expect to wait approximately 8 weeks for delivery.

Check out 3-Gun champion Patrick Kelley’s video clip of the super tuned, competition model MKA 1919 in action at the 2012 SHOT Show Media Day at the Range: