Heavy Shotgun

The Shrewsbury Heavy Shotgun is a weapon featured in Grand Theft Auto V. It was added to the game with the Last Team Standing Update.

Description
The weapon is mainly based on the Russian Saiga-12 shotgun, a shotgun version of the well-known AK-47. The variant seen in-game is a Saiga-12K, a modernized version equipped with a shorter barrel and a folding stock, which is used by law enforcement forces in the United States.

Performance
Compared to other weapons of its class, the Heavy Shotgun has a unique property of firing slugs instead of pellets. This means that a shot, if it hits the target, it always deals 117 damage. While this has the drawback of reducing the weapon's max potential damage, it significantly increases the firepower at medium and long ranges, as a shot (assuming the shot hits the target) is powerful, whereas pellets shotguns are not very effective at medium range, due to the fewer pellets hitting the target at medium range, dealing lower damage.

The Heavy Shotgun, like the Assault Shotgun, is fully-automatic, and fires at 200 shots per minute, which is slightly lower than the Assault Shotgun's 240 RPM. This makes firing follow-up shots easier than semi-automatic shotguns.

The Heavy Shotgun can be equipped with various attachments. The grip is a very helpful attachment if the player intends to use the weapon at medium and long ranges, as it increases the accuracy, making hitting a target easier. The suppressor is also an effective attachment, as the weapon's different ammunition type makes the damage and range nerf less penalizing than on pellets shotguns, however it is more recommendable to use it if the player uses the weapon is close-quarters, as it reduces the weapon's effectiveness at longer ranges. The flashlight can help the player at night or in dark areas. Finally, Extended Clip allows each magazine to hold six extra rounds, making reloads less frequent.

In conclusion, the Heavy Shotgun is a very unique weapon. It easily outclasses other shotguns at medium range due to increased accuracy and the slugs used. However, pellets shotguns are more effective at close range as they have a higher maximum damage at close range.

Trivia

 * The lettering on the left side of the gun in first-person misspells 12 gauge as "guage".
 * Its unsuppressed firing animation shows a pellet spread, despite the shotgun shooting slugs instead.