If you haven’t played in the magazine-fed shotgun world yet, you are greatly missing out. The popularity of this shotgun style has soared in recent years for many reasons. For the most part, they have similar or the same controls as an AR-15, are easy to mount any optic to, and, due to their overall weight, can have less felt recoil than their tube-fed counterparts. These shotguns vary in price and value, but are all fun to shoot.
One of the most affordable and reliable magazine-fed shotguns is the recently updated Tokarev TT-12 Pro shotgun. The TT-12 Pro model upgrades the controls from black to bright red and allows the charging handle to be reversed from one side to the other.
Not only have I personally put a few hundred rounds through both shotguns, but I also brought both guns to my recent Gal’s Day at the Range event, where over a hundred women shot a few hundred more rounds through them in a single-day format. While the upgraded controls might not be important to everyone, as an avid 3 Gun shooter, I can say this is one shotgun option to explore if you’re interested in shooting competitively. Let me dive into the features and functionality of the TT-12 Pro.
Ambidextrous Controls
I’m of the mindset now that long guns, such as AR-15s or magazine-fed shotguns, should come from the factory with ambidextrous controls. Before I started shooting competitively and working in the gun industry, I maybe knew two to three left-handed people. Since then, I feel like I know more left-handed shooters than I do right-handed shooters. I have personally loaned out so many firearms to left-handed shooters; all my 1911-style handguns, shotguns, and ARs have as many ambidextrous controls as possible to help them out.
Tokarev designed the TT-12 Pro shotgun to have ambidextrous controls, including an ambi safety, magazine release, and bolt release. Not only that, but the side charging handle is reversible in seconds and can be swapped from the left to the right. No tools are needed to do this. Simply pull the charging handle out and push it into the slot on the side where you want to mount it.
M-LOK & Picatinny Handguard
The handguard design of the new TT-12 Pro shotgun differs significantly from that of the original TT-12 shotgun. The original design featured M-LOK slots on the side of the handguard, a QD mount, and a small Picatinny rail section on top at the end of the shotgun.
The new handguard moved the M-LOK slots from the sides to only underneath. The handguard was redesigned with two Picatinny-style mounting locations on the sides, each with QD mounting holes. The top Picatinny rail section at the end of the handguard still exists, but the primary rail extends slightly beyond the original design. This redesign added a little extra weight to the Pro shotgun compared to the original model.
AR Compatible Stock and Grip
One of the best features of the TT-12 Pro shotgun is the compatibility with AR stocks and grips. The fixed stock that comes on the gun won’t fit every shooter who picks up this shotgun, as it is unnaturally long for some shooters. With a few screws removed from the factory stock, it comes off easily, revealing a 6-position buffer tube underneath.
Now, you can attach any AR-compatible butt stock to the Pro shotgun. The factory grip is also easily replaceable with an AR-style grip. These are affordable, budget-friendly upgrades you can make to customize the gun to you.
MKA/T‑1919 Magazine Compatible
When it comes to magazine-fed shotguns, some have proprietary magazines, while others share a common platform. The Tokarev TT-12 Pro uses the MKA/T-1919 magazine platform, which is the industry standard for 12-gauge AR-style shotguns. While the gun ships with the 5-round magazine, other capacities are available, including 10-round and 19-round magazines.
Optic Mounting
What I love the most about magazine-fed AR-style shotguns is how simple it is to mount just about any optic. The full Picatinny rail on the TT-12 Pro is long enough to mount a red dot, a scope, or a dot-and-magnifier combo. I highly recommend using an optic with a center dot, which means a scope with a center dot, a multi-reticle style optic, or a single-dot-only optic.
The reason I recommend having a single center dot is that the shotguns I shoot are primarily used for multi-gun shooting sports and require precise shots with slug ammunition. I zero my shotguns at 50 yards with slugs and then will confirm my pattern at various distances with birdshot ammunition.
A multi-reticle optic is great for competition shooting because you can run a small center dot and MOA-style circle, allowing you to use the center dot for precise slug target shooting and then the full reticle or larger MOA circle for close-range or aerial-style targets with birdshot ammunition. I mounted the Holosun 510C on the Tokarev TT-12 Pro, an open reflex optic built for carbines, PCCs, and shotguns.
This optic has a massively wide viewing window and is equipped with a multi-reticle system that lets you use a 2 MOA dot and a 65 MOA circle together, or each option separately. It’s also equipped with the Solar Failsafe and Shake Awake technologies. The 510C also comes with an integrated QD mount with a 1.41-inch dot height, which fits the TT-12 Pro well. I have used and trusted Holosun for years because its optics can be removed and reinstalled without losing zero.
If you don’t want to remove the optic from the gun once it’s mounted, you don’t even need to do so to replace the CR2032 battery. The compartment is on the side of the optic and ships with the tool to remove the set screws that hold the tray into the side of the optic. Overall, this has been one of the best optics I have ever used, and I have 510C’s mounted to about a dozen of my long guns.
Range & Ammunition Testing
Something I have noticed about magazine-fed shotguns is they can be picky on ammunition. One of the best shotgun loads I use in all magazine-fed shotguns that never fails to run is the Federal Action Shotgun ammunition, which has a velocity of 1,235 feet per second (fps). I have found that faster-velocity ammunition runs better and cycles without issue compared to slower-velocity ammunition. The slowest ammo I tested through the TT-12 Pro shotgun is the Federal Top Gun 8-shot, which flies at 1,145 fps. The next load I tried was the Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics at 1,170 fps, followed by the faster Shooting Dynamics at 1,250 fps.
I had a slight break-in period with the TT-12 Pro and noticed that slower-velocity ammunition sometimes wouldn’t eject fast enough to clear the chamber, so the spent hull would occasionally get smashed by the bolt on the way forward. After about 40 rounds, I no longer had any ammo issues and would load magazines with mixed ammo loads, and the gun still functioned without issue.
Final Thoughts:
For an MSRP of $399, you absolutely cannot beat the price of the Tokarev TT-12 Pro for the value of the shotgun. It shoots great, is easily customizable with AR-style components, and is compatible with commonly found magazines and chokes.
Tokarev TT-12 Pro Specifications:
- Action: Semi-Auto
- Caliber: 12 Gauge – 2 3/4 – 3inch shells
- Barrel Length: 18.5 inches
- Operation: Gas-Regulated Piston
- Sights: Adjustable – Polymer AR/M4 Style BUIS with Optics Ready Picatinny Rail
- Capacity: Ships with a 5-round magazine
- Threaded: Benelli®/Mobil
- Barrel Finish: Chromate
- Overall Length: 38 inches
- Weight (Unloaded): 8.6 pounds
- Chokes Included: Cylinder, Modified, and Full, with a wrench included
- MSRP: $399.00
Looks like I missed whenever we made reliable mags for shotguns. Assuming they work reliably I guess Turkey is going to dominate this field for a while.
I use the Holosun 510C on all my AR platform rifles now, replaced every tubed dot sight I had for the rifles with the Holosun. I’ll never go back to a tubed dot sight for AR’s.
But anyway, on the Tokarev TT-12 Pro… I got one, put a Holosun 510C on it too and its a perfect choice for it.
Also had the same ejection issue you mention until it got broken in some. Mine stopped having the issue at about 60 rounds and didn’t do it again. It runs fine with any ammo brand I feed it, mixed loads no problem. After that initial break in for the ejection thing, since then I’ve put around 1,800 loads through it without a hiccup.
I’m not going to replace my Benelli M4 Tactical home defense shotguns with it. But for $360.00 I paid for it its a fairly nice and so far is a fires-when-I-pull-the-trigger-without-breaking reliable shotgun that hits the target ‘accurately’ every time. But after thinking about it I do want to change out the red stuff for black though.
The Pro model probably closed off most of the handguard to help protect the shooter’s support hand from being burned by the hot gas escaping the regulator.
I’ve seen several of these types of shotgun with heavy layers of tape or para-cord wrapped around the middle of the handguards for the same reason.
Well written good images as well.
Just FYI, pretty much every pump, autoloading, lever action or other single-barrel repeating shotgun is magazine fed. That little round tube under the barrel is a magazine.
Detachable magazine, for the pedantic.
And now for the most important question: does the manufacturer also provide the same model chambered in 20 gauge?
I know that a lot of people really like 12 gauge. And when it comes to hunting applications, 12 gauge definitely has a leg-up on 20 gauge. If we are talking about recreational shooting and self-defense, then 20 gauge definitely has a leg-up over 12 gauge.
As far as I can tell, this shotgun is optimized for recreational shooting and self-defense hence I would love to see it offered in 20 gauge.
“does the manufacturer also provide the same model chambered in 20 gauge?”
No, they only do it in 12 Ga
Best of luck with that…stick shotguns to their limited roles outside of hunting. Nobody is going to walk up on a possibly wired door and breach it…they want standoff now. Cops can’t even use lock breaches because of liability. Put shotgun away, Bro, take rifle out…rifles feed the pointy things good instead of the big blunty ones bad.
These “Deryas” are the shitty things Middle Eastern guards carry because the government won’t let them have rifles. It’s OK if they don’t run well over there because what’s practice? Same guys think elevating the rear sight makes the rifle more powerful…
The Tokarev TT-12 Pro is made in Turkey. All Turkish shotguns fail/malfunction sooner rather than later. $360 is no bargain for a Turkish disposable shotgun guaranteed to become a jam-o-matic somewhere between 0 and 500 rounds and therefore can never be trusted as a defensive firearm. Never buy a Turkish shotgun, especially an “AR inspired” semi-auto Turkish shotgun. End of story.