American Rifleman – September 2019

74 SEPTEMBER 2019 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN

DOPE BAG

J

ust a few years ago the shooting
community witnessed the rise
of a new commercially available
defensive platform subset: pistol-grip
“rearms” with barrels shorter than
18", chambered for shotgun shells.
Because these scatterguns’ receivers
are outtted with pistol grips at the
factory, and have an overall length
greater than 26", they do not qualify
as short-barrel shotguns (SBS) under
the National Firearms Act (NFA) of

1934. Instead, they are considered
      pistol-grip-only (PGO) rearms as
      dened by the Gun Control Act of
      1968 (GCA). This means they can be
      sold over the counter at local sporting
      goods stores without the additional

Remington V3 Tac-13

paperwork or tax stamps required to

own an SBS.

PGOs have been legal to manufac-

ture, sell and own for more than 50

years. However, they didn’t take off as

consumer products until 2017 when

Mossberg released the 14"-barreled 590

Shockwave pump-action, which was

quickly followed by the 14"-barreled

Remington Model 870 TAC-14. Although

these 12-ga. pump-actions have been

quite successful, enthusiasts have

been eager to get their hands on a

PGO with a semi-automatic action. To

meet this need, Remington released

the 13"-barreled V3 Tac-13 as part of

its 2019 lineup.

Converting some semi-automatic

shotgun designs into PGOs would

be a tricky business due to the

conguration of their gas systems

and recoil assemblies. For example,

the Mossberg 930 relies on a long

return spring contained within the

buttstock in order to cycle properly.

For this reason, the shoulder stock

cannot be traded out for the compact

Shockwave Raptor bird’s head grip.

The Remington V3 semi-automatic

mechanism, however, proved to be

ready-made for PGO conversion. The

action employs dual recoil springs and

guide rods that are wholly contained

within the aluminum receiver. This

conguration provides an even and

consistent bolt stroke while allowing

the receiver to be outtted with the

Shockwave grip, no internal modica-

tions required.

The V3 features Remington’s

dual-gas-piston Versa Max system.

This patented, self-regulating system

uses the length of the shell in the

chamber to determine the level of

gas pressure required to cycle the

action. When a softer-shooting 2¾"

shell is chambered, all eight gas

ports are exposed, allowing maximum

gas intake for reliable operation.

A 3" shell covers four of the eight

“Versaport” gas ports in order to

reduce pressure on the system.

Because the gas block is installed

at the front end of the receiver reduc-

ing the length of the barrel has no

effect on the conguration of the gas

system. Like the recoil assembly, no

internal modications to the gas sys-

tem were required in order to convert

the V3 into a PGO.

The light-prole, cylinder-bore

13" barrel is topped with a vented

sight rib and a single silver bead that

acts as the front sight. A heavy-duty

aluminum clamp secures the magazine

cap to the barrel. Both sides of this

The V3 Tac-13 features Remington’s self-regulating Versa Max system that uses the length

of the shell in the chamber to determine the level of gas pressure required to cycle the

action. This allows for reliable operation with both light 2¾" loads and 3" magnums.