So you’re wandering the aisles of your local gun store. You’re met with some of the classics: Mossbergs, Remingtons, some Berettas, maybe a few CZs if you’re a person of culture. There, you spot a 12-gauge bullpup magazine-fed shotgun. It’s only for $400 dollars! What a bargain!
Yeah, probably not. What you’re looking at is a Turkish shotgun.
What you’re looking at is of the many Turkish shotguns that have been imported en masse over the last few years. Turkish shotguns have been part of the gun industry for decades, but during COVID times, things really got crazy. Gun stores and the internet were flooded with piles and piles of inexpensive scatterguns from Turkey . Now we’re reaping what we sowed.
If you don’t believe me, go watch any of James Reeves’ TFB TV burn-downs on Turkish shotguns. Have any of them made it to 500 rounds?
Why Shotguns?
Why have Turkish shotguns become such a force? Shotguns have fewer import restrictions compared to rifles and pistols. This isn’t just in the United States, but shotguns tend to be less restricted around the world.
Turkey has low labor costs, so it can pump out shotguns rapidly. When Turkish shotguns hit the USA, they were competing with guns like the Texas-made Maverick 88, which is already incredibly affordable and known to be reliable.
To beat guns like the Maverick 88, the Turkish manufacturers began to get a little wild. This is where we saw the rise of some nutty guns, namely some of the ugliest shotguns ever made. They bullpupped them, they added carry handles for some reason, and they put rails on everywhere.
This gave birth to some truly hideos shotguns. Guns that look different and seemed to be weird enough to gather some serious fans. Who isn’t intrigued by a butt-ugly magazine-fed shotgun that looks like an AR-15? Apparently, plenty of people are, and you’ll see dozens of them in stores.
One thing you’ll notice frequently with these shotguns is that different companies will sell the same gun using different names. All those bullpup and AR-type shotguns are remarkably similar, if not identical.
In other cases, the shotguns weren’t weird, they’re feature-packed. Maybe they offered sights and an optics-ready design? Maybe they folded in half, and that’s pretty neat. Sometimes they have interesting features that make them attractive to the end user, all at a low price point. Recently, Turkenelli copies of the Benelli M4 have become the hotness, promising Benelli quality without the price.
What’s the Problem With Them?
Not all Turkish shotguns are bad…just most of them. I say this as a person who loves shotguns and who has owned — and still owns — a few of them. I’m showing four guns here because Turkish shotguns can be an absolute mess. In fact, most are a total mess. They suffer from:
- Poor quality control
- Poor materials used
- Inherent design flaws
The Turkish bargain shotgun you buy will likely shoot itself to pieces in a few hundred rounds.
A lot of the semi-autos are over-gassed. Over-gassed guns have accelerated wear. Combine that with poor materials and bad QC and you get a disaster.
An over-gassed gun with crappy QC and substandard materials will eventually chew itself to pieces. The magazines are thin, cheaply made, and are often a weak point of the design. The pump actions often suffer from loading and ejecting issues. You can also expect a poor finish and a rough-cycling action.
Some of these guns can be downright dangerous. Firing out of battery is a problem that happens enough that there are several videos online of it happening.
A lot of these Turkish shotguns might come with a lifetime warranty, so you can get your gun fixed…except that the company that imported and sold the gun has long since disappeared. Companies pimping Turkish shotguns pop up, sell a pile of them, and then evaporate. The same people are likely setting up another company to do the same thing.
Shotguns break, just like all guns can and do. I’ve broken a few Mossbergs, but when that happens, I can easily find the part and replace it. When your Turkish shotgun breaks, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find parts and pieces to fix it.
My Turkish Shotguns
I have a TriStar AR-style semi-auto 12 gauge, a Tokarev USA pump action with wood furniture, the PAF-12 from Axor Arms, and finally a .410 AR upper receiver from Charles Daly. All were made in Turkey. The Charles Daly, the Tokarev, and the PAF-12 all worked well when I bought them. The TriStar never did.
Over time, each of these guns has seen a rapid decline in performance.
- Charles Daly: The upper will often mangle rounds in the chamber, creating an issue where the bolt doesn’t fully close. It’s rarely a big gap, but it will prevent the gun from firing. No amount of jamming on the forward assist will fix it.
- PAF-12: It has issues moving rounds from the magazine tube onto the lifter. They often get stuck half in the mag tube, half on the lifter. This jams the gun and makes it a pain in the ass.
- Tokarev: The shotgun has an issue where the bolt will catch a new shell and jam it between the ejection port and bolt, preventing you from closing the action. This is only overcome by a strong press.
- TriStar: The TriStar AR abomination has always been a problem. You can use the same ammo, and one magazine will fire without a problem, but then the next magazine renders the gun into a straight-pull bolt action shotgun.
I have no problem with inexpensive guns. I have lots of them. I’m not coming at this from a place of elitism. I’m coming at this from a place of practicality.
Are There Good Turkish Shotguns?
You betcha. There are some quality options out there. What you want to look for is an established company that has been around for more than a minute. For example, Stoeger, which is owned by Beretta, makes the best Turkish semi-auto and pump-action guns in my experience.
Stoeger’s guns are well-made, practical, and designed by people who clearly know a thing or two about shotguns. Plus, if something breaks, Stoeger will take care of it for you.
Mossberg and CZ both import Turkish shotguns. Mossberg’s double guns and the SA-20 are Turkish shotguns and seem to perform admirably. CZ’s various shotguns have always been very good, and I can speak to guns like the CZ Drake being really great guns. I’ve heard good things about Winchester, but I can’t confirm that with firsthand use of the guns.
Generally, the simpler the gun, the better. Single shots are probably fine all around. Turkish double-barrels — either over/under or side-by-side — seem to be fairly well regarded on the budget market. If you’re looking for pump guns or semi-autos, though, you’ll need to be a little more picky.
What about some of the crazier guns? I’ve had an excellent experience with the Rock Island Armory VR-80 series. However, I still wouldn’t trust that gun for self-defense.
Those other AR-looking Turkish guns? My advice is to avoid them. The bullpup options? Stay away. I’d generally stick to Stoeger if I want an affordable, reliable semi-auto Turkish shotgun. On the other hand, if I want a cheap, reliable pump gun, the Maverick 88 still rules the roost.
I bought an Escort Bullpup pump 12gauge shotgun. Before I shot it I safety tested it and it would drop the hammer after cycling a round if the trigger was pulled with the safety on and then the safety was turned off. I obviously did this on an unloaded gun and an empty chamber. It was sent back and fixed at no cost, but it should never have been shipped as it was.
A late friend of mine bought one of those mossberg stack barrels made in Turkey. It never worked right. It broke every time he used it. Mossberg sent him a new one after the first new one he bought was sent back at least 3 times.
It broke the first time out.
Friend do not let friends buy turkish guns. Period.
JWM, I’m just waiting for ding-bat Deb to regal us with stories about how every Turkish gun she’s bought has been *perfect*…
Her thing is to buy brand new guns knowing they will not function out of the factory and then crow about fixing them.
Kind of proving my point about her favorites, turkish guns.
and schraeder valves. don’t forget schraeder valves.
“don’t forget schraeder valves.”
Schraeder valves and blocks of rubber behind triggers.
(I’d still love to give her a proper tounge-lashing….)
(The real Geoff PR)
From what I’ve seen, Chinese shotguns (at least the non-semis) are perfectly decent for even less than Turkstuff. Really puts how bad turkstuff is in prospective.
The Maverick 88 is made in Mexico. Despite the name in honor of Maverick County, it hasn’t been Texas-made for decades.
“The Maverick 88 is made in Mexico. Despite the name in honor of Maverick County, it hasn’t been Texas-made for decades.”
Hmmm no….
The Mossberg Maverick 88, introduced in 1988, has been and still is since it was introduced, assembled in Eagle Pass, Texas (in Maverick county), by Maverick Arms, Inc., a subsidiary of O.F. Mossberg & Sons. It uses some parts made outside the United States, for example, the the forend (pump handle) is made in Mexico. The receiver is precision-machined in Texas.
This is a common mis-conception – The Mossberg Maverick 88 has never been made in Mexico or Turkey.
Its the Mossberg International line (most of them) that is made in Turkey. These are often confused with the Mossberg Maverick 88 because of the lower price point in the area of the Mossberg International line shotguns.
The majority of the Mossberg Maverick 88 parts are produced domestically in Texas, there are two parts made outside the United States which is the barrel and forend. The barrel used to be made in USA, but since about 2014-2015 the barrels started to made in Mexico. Today the barrels are made in (I think still, as they were in the past) Torreon, Mexico as is the forend (pump handle).
Most of the major U.S. (based and organic) shotgun manufacturers (i.e. Freedom Group/Remington Outdoor Company, Kel-Tec, Legacy Sports International LLC, Beretta USA Corp, Outdoor Colors LLC, Henry RAC Holding Corp, Savage Arms, Inc, Magnum Research Inc/Israel Weapon Industries, etc…) use/used barrels made in Torreon, Mexico on some of their models either currently or in the past.
I think some of this confusion about the Maverick 88 being made in Mexico (which is isn’t) comes from that Mossberg, from Maverick Arms in Texas, ships raw steel on flatbed trucks to Torreon Mexico. The steel is used to make barrels, triggers, and bolts for Mossberg firearms and the finished product is sent back to Maverick Arms in Texas and from there used for making Mossberg firearms. The Maverick Arms plant in Texas is also Mossberg’s primary shipping and distribution center.
The Maverick 88 parts, two are made in Mexico (the barrel and forend (pump handle) – the trigger and stock is made in North Haven, Connecticut, and the rest is made in Texas. Although there have been triggers made in Torreon Mexico used in some product runs of the Maverick 88.
I’m surprised so many patriotic MAGA Americans would be willing to support the Muslim empire of Turkey, providing hard currency for the caliphate too develop their military industries.
But really it’s not that surprising, considering how many of the MAGA propaganda outlets are based in Asia and Esstern Europe.
“X’s new location transparency feature unleashes questions about origins of MAGA accounts The function, which shows that a slew of MAGA-branded accounts are apparently based outside the U.S., also stirred speculative outrage over where the Department of Homeland Security account was created.
Nov. 23, 2025, 9:20 PM EST / Updated Nov. 24, 2025, 3:36 AM EST By Angela Yang
“But as soon as the feature appeared live for users, X was flooded with viral posts showing that numerous high-engagement, MAGA-branded accounts that present themselves as those of patriotic Americans appear to instead be based overseas in Eastern Europe, Thailand, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
An account that calls itself “ULTRAMAGA 🇺🇸 TRUMP🇺🇸2028,” claiming to be based in Washington, D.C., is listed as being based in Africa. Another now-deleted account with a President Donald Trump-inspired username — “Trump Is My President” — was listed as being based in Macedonia. And an account with the username @American, complete with a profile picture featuring a bald eagle over an American flag, is apparently based in South Asia.“
Y’all been snookered once again, how sad.
So let me get this straight – because some fools create deceptive accounts on X pretending to be MAGA to push left wing propaganda to continue left wing lies that you believe it means that ‘we’ve’ been “snookered” when it was ‘MAGA’ that pointed out and uncovered these left wing propaganda fraudsters. I mean, we been pointing them out for years now and finally someone did something.
You definitely do not live in reality Miner49er.
.40 cal,
“You definitely do not live in reality Miner49er.”
MajorSkidmarks has never even visited reality. He has existed, for whatever miserable period of time it has been, entirely in a fictitious world, having conversations with his fellow Leftist/fascists and the voices in his head. As for his absurdly stupid claims that the plethora of faux-‘MAGA’ fake websites being overseas?? Even he isn’t stupid enough to believe that. He knows damn well that those are ‘false flag’, propaganda accounts, run by his fellow travelers.
“some fools create deceptive accounts“
No, it is “numerous high-engagement, MAGA-branded accounts that present themselves as those of patriotic Americans”.
Gosh, who could be financing these right wing propaganda outlets?
“MAGA Commentator Who Took Money From Russia Admitted To White House Briefing And Given First Question
Pool was one of six conservative influencers sponsored by Tenet Media, a company secretly funded by Russia.
Matias Civita / Published Apr 22 2025, 3:25 PM EDT”
Yes, perhaps you are correct, it goes far beyond snookering, MAGAs are just dupes of a foreign adversary:
“An indictment filed Wednesday alleges a media company linked to six conservative influencers — including well-known personalities Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were “often consistent” with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine.“
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/well-known-right-wing-influencers-duped-to-work-for-covert-russian-operation-u-s-prosecutors-say
Wow! Quoting PBS which we know was in the tank for Russian collusion.
But Miner49er, in your stupid haste to save your other false claim, you also missed that the indictment doesn’t actually allege any wrongdoing by these influencers. Maybe if you would read your link, and understand context and stop cherry picking and stop being confirmation biased you would have noticed this:
“The U.S. Justice Department doesn’t allege any wrongdoing by the influencers, some of whom it says were given false information about the source of the company’s funding. Instead, it accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based content creation company for Russia-friendly content.”
The indictment is about two Russian state-media producers who used fake personas to funnel $10 million into the video outlet Tenet Media, which ‘hired’ (well, not actually hired per se’ in the traditional sense, its ‘sponsoring’ deals). These influencers were victims, they didn’t know about this – it was just one of hundreds of such deals many influencers do everyday both right and left wing, when its discovered to be a bad deal the deal gets dropped and that’s exactly what these influencers did, they did the right thing when they found out they had been victimized.
So thanks for pointing out the honesty of these MAGA conservatives Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson. The honesty of these MAGA conservatives is in stark contrast to the dishonestly and criminality the left wing, including you Miner49er, have displayed in the TDS mental illness condition ya’ll have. including you Miner49er. For example, the Trump > Russia-hoax that originated in the Obama-Biden admin, with Hillary Clinton – then later the Hunter Biden laptop — that all of them lied about it, it was all made up, yet hundreds of left wing influencers and media outlets pushed it as if it was the truth and the entire left wing, including you Miner49er, were dupes of the Obama-Biden admin, with Hillary Clinton – and yet still today left wing influencers and those involved with perpetrating this lie, this crime, the attempt to unlawfully influence and rig an election with lies still try to push the hoax lie. And you ignore all this Miner49er and instead choose to use your ignorance and lack of understanding what context means to deceptively cherry pick to try to save your previous stupid post.
You definitely do not live in reality Miner49er.
You are a blessing and an asset to Trump, miner. Trump would have faded to nothing after his first term but you and your fellows kept him in the spotlight. TDS is for real. You, miner, made his second term possible. And you will make his third term possible.
And you are too damn stupid to realize this. You are a walking, talking poster child for the failure of the education system.
“And you will make his third term possible“
Amazing, you publicly confirm Donald Trump’s (and your) hatred of the American Constitution.
It is legal to change the constitution. Is that hating it?
As I said. You are too stupid to realize how much help you’re giving Trump. Does that mean you’re the one that hates the constitution?
Whatever school gave you a degree needs to be shut down. They’re doing great damage to civilization.
If you actually read the replies to those X posts, you can see most are calling out the foreign posters for their hypocrisy on pretending to be American. In fact, it was widely known before the update that most of them were South or Southeast Asian posters trying to drive engagement. Many of the supportive replies are clearly bots. Musk is still aligned with making America great again, what incentive would he have to expose those faux patriot accounts as being foreign? You also (willingly) missed that there are just as many left-wing accounts being exposed as Canadian or European. It is you who has been snookered.
Most of us dislike Turk guns, by the way. Besides being of generally poor quality and of dubious engineering/copyright, we’re very familiar with Erdogan turning Turkey into a Muslim theocracy. Turkey is a poor ally and its membership in NATO should be reevaluated. I’d buy a Kel-Tec before I bought a Turk gun.
I guess so. The point being stick with the bigger names. Stoeger uses the Benelli action and they (Beretta) have more to lose from crappy guns. Perfect? no, but they are good. Ammo matters too with semi automatics. And there is break in. If you don’t want to pay attention to these niceties, give them a miss.
Great.
I’m a neophyte. Got a RI VR60 and a VRF. Put through about 100 rds ea. Had to replace a gasket in both. Lubed them up real good. Seem to be working ok so far. But now I’m a cynic. Caveat emptor. Guess I’ll be upgrading them in the future.
name checks out.
Sariçam is a great 3 gun semi-auot Benekli M2 clone. Rock solid, use it monthly for at least 75 rounds through. Had it for over a year so do the math. 10 round extended tube, added a ghost ring sight for 3 gun. $370.