The Remington 870 is a shotgun model that continues to influence three different generations. Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator" or Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" are partly to blame in its recent history. Because this is a shotgun with a thousand variations made to impress and designed for airsoft fun.
APS is very popular with airsofters due to the realism of its CAM shotguns, and now they are back with a new model called DOUCHEBAG which is based on the real Remington 870 "Witness Protection" model. A shotgun model that is undoubtedly a true showpiece.
CAM series
APS' CAM series is characterised by being having shotguns with a very realistic loading system. When we cock the handguard, the whole of the bolt moves back as in the real model. It uses one of the cartridges stored in the tube parallel to the barrel and inserts it into the chamber when re-cocking. The sound is shockingly realistic, and just watching how the cartridge flies off the chamber in every shot is even more realistic than any other shotgun in the market. This will make you use the net that collects the cartridges ejected. But between the realism of the loading system and the 11 BBs flying through room, who cares about such a small detail?
Remington 870 "Witness Protection"
This variant of the Remington 870 model owes its name to the US Marshals. It was born from the idea of offering the same firepower in a much smaller size, ideal to be hidden under a jacket or coat. Remember that the US Marshals are in charge of the security of the courts, the arrest of fugitives and witnesses protection.
DOUCHEBAG
This shotgun model is the most compact of the series, it lacks a stock and has the shortest barrel, at just 12.5”. The shotgun is 56 cm long, perfect as a secondary weapon to cover your back. You can load up to four cartridges in your magazine tube (bottom tube below the barrel), plus one ready in the chamber. This allows to shoot up to five times without reloading.
What really stands out in this model are the materials in which it is made and the external finishes. It has a pistol grip and a handguard made of real wood to which a wear treatment has been applied to make it more realistic. The rest of the body is made of metal and it has been treated so that it looks worn and aesthetically like wood.
Clearing rooms
Regarding our own experience with this type of APS shotguns we have seen how the BBs spread when firing, opening at 20 cm in the first 3 meters, to a full meter in diameter when they reach 18 m. This dispersion is perfect to be able to effectively clear CQB rooms, shoot at the walls to, since they bounce off, clear corners in a corridors or to cover the advance of our team. 4+1 shots of 11 BBs that can be more effective during a game than a conventional 40 mm grenade launcher. With these shotguns we can replace the traditional grenadier task in airsoft: to cover an area by faring many BBs at close range.
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How does it work?
The reloading system is somewhat complicated at first glance, it is a reloading scheme that is not the usual one and that may not be very intuitive the first time around. But once we do a successful reload, the following ones are really simple.
Although the cartridge loading is by spring latch, the cartridges are loaded with CO2. The cartridge loading sensation is extremely realistic thanks to the force in the movement of the slide and the experience of the ejection of the cartridges; coupled with the force transmitted by the CO2 propulsion.
These cartridges are single-shot, but with each shot you can shoot up to 12BBs, which in a closed room, and thanks to rebounds, can offer you endless fun. Although, from my own experience, I recommend that you only fill it with a maximum of 9BBs, so they will have much more output force and they will travel a little further.
Conclusions
Cocking it is like a siren song that won't let you get away. It is the best way to find out that APS has created a shotgun which "many" airsofters will enjoy, please note we did not say "all" airsofters, as there will always be some between the sights of the shotgun who will suffer the handiwork of this manufacturer.