IWI has formally announced the Tavor TS12 shotgun.

I got most of the details right in my previous post, but did get the magazine situation wrong. It appears that it’s using an SRM1216-style rotating magazine to pack in those 15 shotgun shells (5 per tube). As far as I can tell, you need to manually index the next tube when you run dry (appears there’s an unlock button at the front of the trigger guard), given the location of the magazine on the handguard. This is not exactly optimal, but still looks more user-friendly than the KSG or even the SRM1216.

Alas, this rotating tube (aka, revolving cylinder) makes it illegal in MD , so don’t expect a hands-on review in the near future.

Some other things I noticed:

1. No built-in backup iron sights mentioned or obvious in the pictures. This is a bit of a shame, given how good the ones on the Tavor and X95 are.
2. The safety is cross-bolt, which is a step backwards, IMHO.
3. Not mentioned, but unless the pictures were mirrored, it’s fully ambi. Ejection ports on both sides, controls on both sides, etc.
4. The design seems to be much more one-piece than the Tavor rifles. Not a bad thing, but it explains why it’s cheaper. I could see this hitting the $1200 mark in the near future.
5. It looks like they could put together a 20rd version without too much more design work… it would make it less comfy to hold, but that might be acceptable to some people.
6. Reloading it looks like a giant PITA, which has always been a problem with tube-fed bullpup shotguns.

On the whole, it looks nice, but I’d personally prefer a 12ga version of the Tavor 7 that takes stick and drum mags. Still, I expect this to sell reasonably well for its price point.