Colt Defender Mark I
Colt Defender Mark I was an American multi-barreled shotgun intended for law enforcement or military use, completed in 1967. The shotgun was essentially a volley gun with eight single-shot barrels — each chambered for the 20-gauge 3-inch magnum shell — arranged in a octagonal fashion around the central axis, and could fire eight individual times like a semi-automatic action without the complexity of actually being a semi-automatic firearm. The action ran on a revolver-like rotating striker mechanism. The gun had a detachable buttstock and a pistol grip with a double-action trigger, and had a separate foregrip up front for instinctive shooting. 

The shotgun was extremely simple to operate and very robust. The designer, Robert Hillberg, thoroughly tested the weapon before seeking out a manufacturer. The design proved to be so correct, that only a couple of minor changes were made for manufacturing. When Colt Industries was contacted, they showed considerable interest in producing the weapon, but before committing to full production they insisted on a market survey to see if there was an adequate market for the gun. Colt demonstrated the weapon to a number of departments, and all who saw it were impressed with its compactness, volume of fire and reliability. However, the national recession at that time did not allow any adoption of the weapon and by 1971 the project was over.

The weapon was composed of an aluminum alloy receiver with steel inserts and was covered in an epoxy paint finish. The final version of the weapon was available in 4 variants. The first variant was a simplified one, with no special features. The second variant incorporated a barrel selector on the rotating striker on the hammer that allowed the shooter to select any one of the eight barrels, meaning that the weapon could be loaded with a variety of ammunition and the shooter could choose the most appropriate round for the given situation. The third variant contained a receptacle for a tear gas canister among the barrels, and pressing the trigger on the foregrip allowed the shooter to spray the target with tear gas, giving him a non-lethal option. The fourth and final variant had both the barrel selector and the tear gas canister.
Q60451
multi-barreled
Concept
Q486396
shotgun
Concept
Q730016
volley gun
Concept
Q1310130
single-shot
Concept
Q487192
barrel
Concept
Q4597076
20-gauge
Concept
Q3087403
magnum
Concept
Q1763371
shell
Concept
Q5121501
octagonal fashion
UNK
Q170382
revolver
Concept
Q1412977
striker
Concept
Q909380
buttstock
Concept
Q3493072
pistol grip
Concept
None
double-action trigger
UNK
Q4108129
foregrip
UNK
Q1206524
instinctive shooting
UNK
Q7345512
Robert Hillberg
PER
Q745019
Colt Industries
ORG
Q190512
tear gas
Concept
Q911881
non-lethal
Concept
Q5149402
Colt Defender Mark I
MISC
1967-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1967
DATE
1971-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1971
DATE
+20^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
20
NUMBER
+3^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
3
NUMBER
+4^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
4
NUMBER
subclass of
designed by
part of