Shooting the Techno Arms MAG-7 (properly!)

A while back I filmed some shooting with a Techno Arms MAG-7 shotgun in the US. It had been set up in the American non-NFA configuration, with a terrible wooden stock and long barrel, and I had not been able to find the appropriate mid-length shells for it. Well, on a trip to South Africa I had a chance to try shooting another MAG-7 in the proper intended configuration and with actual Techno Arms ammunition.

It was much better this way, not surprisingly! The metal folding stock is still pretty poor, but the recoil from the shells was lighter than I expected (enough so that I am a bit dubious of its actual terminal effectiveness). It ran reliably, which was nice, although the really annoying problem of slamming the tip of your trigger finger into the pump handle remained! My host managed to do that not once but twice, and was suffering from it well into the next day.

So…it you can get (or make) the specialty ammo and are willing to overlook all its other warts, the MAG-7 is not the worst choice you could make in shotguns. I will still stick to a proper Mossberg or 870, though.

26 Comments

  1. This is first time I see magazine in shotgun inserted thru grip. What kind is that ammo? It does not look like standard 12 gauge.

      • To allow some comparison: in terms of volume 18.5 mm (that is 12 gauge bore diameter) cylinder of 60 mm is equivalent to 16.8 mm (that is 16 gauge bore diameter) cylinder of ~73 mm length and equivalent to 15.6 mm (that is 20 gauge bore diameter) cylinder of ~84 mm length.
        First one (~73 mm) is roughly half between 2.75 inch and 3.00 inch, so depending on what you choose, it might be said that, in term of shot in one shotshell in 12 gauge 60 mm is similar to either 16 gauge 2.75″ or 16 gauge 3.00″.

        • Good comparison. I had shot I past mostly heavier bird shots from standard length 12gauge; it is enough to handle in repeated use. Once I tried 12gauge magnum buck shot – it was not enjoyable. This in contrary looks like acceptable for most shooters.

          • “12gauge magnum buck shot”
            Nonetheless, trend for longer 12 gauge can be observed, with 12 gauge of 89 mm length (or 3.5″ in imperial), see for example Benelli Supernova.

    • “inserted thru grip”
      And for size comparison 12 gauge 60 mm is roughly 2 x fatter and 2 x longer than 9×19 Parabellum – just try to imagine such grip, which would allow 4 single-stack 9×19 magazines glued together.

      • Except not, because magazine walls are a lot thicker than you’d think. It really isn’t that bad. It would be a lot worse if this had violent recoil, but it’s real soft, possibly even softer than a 20g.

    • I think the big dopey dog in the background is a South African Ridgeback. A breed renowned for its abilities to sleep soundly in front of the fire and fart noxiously all through dinner.

    • The South African ridgeback must be the lazy distant cousin of the Rhodesian ridgeback, which will bite your head off and shit down your neck if you mess with its humans, lol.

      • I would hope any ridgeback would just sit sniffing and breaking wind while many guns are going bang, just as long as it thinks the other ones ones making loud noises are friendly.

        I wonder if it thought there’d be small and dead things to bring back after the shooting stopped?

  2. It doesn’t seem too difficult to cut down standard 12 ga shells and reload to make the correct ammo for one.

    • “Roamer” is a formidable weapon. If used against dangerous wildlife it would come down to ability of repeat shot. I estimated it takes about 10 seconds – bit too close to comfort. Of course first shot distance plays important role.

  3. The Centurion 2.00″ buckshot loads, and the still available Nobelsport Minibuck 2.25″ shells will run in the MAG7. The Herters 2.50″ shells from Cabelas are a bit long though. Aguila minishells are too short to function properly. There are a few other small outfits loading 2.00″ shells such as Warwolf Ordnance and Nitro Company.

    • NSI runs excellently through mine. I tried some 2 inch shells from Polywad (came with the gun, seems to be custom ammo) and found them to be barely better than Aguilas.

  4. So, let me get this straight. The MAG-7 can work well if it is properly maintained, fed proper ammunition, and if it hasn’t been altered in ways that do not take the original design as a whole assembly into consideration. This sounds eerily similar to what nearly killed off the M-16, where bureaucrats decided to cheap out on ammunition and NOT issue cleaning kits… And don’t get started on the Luger pistol jamming in mud, for it actually doesn’t do that if you’re not stupid enough to throw mud into the chamber first.

    • “(…)if it hasn’t been altered in ways that do not take the original design as a whole assembly into consideration(…)”
      Which was caused by… lets call it specific requirements of U.S. market, take for example that Anteater (2nd photo from top): http://www.gunbuilds.com/PPS/aurora.html
      What is a point of shroud if it actually do not shroud? Also how is muzzle compensator supposed to work if it is not at muzzle?

  5. Ian speaks of “the really annoying problem of slamming the tip of your trigger finger into the pump handle” and then says he will probably stick to a Mossberg or (Remington) 870. Haha! Pumping an 870 can leave you bloody! My dad was used to shooting a Model 12 Winchester, which like the Mossberg has the magazine tube extending forward of the fore end, and not ending at the barrel band which is where it will squeeze the hell out of your finger if you let it rest past the front of the slide when slamming it forward… and you have long arms. I don’t know why Remington has never fixed this design problem.

  6. I’ve seen Ian handle the recoil from a 4 gauge and a handheld 20mm cannon. I think we have different ideas on what “acceptable recoil” is.

  7. Hello
    it is possible to get an exact picture of the shaft of the mag7.
    With some dimensions, so that a copy is possible.

    best greetings from Switzerland

    • Hallo Tobi
      Ich habe den Holzschaft der MAG7M1. Würde den evtl. verkaufen.
      Oder hast du den Klappschaft gemeint?

  8. Hello
    Another Swissguy is looking for the metal shaft in this video.
    Does anybody know the manufacturer?
    regards Hans

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