Originally developed in the 1980s, the USAS-12 takes many design cues from Maxwell Atchisson's 1970s vintage Atchisson Assault Shotgun, being a gas-operated magazine fed shotgun patterned after the M-16/AR-15 family of rifles, in particular arranging the firearm to put the barrel as close in line with the shoulder as possible to diminish felt recoil. First conceived as a military weapon, the design was subjected to slight revision with an eye on the American commercial market. Arriving on American shores in the late 80s and early 90s, the semi-auto USAS-12 soon ran face first into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, who used the wording of the National Firearms Act to have the shotgun (along with the cylinder-fed Armsel Striker-12, aka the Street Sweeper) declared a Destructive Device; while shotguns are traditionally given a pass on having a bore greater than a half-inch, this only legally applies to items "generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes", with said recognition more or less entirely hinging on the ATF's opinion on the matter. Elevation adjustable pin front and windage adjustable peep rear sights, with the former in a hooded post and the latter inside an integral carry handle, with a reversible cocking handle and ejector port cover, model and patent markings on the left side of the receiver and the model and gauge markings on the right. The handguard is ribbed and ventilated, with an AR-style trigger group and pistol grip and a fixed plastic buttstock with a ribbed rubber buttplate. Included with the lot are one drum magazine and four stick magazines.