Pancor Jackhammer

The Pancor Jackhammer was an ill-fated design attempt by American gunsmith John Andersen. Patented in 1987, the system was essentially designed around the idea of combining the firepower of a combat shotgun with the repeating action of a machine gun or automatic rifle. The end product was a futuristic-looking weapon system for the time that never entered quantitative production or earned itself any orders of note. With the followup bankruptcy of Pancor Corporation, all company assets - including the Jackhammer prototypes - were sold off. The Mark III was the last known derivative of the Jackhammer design.

The base Jackhammer was a gas-operated system capable of full-automatic fire. A revolving 10-shot ammo-cassette would feed 12-gauge shells into the rear of the receiver. The system featured conventional iron sites and an integrated carrying handle across the top of the receiver. The barrel featured a distinct angled muzzle. The angular pistol grip was integrated into the underside of the weapon body. Weight was a reported 4.57 kilograms. Overall length was 787mm with the barrel making up 525mm of that. The firing action was selective fire - semi- or full-automatic fire modes. Rate-of-fire was an impressive 240 rounds per minute.

Reports claim that at least two working prototypes were developed and constructed. The system failed to find any real military buyers or market and thusly failed to materialize into much. In the United States, the National Firearms Act of 1934 categorized the Jackhammer as a "machine gun" due to its repeating capabilities, subsequently resulting in heavy regulation.

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Last Updated: 2/2/2010