Les Jones

Whacky Clandestine Shotguns

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 | Guns |

Colt Defender and Winchester Liberator - compact, multi-barrelled shotguns designed for spooks by Robert Hillberg.

The Colt Defender was the logical successor to Hillberg’s earlier liberator gun. With the war in Southeast Asia winding down, Hillberg sought to design a weapon that would have appeal to other purchasers - primarily law enforcement agencies. Hillberg believed his initial concept was sound, but sought to increase its versatility. The final design was completed in 1967. In designing the new gun, Hillberg reverted to the 20 gauge 3 inch magnum. He felt that this gave a more compact and easily controlled weapon with nearly identical hit potential and lethality to the 12 gauge. The new weapon was nothing if not visually impressive. Eight 12 inch barrels were joined together around a central axis. The gun possessed the familiar pistol grip revolver action mechanism with a second forward pistol grip for instinctive shooting. Overall length was 17.75 inches with a weight of 8.6 pounds. 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 four configurations: One version contained a receptacle for a canister of tear gas between the barrels. Pressing the trigger on the foregrip allowed the shooter to spray the target with teargas, giving him a non-lethal option. Another version incorporated a barrel selector on the rotating striker on the hammer. This allowed the shooter to select any one of the eight barrel. This meant that the weapon could be loaded with a variety of ammunition and the shooter could select which round was most appropriate for the situation in question. A third variant include both features, and the fourth had neither.

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