Thursday, March 28th, 2024

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These are not your granddaddy’s shotguns


Have you been wanting a shotgun for a while, but Walnut and Blued-steel aren’t your thing? Maybe you think a traditional shotgun looks Fuddy. Or you don’t want to mess up the feng-shui of your gun safe?

Yeah, I get it.

I have always viewed shotguns as a tool that you borrow from your friendly neighbor or friend. Want a day at the range busting clays? Call up Mike next door and ask to borrow his shotgun. Or call up a friend and suggest a range day. Tell him to bring his shotgun.

For the cost of a few boxes of shot shells, you guys will have a great time and sore shoulders… but what YOU won’t have is a tired looking shotgun on your wall that looks like it belongs in the Magnificent Seven, funking up the look of the “Operator Corner” in your mancave.

Perhaps you have more practical reasons for not wanting a typical shotgun. Limited capacity. Lengthy reloads. Narrow choices for sighting. Constrained or no optics options.

Shotguns of the FUTURE… Future… future!

If any of the reasons above have kept you from getting a typical shotgun… let me introduce you to two amazing, all black, SEMI-AUTOMATIC, Magazine Fed, Picatinny-railed shotguns. One is for the AR lovers… the other, for those that like the Futuristic Space-gun looking Bullpups.

I personally love Bullpups. I even converted an AKM that I had, to a bullpup. That was a fun gun to shoot. So ever since I knew about the VRBP100 (BP for Bullpup) Shotgun, I wanted to get my hands on one.

Before I asked to try out the VRBP100, I watched and read other reviews on it. One point I saw mentioned in more than one review, was the VRBP100 has a hard recoil. One reviewer specifically said, harder than the VR80.

I am sure you can see where this is going…
Wondering if this was true, I asked Armscor if I could try out both shotguns at the same time, so I could shoot them, literally, one right after the other. I am not scared of recoil, or sensitive. Moreover, I don’t have much of a flinch reaction to recoil, so I was curious what the difference (if any) was.

Now, as my “about the author” blurb alludes to below, I have some old school science nerd in me. And the quickest thing that gets my spidey(nerd) senses going, is someone saying the laws of physics doesn’t hold up under similar circumstances. i.e., The exact same shell, in exactly the same length barrel, producing two different levels of felt recoil.

Both Isaac Newton and I would disagree with that.

The physics behind felt recoil are everything Isaac Newton and his laws of physics are all about. Newton’s third law states that for every action (a fired bullet leaving a barrel) there is an equal and opposite reaction (recoil). His second law describes how the velocity of an object changes when it is subjected to an external force. Such as gunpowder, in a barrel, launching a bullet.

Momentum is conserved

The instant BEFORE a shotgun is shot, the gun and the shot pellets are both unmoving or “at rest”. After the gun is shot, the pellets + wad + remaining powder + gasses goes out the barrel forward and the shotgun goes backward.

This is their momentum, which is Mass x Velocity. The velocity of the shot is high, but their mass is small compared to the mass of the gun. The velocity of the gun is low, since it has much more mass. Regardless, the forces forward and backward have to equal and cancel each other out.

What that means is, when someone gets shot with a shotgun, they are NOT going to fly back 8 feet and land, dead on their backs with a thud like in a movie, if the shooter didn’t do the same.

The three things that make up recoil are how much shot goes out the barrel, the velocity of that shot and the weight of the gun. Increasing the amount of shot or increasing the fps causes the recoil to increase. Increase the weight of the shotgun and the felt recoil decreases.

There is less than a pound difference in weight between the VRBP100 and VR80 shotguns. And they both have 20” barrels. Thus the recoil should be close.

I wish I had a chronograph to test the fps out, because that really could put a nail in that coffin. (If someone wants to loan me one that would be awesome) Instead, I have to use the rated fps.

The VRBP100 weighs appr 8.6lb loaded (5 round mag). The VR80 weighs appr 9lb. A negligible difference.

I was primarily shooting Fiocchi 12Ga 2.75″ shells, #7.5 Lead 1.25 oz Shot at Champion Orange dome clay pigeons tossed from an electronic thrower that was ‘pretty darn consistent’, grouping the landed clays in a relatively small area downrange. Therefore, my firing arc was similar for each shot.

Calculating the kinetic energy and the conservation of momentum, you should feel approximately 28 FPE (foot pounds of energy) from the VRBP100. And 26.8 FPE from the VR80.

A negligible 1-1.5 FPE difference.

No felt recoil difference

And in line with that calculation, after shooting more than 300 shells out of both on the trap range, I can tell you, there is no difference in recoil between the two. I didn’t just shoot one gun and then the other. I shot one and put it down and shot the other immediately after. Then I would do a few shots, and switch, and so on.

However, for this study to be accurately represented, I should say:
“There is no “significant” difference in actual recoil, (at 4.3%) however, certain people may PERCEIVE a greater difference in FELT recoil between the two, if they are recoil sensitive.”

Here is why.

Negligible as it may be, 1-1.5 FPE still… exists. And some people have stronger senses than others.

So, if the people testing these guns, didn’t test them literally one right after the other, and their senses are stronger for something like recoil, they may have amplified the memory of that differential in FPE between the two. Especially, if firing the VRBP100 last.

The next reason, and I what I think is most important and the likely cause of the felt recoil being higher on the Bullpup shotgun, is just that… it is a Bullpup.

The VRBP100 Bullpup is only 32 inches in length. The VR80 is 40 inches. That 8” can be thought of as two different length torque wrenches. Torque is force, applied at a distance from a point of rotation. When the energy (blast) comes out of the VR80, 8 inches farther away, it is possible that a greater proportion of that force could be applied upward, [barrel rise] which would reduce the felt recoil on the VR80.

Conversely, one of the main reasons to have a Bullpup, is when you fire it, you can control barrel rise better. Your arms make a completely different structure with the Bullpup vs the VR80, so you are directing nearly 100% of the recoil energy back into your shoulder, as opposed to possibly “giving up” some recoil energy, with barrel rise on the VR80.

The C-Clamp Grip

Let’s say you lose 15% recoil through barrel rise on the VR80. Suddenly that 26.8 FPE becomes just a bit over 22 FPE, and now the spread between the two shotguns becomes nearly five and a half foot pounds of energy difference. Definitely more noticeable.

Since the VR80 is like an AR, I C-Clamped (grip) the barrel, which potentially prevented barrel rise while shooting, and kept the recoils similar for me.

Hard hitting review, not so hard hitting shotgun

So… can you expect to feel more recoil from the VRBP100 than the VR80? Maybe… Maybe not. I can’t really say what your experience will be. Other reviewers say yes. Newton says (mostly) no. And I say definitely no.

Paul Harrell Explaining Things

Conclusion? I wouldn’t worry about it. I would buy the one you want and not worry about recoil. Isaac Newton says you will feel the same recoil on any 20” 12 ga shotgun, shooting the same shells.

And don’t bother with reduced recoil shot shell loads, Paul Harrell recently tested both reduced recoil 00 Buckshot and #4 Buckshot, and his takeaways are, you are giving away performance (as I showed with the math above) for the reduced recoil. In addition, he believes the only benefit are to ‘recoil sensitive’ persons, or people concerned with over-penetration in personal protection situations.

Fun Futuristic Guns

I took a good bit of article space addressing this issue, because I felt it unfairly put the VRBP100 in a bad light. Like it was an uncontrollable and not very fun to shoot shotgun.

That’s very far from the truth. Not only is it fun to shoot… it is a good way to make friends on the range. It is VERY obvious you are not hoisting a Benelli or Winchester shotgun up. That gets everyone’s attention immediately when you are blasting away with an Alien-Ray-Gun.

Then, with the majority of the shotgun weight within the circle of your arms reach, you are able to control the arc of rotation better, allowing you to hit your target easier, and sooner. It has been a while since I had shot clays, so I was rusty, but I was hitting enough, consistently for it to be noticeable.

I had others on the range come up and chat me up about what I was shooting. And like I do for my review guns, I let them shoot a few rounds from both shotguns and gathered their opinions.

Nobody complained about recoil. Everyone liked their looks and everyone was impressed with follow-up shots, shooting semi-automatic.

Both shotguns worked flawlessly. No malfunctions over hundreds of rounds, and with different brands of ammo. They ate what I fed them, voraciously. I did make sure to follow suggested break-in with both, and used the recommended shot shells for the break-in. Definitely an A+ for reliability.

Sights set on the future

Since these are shotguns ‘of the future’… a full length Picatinny rail is on top of both. Allowing you to mount everything from BUIS (backup Iron Sights) to a Red dot, Holo dot, or Scope. Both shotguns come with Front and Rear Flip Up BUIS.

VRBP100 – Cheek Weld and Rear QD Mount

The VRBP100 has a cheek weld that can be moved up, if you have an optic with a tall base. However, I found the lowest/flush setting to be best for everything I tried on it.

The VR80 has small pic rails on the sides at the end of an AR style M-Lok handguard and near the receiver, for accessories, such as a tactical light or laser. The VRBP100 has a 5 inch 45° rail to the right near the end of the handguard.

A scope is not that good of an idea, unless it has a great ‘exit pupil’ and a heck of a long eye relief. *Said from experience, haha. What can I say… I’m dedicated and I had to try all the above options and see how well they worked on this shotgun.

My favorite of course, was the holo dot sight. It was very easy to dial in my lead when shooting the clays with a holo dot, and it had a great aperture for effortless sighting with both eyes open.

I actually used an inexpensive holo dot Chinese optic that I was reviewing from DB Tac on Amazon, for a future article on “What do you gain from paying 10x more for an Optic”.

I was interested in brutalizing it, to see if it would handle hard recoil and maintain zero. It definitely needed some Blue Loctite to stay tight, I tried with and without. Nevertheless, it took all the punishment and stayed zeroed for the whole shooting session, once I had it locked in place.

The red dot I tried was the DB Tac 1×30 Red-Blue-Green dot. It also took the punishment. However, I am not a red dot kinda person. Holo dot is my favorite.

I tried DB Tac’s 4×32 scope… which is a bad idea. Not enough eye relief and I felt the optic graze my eyebrows on recoil a couple times. I moved my eye back, narrowing my field of view for a few more shots, because I did want to test what the VRBP100 and the VR80 would do at distance. *The scope handled the shock of recoil just fine, keeping zero, but it’s not suited to be used safely on strong recoil.

I was shooting Federal 2-¾” 1oz Rifled Slugs, 1610fps. If you remember our conversation earlier, the velocity is up, but the weight is down, so the recoil is close to the same with less than 1 FPE difference between the slug and the shot.

My grouping at 50 yards was 2.2 inches with the VRBP100 and 2.5 inches with the VR80. That is probably close to the shotgun’s accuracy level, since the 4x optic gave me a pretty close view of the target, and I was on a bench.

Bear in mind, this was just after the Armscor suggested break-in period of 50 rounds. It is likely that will tighten up a bit after some more shots are taken. I would have gone back to the 50 yard after shooting the clays, but the RSO was eager to leave, I was the only one left, and I like to stay on his good side.

Armscor used to have a longer break-in. I’m not sure if this abridged break-in now, is because testing shows there’s nothing much to gain after 50, or if the longer break-in put people off.

The difference between the two was either break-in, or barrel sway, since I had more barrel in front of me with the VR80. I also only shot one brand and one box of slugs, and firearms always have favorite ammo they shoot best with, so there is possibly greater accuracy with different ammo, and after a longer break-in.

All choked up

I am also not familiar with chokes yet, but I’ve read that I can get a better choke for slugs than the Improved Cylinder. It looks like the book, “The Mysteries of Shotgun Patterns by George Obergefell and Charles Thompson (1957)” will be in my future. I will be researching chokes more, later.

Both the VR80 and the VRBP100 come with 3 chokes, Full, Modified and Improved Cylinder, and they are Beretta/Benelli Mobil chokes, so you plenty of aftermarket chokes to choose from. The chokes come in a nice, small black case, with RIA Imports stamped on the top. Like a mini gun case.

Both shotguns come with the ‘3-mark’ Modified chokes installed. The remaining two are in the case, along with a choke wrench. The choke case will hold up to 6 chokes, so there’s room for 4 more in there.

They also both come with light and heavy gas pistons to match the load you are firing.

Magazine fed shotguns!

The VRBP100 and VR80 use box magazines! That is the primary reason I was interested in them both. They come with two 5-round box magazines. And they both use the same type of magazine. The VR magazines also work in the two other shotguns that RIA sells, the VR60 and the soon to be available VRPA40.

The VR80 is more like a flat-top M4 Rifle. The VR60 looks more like the classic M16, and the VRPA40, has a standard shotgun rifle style grip and stock, but still uses the VR magazines. The VRPA40 however is not semi-auto, it’s a pump-style magazine fed shotgun.

You are not limited to 5 rounds, which is ALSO the primary reason I was interested in these shotguns. There is also a 9 round and a NINETEEN round magazine. Yep, 19 shotgun shells. With one in the chamber, that’s 6 rounds, 10 rounds and 20 rounds of fun.

However, the 19 round mag, isn’t THAT fun. It is kind of a kludge. It’s nearly half the length of the VR80 at (coincidentally) 19 inches. It weighs 2 lb unloaded… and loaded it is 3.8lb. That is a lot of weight to be slung under your shotgun. It also feels in the way on the Bullpup shotgun, since the magazine is closer to your body.

I shot it once from each gun, and then set it to the side, preferring the 9 round mags. They are the sweet spot. Giving you 10 total rounds with ‘one in the hole’.

There is an aftermarket 20 round drum magazine, which takes care of the unwieldy length of the 19rd box mag. But I don’t trust drum mags, so I’ll probably never try it out. The manufacturer swears by them, so my feelings on drum mags are just an opinion. At $140, it’s not a very tempting purchase for me, just to see what it’s like.

The magazines easily drop free, so you can do the whole, Operator-mag-drop and quick tactical reload. A bandolier belt would be perfect for these shotguns.

If you are not trying to emulate tacti-cool reloads, grabbing the magazine on the VRBP100 places your thumb in the perfect position to hit the oversized mag release. On the VR80, your trigger finger will find the mag release where you expect it from other AR’s.

Spent shell ejection was aggressive, somewhere around 6 – 8ft at a 3 o’clock position.

With the shotguns using magazines, and having a friend load the magazines up, my clay shooting was non-stop for a few hours. As I mentioned before, magazine fed and high capacity was the primary reason I was interested in these shotguns.

Mag dumps are HELLA FUN with these shotguns. With the non-existent barrel rise of the Bullpup, I turned the paper targets to confetti in seconds with the 9 round mags. You are able to launch pellets downrange as fast as you can pull the trigger.

With the VR80, you have to add a tick to keep the shots on top of each other, but it is still impressively fast. Only a pro-gunner could match you with a pump shotgun.

The only downside to this was the impressive bruise I got on my shoulder trying these shotguns out for this review. Don’t let that turn you off from these shotguns though. I did shoot more than 14 boxes of 25 shells; I think it was closer to 16, not including what I let others shoot. That amount plus the box of slugs, was a lot of shots fired. I stopped counting after the 300 mark.

More AR goodness

As I mentioned before, the VR80 is like an M4/AR rifle. You can even change the stock and grip with any AR stock that fits a commercial 5-position buffer tube. The majority of grips should fit too. That was basically the first thing I did to this VR80. I took off the California compliant ‘thumbhole stock’ and I dug around in my ‘Platinum Rule’ box, found a spare grip, and cannibalized a rifle for the stock.

The VRBP100 has spacers on its integral stock to allow you to change LOP (length of pull). With my familiarity of Bullpups, I immediately took all the spacers out, making the configuration as short as possible. If you’re running a Bullpup, there’s no point in having more gun in front of you than necessary.

Removing those spacers, brings this shotgun down to a “tiny” 30-⅞” overall length. I say tiny, because remember, that is a FULL 20” barrel you got there.

The VRBP-100’s pistol grip is integral to the Bullpup housing, but it is nicely textured and has finger grooves, so it’s fine that it’s not upgradeable.

The controls on both of these shotguns are based off your AR platform, so there is very little learning curve.

On the VRBP100 the biggest difference is, the controls are BEHIND your trigger hand, since it’s a Bullpup.

Ambi safety rotates like an AR from safe to fire. An S and F on the VRBP100 with white and red dots. On the VR80, more traditional AR styling with a bullet icon. Rotation is only 45° instead of the AR 90° turn.

The VRBP100 gets an ambi mag release. Left side is more of an extended/lever style and the right hand side is an over-sized button. The VR80 just gets the over-sized right handed button.

Both shotguns have familiar AR style bolt catches, but I preferred to use the charging handles when needing to release the bolts.

The VR80 breaks down like an AR, with two takedown pins, and the top and bottom receiver pivot apart and separate, giving you access to the internals.

The VRBP100 is a bit more complicated to take down, with 17 steps for full disassembly. A bit much to cover in this article, but there is a good YouTube video detailing the steps. Be sure to download that video, because YT will be randomly deleting all things gun related starting in 2020.

Charged up

Veering away from AR-land are the charging handles. The VRBP100 has a forward mounted charging handle that sits way at the front of the handguard. And that is my one dislike on this shotgun. The fore grip area is tall, so there’s no C-Clamping grip possible. It is a Bullpup, so no magwell grip. That leaves a pretty basic, under barrel grip.

Eventually, I learned to wrap my thumb around the charging handle, but without gloves that gets painful after hundreds of rounds.

But NOT as painful as allowing your thumb to point TOWARD the charging handle, which is where your hand wants to lie, naturally. That is just a BAD idea. I had no thumbnail left after prolonged exposure to the charging handle smashing the end of my thumb from recoil.

The grip area below the charging handle isn’t sufficient to give a useful purchase. And moving your forward arm too far back to avoid the charging handle, you lose aim stability. So your thumb gravitates to being ‘right there’ in the way of the charging handle.

The charging handle is non-reciprocating. I personally would redesign it to fold forward, and provide a textured and contoured rest for your thumb while not in use.

At least the charging handle was on the left side like I like it, because it is not switchable on the Bullpup.

However, the VR80 is switchable from the right to the left. It came installed on the right side and after I changed out the grip and stock, I immediately moved it to the left. You’ll notice in the pictures, stock images it’s on the right, my pictures, on the left. I had the rubber protection nubbie on the handle in one picture, like a goob.

The VR80 charging handle is mounted directly on the bolt so it is of course reciprocating.

Getting triggered

The two shotguns have pretty average triggers. I don’t have a trigger gauge currently, but I have seen pull weights listed between 8 and 10lb on the VR80. And I can’t find a pull weight on the VRBP100.

I unfortunately cannot tell you the breakdown of the trigger on the VRBP100, because it doesn’t dry fire. And analyzing the trigger while shooting is like pouring a shot, riding in the passenger seat at the Baja 500.

The VRBP100 has a heavy, but consistent trigger, as many Bullpups do. I am not sure if there is any tuning possible. I would presume little to none with the VRBP100, since it is a Bullpup.

On the other hand, the VR80 responds well to some smoothing of parts in the sear area, with a reported 6lb pull after polishing trigger parts.

The VR80 has no Take-up; you are immediately presented with the Wall. About 2-3mm later, the hammer drops at the Break. It is not the cleanest Break with some stacking at the end. That is definitely part of the trigger action that could use some smoothing. There is some over-travel of a few mm. The reset is a forceful and loud shove against your finger.

There are a couple drop in triggers for the VR80 that I could find. However, like many replacement triggers, they do not come cheap. One that I saw was essentially half the price of the shotgun.

Since these are shotguns, I do not see the need to upgrade the triggers as a high priority. Shooting these as a whole is a violent shake of power and blast of noise, a dainty trigger seems out of place. What you want in a trigger is dependability, consistency, and repeatability and both of these shotguns have just that.

Remaining features

The V80 has a barrel shroud to protect the end of the barrel. It has a nice spiral on it, adding to the tactical look of the shotgun, by making the barrel look spiral fluted.

There is a fitted/molded piece in front of the receiver beneath the barrel, which is a nice handhold for a forward magwell grip. The front of the receiver/magwell has horizontal grooves for a better purchase using a traditional magwell grip.

The AR style handguard has 4 holes which are QD sized, yet oddly not machined to accept QD.

There is a sling mount, bolted to the front left side mini pic rail that can be switched to any of the other four mini pic rail positions. There is a sling mount at the base of the receiver to the left, where the buffer tube is.

Digging through my Platinum Rule box for the original stock, I don’t see any QD mount on it. The aftermarket collapsible stock I put on does though.

The VRBP100 has two QD mounting points, on the left side of the shotgun. One, 2/3rd the way up the shotgun at the rearward position of the charging handle. The other at the very back of the stock.

Both shotguns feature their models, small and tastefully screened on the sides along with RIA Imports.

Conclusion

I really liked these shotguns, enough to buy them both. Most of the reasons I gave at the start of this article is why I hadn’t had a shotgun for myself up to now. I prefer tactical black to walnut, and pump really isn’t my thing. I have always loved Bullpups, and that VRBP100 is one sexy Space-Gun. I think the AR-patterned VR80 is great looking too. Being magazine fed sealed the deal for me. They are both fun and awesome to shoot, and their accuracy is perfect for what I will use them for, and at the distances I will be using them.

When they are not entertaining me at the range, I will keep them readied and available at home for personal defense weapons. The 9 round mags and quick reloads have me confident that if I need them, they will be able to mount a superior defense. I will be equipping them with bright flashlights and perhaps laser sights as well, for home defense. In particular, the Bullpup will be perfect for CQB. I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood, so their use is unlikely, but insurance is insurance.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t throw a Benelli M4 in the trash if someone gave me one, but I’m not going to be spending my hard earned money on a shotgun that costs more than a used import car.

Specifications: Armscor RIA VRBP100
TYPE: Semi-Automatic, Gas-Operated
CALIBER: 12 gauge
CHAMBERED: 2 ¾” and 3” shells
CAPACITY: 5 + 1 with standard magazine, Compatible with VR mags, 9rd and 19rd
SIGHTS: Front/Rear Flip Up [BUIS] WEIGHT Empty: 7.94 lbs / Loaded: 8.82lbs (varies with shells used)
OVERALL LENGTH: 32″ (820mm)
OVERALL HEIGHT: 7″ (178mm)
OVERALL WIDTH: 2″ (51mm)
BARREL LENGTH: 20″ (508mm)
CHOKE: Beretta/Benelli Mobil Choke
STOCK: Polymer w/ Rubber Spacers to adjust LOP
FINISH: Matte Black
MSRP: $774 / Best Price: $529.99

Where to purchase:
DEGuns.net

Specifications: Armscor RIA VR80
TYPE: Semi-Automatic, Gas-Operated
CALIBER: 12 gauge
CHAMBERED: 2 ¾” and 3” shells
CAPACITY: 5 + 1 with standard magazine, Compatible with VR mags, 9rd and 19rd
SIGHTS: Front/Rear Flip Up [BUIS] WEIGHT: Empty 8.27lbs / Loaded 9.03lbs (varies with shells used)
OVERALL LENGTH: 40″ (1150mm)
OVERALL HEIGHT: 7″ (200mm)
OVERALL WIDTH: 2″ (40mm)
BARREL LENGTH: 20″ (508mm)
CHOKE: Beretta/Benelli Mobil Choke
STOCK: California Compliant Thumb Hole Stock
FINISH: Black Anodized
MSRP: $699 / Best Price: $598.99

Where to purchase:
DEGuns.net

VRBP100 Review Ratings (Based on Five Stars * * * * *)

Accuracy: * * * * *
The only clays I missed with this shotgun were the ones that I missed. Ones that were operator error. I reduced dozens of clays to rubble, easily. On paper target at 50 yards, the grouping was great for a shotgun, using rifled slugs.

Ergonomics: * * * * ½
If you love Bullpups, you will love the VRBP100. Very compact, very futuristic looking. Barely 4” longer than the Mossberg Shockwave, but you get a whopping 6” more barrel length. I would like a better foreward grip, and possibly a stock with a shapelier shoulder weld if I could tweak the body. Charging handle is a pain in the thumb.

Reliability: * * * * *
It ate what I fed it. Not one hiccup, failure to fire or failure to feed, even when mag dumping. Everything on this shotgun worked smoothly and accurately. Dependable for personal protection.

Trigger: * * * *
You give up some trigger ‘sensitivity’ on a Bullpup due to the trigger being so far in front of the action. However, this trigger is still accurate, repeatable, and tactile.

Customization: * * *
There isn’t much that can be done to this shotgun. Not that it NEEDS customizing to make it better, but that doesn’t gain it stars. It just prevents it from being less than 3. Anything you can add with a Picatinny rail is available, but that is the extent of it.

Overall: * * * *
I don’t weigh the lack of customization too hard on the overall. You don’t buy something specifically for its qualities and then ding it hard for not being able to change those qualities. The trigger and the ergonomics do weigh in on the overall though. There is never really a good compromise on Bullpup triggers due to design, but a trigger is important. And I wish the handguard was a bit better.

VR80 Review Ratings (Based on Five Stars * * * * *)

Accuracy: * * * * *
Literally the same that I said for the VRBP100. Only missed shots were operator error. At 50 yards, the grouping was great for a shotgun, using rifled slugs.

Ergonomics: * * * * *
It is basically an AR. What’s not to love? The thumbhole stock is what it is, but is easily replaceable like an AR. No dings for it, which was a legal/marketing decision. I wish the QD sized holes were milled for QD, but it is not really worth taking a half point for something you can fix for $10 on Amazon. Tactical and Tacti-cool.

Reliability: * * * * *
Also the same as the VRBP100, Not one hiccup, failure to fire or failure to feed, even when mag dumping. Everything on this shotgun worked smoothly and accurately.

Trigger: * * * * *
This shotgun gets 5 stars where the VRBP100 only gets 4. While heavy from the factory, it is accurate and repeatable. The trigger group is easy to access, and responds to polishing like an AR at which point you get a lighter and smoother trigger. There are drop in aftermarket triggers available for this shotgun, which is a plus, even if expensive.

Customization: * * * * *
Grip, stock, and accessories available like an AR. All Picatinny optics will work on this shotgun and it even has aftermarket triggers available. Definitely more customizable than a standard shotgun.

Overall: * * * * *
Everything 5 stars. This is an exceptional and ideal shotgun for me. I don’t think I would give a regular shotgun 5 stars. However, compared to the VR80, your typical shotgun cannot hold a candle to this model.

Many thanks to all of my sponsors

I would like to thank Armscor for sending me these two shotguns to try out at the same time. They also sent some Fiocchi ammo with the shotguns for the break-in period.

ConcealedCarry.com sent me a pack of their B29 Adhesive Self Defense Reactive Targets, which are the size of an average human center mass. They are sized to fit the NRA Official Silhouette Targets, or you can use them standalone like I did. They were great for making the 50-yard slug shots. However, sorta pointless for the 10 and 20 yard birdshot tests. No fault of their own, of course, shotguns do what shotguns do, shred stuff.

DB Tac on Amazon hooked me up with inexpensive optics. To their credit, the inexpensive optics held up to a heck of a lot of abuse and recoil. If they will handle 12 gauge shotguns, they definitely will handle smaller caliber rifles.

Video Media

I wanted to add some video, but with the new YouTube TOS madness, I’m not willing to have my entire 15 year old Google account deleted/frozen or lose access. I am going to wait and see if secondary accounts put your primary account in jeopardy before I go that route.

I’m also not interested in providing content for a company that treats its content providers so poorly. The alternatives aren’t great and all seem to have some sort of negative component, so I’m weighing my options for the future.

Disclaimer

Armscor / RIA Imports sent me these shotguns to test and evaluate, however, I am allowed to do my review and freely state the positives or negatives as I see fit. I did end up purchasing them after my reviews, because I was impressed with their quality, features, and accuracy.

Also Reviewed:

Remington RM380CT Micro-Pistol Review

Rock Island Armory’s TAC Ultra FS HC 9mm Pistol Review

NeoMag Magnetic Pocket Magazine Holders REVIEWED!

 


About the Author:

DarkStar (obvious pseudonym) has been an active humanitarian for the past decade, running a charity dedicated to helping the mentally challenged overcome life obstacles.

DarkStar left the corporate digital world working for Google and Chicago Tribune to seek more philanthropic pursuits, after becoming tired of helping the “elites” become richer while people were suffering.

With a degree in Computer Engineering and a background in Physics, DarkStar created and patented an Artificial Intelligence to take the place of mental health professionals and services, to help the mentally ill navigate their daily life.

An avid inventor, DarkStar hopes someday to connect with a similarly minded Angel Investor to create a company that can expand to help many more people around the world.

✌️ ɹɐʇsʞɹɐp

 

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