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Wiklander SS - The United Kingdom of Antigr


Statistics (Patrol Standard Variant, Antigran Service)


Class: Shotgun

Length, Overall: 92.2cm (36.3")
Length, Barrel: 45.5cm (18")
Weight, Loaded: 3.107kg (6.85lb)
Cartridge: 12-Gauge
Breech: 3" (76.2mm)
Operation: Pump-Action Repeating
Magazine Options: 5-Round Tubular Underbarrel Magazine
Effective Range: 34 metres (37.18 Yards)
Sights: Shotgun Rail/Ghost Ring


History


The Wiklander SS was the result of army and navy specification T.33/47 for a reliable, simple, fairly cheap but effective pump-action shotgun for use by naval boarding teams, marines, air force field regiments, Special Forces, and army personnel. The specification was originally issued around the first and foremost, naval boarding teams, in March 1973. Wiklander was the only company that could produce a realistic proposition in prototype within the year-end as required by the specification, as Antigr’s internal situation was dismal at the time, in what would become the Fourth Antigran Civil War within fourteen months. Wiklander decided to make a further evolution of the Wiklander Ranger and Sporter series of pump-action repeating shotguns to produce what would become known as the Wiklander SS, simply ‘Service Shotgun’, which was in prototype stage by early October and standardized in military service the very same month.

It was rapidly produced, (Antigr being a notorious and extensive Military user of shotguns) and, after the civil war, was exported to friends of the Antigran state and saw limited sales on the civilian market alongside the Ranger and Sporter models. Its main operators, however, are still the Antigran Armed Services and Police, and it will not be retired for several decades yet, perhaps not until 2035 or even 2040 in a modernised form. It is estimated that there are about 13,450,000 in Antigran military hands, including in armouries.


Cartridge & Breech


The weapon is universally chambered for 12-Gauge in all but three variants, one in 20-Gauge and two variants in .410, and is designed, at least in 12-Gauge form, with a three-inch chamber able to accept 3" and 2¾" shotshells. (Magnum and Standard) The weapon accepts most commercially available ammunition in the calibre, a step aside from Antigr's standalone policy on such matters, and so is very versatile and universal. Of ammunition types available, shotshells, buckshot, flexible baton rounds, XREP, rubber rounds, Grenade rounds, flechettes, Brenneke & Foster rounds, stingers, screechers, zirconium-based pyrotechnic rounds ('Bragon's breath'), bird-bombs, blanks, flares, Frag-12, Breaching rounds, and slugs, the latter are very common and very destructive to a single target, especially when used with a three-and-a-half-inch magnum cartridges as in two prototypes. Like the rest of the weapon, the SS has dust and dirt grooves in the breech.


Feed, Firing, & Safety


The Safety mechanism is represented on the exterior by a sliding two-position catch, marked simply with pictograms of a bullet in white and a crossed-out bullet in deep red. It blocks trigger (but not trigger pull) and striker. A hammerless weapon, it nevertheless has a half-cock safety catch on the right of the weapon immediately between breech and magazine, a more reliable safety. The Wiklander is fired with either an immediate or pressure-point trigger, and has been seen with a two-stage trigger. Following the trend of Antigran firearms, it is usually seen with a pressure-point trigger - unusual for a shotgun - with a simple two stages, the first being used to prepare and check aim and full trigger pull for firing.


Accessories


The Wiklander does not have much provision for accessories, although military versions have a large and quite crude bayonet lug and an ability to attach such things as night-vision sights to the sight-rail, if there is one.

Figure 1. Wiklander SS Patrol Gun with bayonet lug and old-style sword-bayonet.



Construction & The Barrel


Almost all of the metal components of the weapon are of cold-forged steel. Otherwise, the furniture of the SS is almost always wooden, the odd variant being Special Forces shotguns with SCAR-esque retractable deck stocks made of mainly skeleton metal and heavy-duty plastics or other synthetics. Like many Antigran weapons, it is clear to see the reluctance to part with the likeable, handsome, and easily-obtainable wood used to construct the shotgun. The stock has a rubber-composite end cap which also acts as a recoil-absorbing buffer. The barrel, as with most of the internals, is equipped with dust and dirt machined grooves to improve reliability. The standard-fit choke is what is known in America as an 'Improved Modified', with a 635 micrometer (0.025") constriction and the unusual rifling (only within the choke), with a 1 in 36cm twist. The exterior metal surfaces of the shotgun are coated in epoxy resin to reduce wear and the same covering can sometimes be seen on the furniture.


Sights


The sights are either a simple common rail sight or a ghost-ring, with optional graphic red-dot illumination of the forward module for aided aiming.


Variants


- Patrol Standard version with 18-inch barrel
- Marine Version with 23-inch barrel. Only available with rail sight.
- Entry Not civilian-legal. 14-inch barrel with optional pistol-grip only stock.
More Variants do exist but these are minor or experimental variations and are thus not listed.

Figures 2 and 3. The two entry versions – the one without butt has an effective range of only ten or so metres because of the lack of facilities to properly aim or compensate for recoil.




Export


Although the no-DMR rule still applies, an exception has been made in Antigr's strict weapon export policy and this shotgun is available for full export. This is available, for export, only in 12-gauge.

The standard weapon itself is USD380 per, the Marine fifteen dollars more and the entry, stock or no stock, fifteen dollars less.