Shotgun
The Multi-shot Accessory Underbarrel Launcher, or MAUL, is a combat shotgun designed by defunct Brisbane-based company Metal Storm.[1]
Design
The MAUL is a shotgun based on Metal Storm's electronically initiated superposed-load technology. In this concept multiple projectiles, in this case of 12-gauge bore, are loaded nose to tail in a single gun barrel with propellant packed between them. Each projectile is ignited sequentially using an electrically fired primer: the electrical charge is provided by a battery.[2] The weapon fires once per trigger pull: while in effect this is semi-automatic, in strict terms it is not as no energy from firing is used to automate any part of the weapon's operating cycle. Designed to be used as either a standalone weapon or an underslung module of a combat rifle such as M4 or M16[3][4] via the use of Picatinny rail, it can also be used in a standalone configuration through the addition of a pistol grip, folding stock or both.[5]
The central module is made of carbon fiber, while the barrels are steel.[2] The resulting weapon weighs less than 800 grams (1.8 lb),.[3]
In its underslung configuration, it was boresight-aligned to the host gun's sighting system.[2]
It was intended to fire a range of loads; buckshot, slug, Door breaching slugs, and several kinds of less-lethal loads including blunt-force, electro-muscular incapacitation and frangible nose chemical and marker munitions.[3] Loads were intended to be provided in their own munition tubes, with the operator switching tubes to change ammunition type.
Metal Storm reported the first shoulder-firing of the MAUL during tests on 24 April 2009 at its test facilities in Chantilly, Virginia.[2]
Australia