At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, like other industries, the field of domestic civilian shotgun development was also a blank. In the early 1950s, the Ministry of Public Security, the Planning Commission and the Forestry Department successively set up designated factories in Huinan, Jilin and Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, specializing in the production of shotguns and shotgun shells, of course, the purpose of producing shotguns at that time was not mainly to develop competitive sports, but for more direct economic purposes, for agricultural production to protect youth, autumn, prevent wild beasts from destroying crops, "population" grain grabs, and at the same time encourage forest areas and mountain pastoral areas to carry out hunting activities, produce skins, medicinal materials, etc., and increase local economic income.
The public security department confiscated a variety of domestic shotguns, including single-barrel, vertical double-pipe and pump-type.
The state has always attached great importance to the management of civilian shotgun production. In February 1972, the State Planning Commission issued a reply letter to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on the Management of Shotgun Production, and in December 1980, the State Planning Commission and the State Economic Commission issued a "Circular on the Production and Sale of Shotguns and Other Civilian Firearms", which clearly stated that the production of shotguns was managed by the Ministry of Forestry. In June 1984, the Ministry of Forestry issued the "Notice on the Management Measures for the Designated Production and Operation of Shotgun Ammunition", which determined that the Qiqihar Shotgun Factory in Heilongjiang Province, the Kuandian Shotgun Factory in Liaoning Province, the Agricultural and Forestry Machinery Factory in Xixia County, Henan Province, and the Huinan Shotgun Factory in Jilin Province were designated factories for the production of shotguns, and the planned production, sales and distribution of shotgun ammunition were implemented.
The "Eagle" brand QDM12-102 single-barrel shotgun produced by Qiqihar Shotgun Factory
However, with the development of the economy, the manufacturers of civilian shotguns soon broke through these fixed-point restrictions, and some manufacturers expanded their production plans at will in pursuit of economic interests, out-of-scope production, and even enterprises that did not have production qualifications also participated. As a result, a large number of civilian shotguns have been lost to society, causing serious public security risks. Therefore, in October 1998, the Ministry of Public Security began to reissue the "Manufacturing License" for civilian gun manufacturing enterprises, clarifying that the production of shotguns was under the management of the public security department. The main shotgun manufacturers retained this time are Qiqihar Shotgun Co., Ltd., Hunan Zijiang Machinery Factory, Chang'an Automobile Co., Ltd., Jilin Province Jing'an Equipment Factory, Liaoning Kuandian Shotgun Factory, and Henan Xixia Shotgun Factory.
On the left is the "Eagle" brand No. 12 vertical double shotgun, and on the right is the "Eagle" brand No. 16 flat double shotgun.
Because the civilian shotgun itself is also a special class of goods, it is not named after the stereotyped year like military guns, but has its own registered trademark, and because it is related to hunting, its naming is basically the same animal name, which is in stark contrast to the messy situation of domestic air guns and small-caliber rifles. At the same time, the domestic civilian shotgun in the early stage is mainly imitation of Soviet, imitation of German products, the later stage is mainly imitated from European and American products, often multiple manufacturers produce the same type of shotgun, if there is no brand difference, it is more difficult to distinguish.
Eagle DZ-12 semi-automatic shotgun
The most famous brands in the domestic shotgun are not the "Eagle" brand and the "Tiger Head" brand. The two brands, one north and one south, have a long production time, large output and many models, occupying most of the domestic civilian shotgun market. In particular, Heilongjiang Qiqihar Shotgun Factory, Shotgun Co., Ltd. and later the Eagle (Group) Co., Ltd., founded in 1954, is the largest private shotgun production enterprises in China, the product range is relatively complete, many models, the main production of all kinds of 12,16 caliber "Eagle" brand shotguns, including single tube open machine, single tube dark machine, flat double tube (including the rare export type Ming machine flat double), vertical double tube, chi barrel type five consecutive hair, as well as DZ series, DBJ series semi-automatic. Either way, the logo is an eagle that spreads its wings and soars.
The No. 12 "Tiger Head" brand double shotgun produced by Chang'an Machine Factory
The "Hutou" brand is a product of Chongqing Chang'an Group, an old domestic military enterprise, and is a representative work of military and civilian products. Chang'an Group was formerly known as shanghai ocean artillery bureau and Jinling arsenal, during the war of resistance moved and split merger, the name of the factory changed many times, after the founding of the people's republic of China renamed Jiangling Machine Factory, Chang'an Machine Manufacturing Factory, in 1955 began to trial production of shotguns and put into production, but the peak production period in 1980s to 1990s, its products include single tube, double tube, barrel type five-shot and semi-automatic shotgun, but also produced uFO competition guns, especially the No. 12 vertical double shotgun is the most classic, the largest output, the most widely used.
Zijiang Machinery Factory produced the No. 12 export type 1J2 five-shot shotgun
Also named after the beast is the "Tiger Head" and the "Lion" brand shotgun produced by the Jing'an Equipment Factory in Jilin Province and its predecessor Huinan Shotgun Factory. Huinan Shotgun Factory was established in 1952, before the Qiqihar Shotgun Factory. At its peak, the factory can produce 20,000 single and double barrels and five-shot shotguns per year, and the quality and performance of the "Lion" brand shotguns produced by the factory are in the forefront of domestic shotguns, but the sales surface is not as good as the "Eagle" brand and the "Tiger Head" brand. It is said that Huinan's "Lion" card has a long history with Chang'an's "Tiger Head" card. Because the initial products of the two companies are called "lion" brand, consumers are difficult to distinguish, after the coordination of the Ministry of Forestry, Chang'an products were changed to "Tiger Head" brand, while Huinan was a "male lion" brand, which solved the problem of "one mountain is difficult to tolerate two lions".
XD-16 "Squirrel" brand single-barrel shotgun outer packaging produced by Xixia Shotgun Factory
Hunan Zijiang Machinery Factory is another military enterprise that produces civilian shotguns. The plant was founded in 1965 and mainly produces anti-aircraft machine guns. The "Shendiao" brand No. 12 single-barrel, double-barrel and five-shot and four-shot foreign trade shotgun produced by the factory was once very famous in the 1990s, which was characterized by the production of several types of short shotguns in addition to the standard length shotgun, such as the 1J5 type shotgun with a front grip, a handle and a folding bracket, a 1J6 type shotgun with a pistol grip, and so on. Even for standard shotguns, the receiver finish and stock shape are different from other brand shotguns and are well recognized.
Hounds are good helpers for hunters, so the shotguns produced by the Kuandian Shotgun Factory in Liaoning Province are named after the "Hound Dog" brand. The annual production capacity of the factory reached 30,000 in its heyday, especially the KD102 type No. 16 single-barrel shotgun in China first adopted a dark machine and a double insurance structure, filling the gap of the domestic single-barrel shotgun without a dark machine. The "Hound Dog" shotgun mostly adopts a 16-gauge caliber, which is characterized by a long barrel, light weight, and good shooting intensity, which is widely praised by users.
The "Golden Deer" brand single-barrel shotgun produced by a factory in Nanjing
Compared with lions, tigers and hounds, the "Squirrel" brand sounds relatively cute. It is the brand of the shotgun factory in Xixia County, Henan Province. The factory is also a private enterprise, mainly producing No. 12 and No. 16 single-barrel shotguns, as well as No. 12 double-barrel shotguns, in addition to the production of injection guns and other special civilian firearms. Although there are not many types of products, but there are many specific models, the output is also very large, and the quality is in the middle of the brands, and in the domestic civilian shotgun, the influence may be second only to the "Eagle" brand and the "Tiger Head" brand. Also a bit of a "cute" brand is "Golden Deer". There is not much information about this kind of shotgun, only that it is produced by a machine factory in Nanjing, and the common ones are single-barrel shotguns, which were produced from the 1960s to the early 1980s, characterized by obvious prominent trademarks on the stock.
The single-barrel shotgun of the "Wheezing Dog" brand produced by Dongkou National Hardware Factory has a very rough trademark, processing and assembly.
The above is just one part of the many brands of domestic civilian shotguns. After the 1990s, many domestic manufacturers were engaged in shotgun manufacturing, some of which were beyond the range of production, some were unqualified or borrowed qualifications, and some were foreign trade OEM, so the brands in this period were particularly messy. Although some have brands, they are not fixed-point manufacturers, such as the "Wheezing Dog" brand single-barrel side folding shotgun produced by Hunan Dongkou National Hardware Factory, the trademark is a wolfhound head, with strange shape, rough production, and inferior quality. Similarly, although some brands exist in physical objects, such as "pigeon" brand and "divine leopard" brand, although it seems that they are all produced by regular manufacturers, they have not been able to find the manufacturer after many searches, and it remains to be examined.
The "Divine Leopard" brand five-shot shotgun produced by unknown manufacturers
After 1996, especially since the beginning of the new century, the state has intensified the management of civilian firearms, except for a few reserved hunting areas that can be approved by the forestry and public security departments to set up professional hunting teams for "protecting the youth", no longer allow private ownership of shotguns, and the shotguns that have been produced and sold have also been confiscated one after another, and the golden age of various shotgun manufacturers has gone with it. At present, in addition to the Eagle Group due to the production of the Type 97 series of anti-riot shotguns and still exists and has a good momentum of development, most of the other professional shotgun factories have been shut down or converted to the production of other products, and the relevant military enterprises have long stopped the production of civilian shotguns. (Thanks to Jiangsu Police Officer Zheng and Henan Police Officer Liu for providing information during the writing process of this article)