Watch: Cobray Terminator 12 Gauge Shotgun

What we have here is “possibly the worst shotgun ever made,” the Cobray Terminator. It’s a 12 gauge single-shot scattergun that looks badass but is actually a poorly-designed hunk of junk.

Dealer cost on these things was about 90 bucks when they were new, and even at that price they just didn’t move — and for good reason.

It’s about as crude a system as you could devise: Cram a shell into the barrel, then when you pull the trigger the barrel and shell travel backwards until the shell hits a firing pin and goes bang. That’s right: the barrel moves back and forth while the firing pin just sits there.

If you’re wondering why the shell doesn’t fall out of the barrel when you raise the muzzle above horizontal, you’re not alone. More on that later. For now, here’s Ian’s “Forgotten Weapons” video on the Terminator.

Next, we have a cheesy review by someone who knows much less about guns than Ian, who refers to the locking lug/latch as the extractor, who flinches when he dry-fires the gun, and who clearly doesn’t believe in making fluid motions when he operates a pump shotgun. But he does show us (around the 3:45 mark) the little keeper that holds the shell in the chamber after the gun is loaded.

Apologies to the universe for his confusion when he refers to ejection as extraction, and for his ridiculous allegation that anyone would carry a Terminator “as a delf-defense weapon.” Seriously, just look at 3:45 for the shell retainer and call it done. This guy doesn’t even seem to know much about firearms.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.