I’m a child of the mid to late 1990s, especially when it comes to video games. When I was a wee lad, I worked all summer to purchase a PlayStation 1, and alongside it, I purchased Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes. That was my introduction to Duke, and I enjoyed the game enough to go in-depth into the Duke Catalog and purchase a few other discount Duke titles. These all culminated in Duke Nukem Forever, which took forever to come out, only to be disappointing. Over the decades, one thing has remained the same throughout the Duke Nukem franchise — the Duke Nukem shotgun.
Who is Duke Nukem?
Duke Nukem is a video game protagonist known mainly for being an over-the-top tough guy. He’s reminiscent of the action heroes of the 1980s. He’s buff, always wears sunglasses, drives a motorcycle, drinks beer, and womanizes. He carries big guns and has a shoot first, and asks questions later attitude. If my memory recalls, the very first Duke Nukem, a side scroller, is mad because his cable is cut during an alien invasion. He’s always been a satirical character that was never meant to be taken seriously.
He’s known for his one-liners, many of which he’s stolen from Ash, from the “Evil Dead” franchise. Duke isn’t the smartest cookie and is typically played for laughs. For many of us, he emphasizes the 1990s action hero that’s been spoofed a dozen times over. Duke faces off mostly with invading alien forces who seek to deprive him of women, cigars, and beer.
His most famous firearm is his shotgun. It’s made its way into several different Duke Nukem games, and while it’s changed bit by bit over time, it’s still always vaguely been the same gun. The pump action 12 gauge wears a pair of pistol grips — one at the rear, one forward. It’s known for its close-range killing power and is often an early upgrade and alternative to Duke’s pistol.
The Duke Nukem Shotgun in Real Life
Most video game guns are not based on real guns. Well, at least when it comes to games like Duke Nukem, which also involve shrink rays, expanders, dual rocket launchers, and more. However, one of the reasons we are talking about Duke Nukem’s shotgun today is the fact that it is based on a very real gun.
This gun was owned by a developer of Duke Nukem, who later scanned it into the famed Duke Nukem 3D. He was nice enough to tweet a picture some time back, and from there, it became part of the canon. Mike Kupari, author of excellent reads like “Trouble Walked In,” and “Sins of Her Father” inspired me to build my own Duke Nukem Shotgun.
The Duke Nukem shotgun started as a Winchester 1300 Defender model. This classic shotgun was Winchester’s answer to the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 series shotguns. It was affordable, mass-produced, and designed for a variety of applications. The Defender variant, in particular, is the tactical version with a full-length magazine tube that sits flush with the 18.5-inch barrel.
Making My Duke Nukem Shotgun
I got lucky recently that I picked up a pair of Winchester 1300s for a song. One is a Defender model with all wood furniture. After Mike Kupari gave me the idea, I knew what I had to do. In the game, Duke’s Defender is the left-hand model, but I’m not sure if a left-handed Defender existed.
The shotgun shown by the developer also featured a front and rear grip. They are either Tacstar or Choate grips or maybe a mix of the two. Either way, the style of grip seems to be discontinued. Most accessories for a gun that’s been out of production for nearly 20 years tend to be.
Every time I thought I got close to finding the right grips, they were seemingly out of stock, or the company seemed like a sketchy attempt to separate me from my cash. Midway marked them as discontinued, so I moved on. I did find a matching set from Choate, and knowing Choate made good stuff, I ordered them right away.
Since this was a shotgun of the 1990s, it, of course, had a heat shield. ATI made a universal one that looked identical. I ordered one of those to top everything off.
After reaching what had to be the deepest-placed bolt in the history of shotgun stocks, I got the Winny apart and installed my goodies. It was glorious in its silliness. All we needed was a three-point sling, and I’d be so 1980s/90s tactical it would hurt.
How does the Duke Nukem shotgun handle in real life?
Roughly, like all pistol-grip-only shotguns. Duke’s a big man, and he can take the recoil! Admittedly a gun with two pistol grips handles a lot better than a gun with a single pistol grip. You can get a solid push/pull going with the forward grip to create some excellent recoil mitigation. The problem is all the recoil goes into the hand you use to handle the forend.
It really rocks your wrist and beats you to hell. I really recommend using reduced recoil ammo with this setup. I used Federal Flitecontrol, and it’s much better than launching buckshot at 1,600 feet per second. With good tactical buckshot, I was pleasantly surprised by how well I could aim and put rounds where I wanted them.
Is it better than a stocked shotgun? Not quite. As you’d imagine, it’s not as stable. For buckshot ranges, it’s fine, but good luck with reaching out and touching a target. Reloading isn’t easy, either. You don’t have a second source of support, so your firing hand is trying to support the gun all by itself as you jam shells into it. It’s definitely an empty-it and switch to the sidearm-type weapon.
Making It Fun
I never built a shotgun from a game called Duke Nukem for it to make sense tactically. I built it for fun, so I better have some fun with it, right? So let’s have some gosh darn fun.
The fun part is using it like Duke Nukem — firing from the hip and barely caring about where your buckshot goes. I did this at close range and ensured nothing missed the berm. It was also a ton of fun to empty eight rounds of 12 gauge from the hip into a bunch of clay pigeons and watch them explode into oblivion!
Reloading? Well, Duke doesn’t reload! At least not in 3D, so it was never a problem for him. His method of bringing the shotgun up and pumping seems inefficient, but it sure looks cool, and looking cool is half the battle. I like the cloner scene, but I’m not heavily into it. This might be my first clone shotgun, even though it’s arguably more inspired than a clone.
Still, it’s fun, and I might have a new hobby to take up. What do you think? Is Duke’s shotgun for you?
