Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a shotgun that was supposed to change everything. It was marketed as the “golden gun” since its aluminum had a gold hue to it. I of course am talking about the Armalite AR17 semiautomatic shotgun. The Armalite AR17 is interesting because it was supposed to be the next home run to come out of Armalite after the AR10 and AR15. It was touted as the lightest shotgun out there and in many ways, it was since overall it weighed around five pounds. Given its lightweight, it was marketed for both hunters and competitive shooters alike. It had a two-round capacity and an adjustable choke system. These guns had a short unfortunate production run. They did not blow up or have recalls or anything traumatic like that but they were disliked very quickly. This mainly has to do with three big reasons. One, it kicked…a lot. It was light so it was plain and simply recoiled an uncomfortable amount. The second reason is that the loading process was cumbersome at best. The third is that the gun was so light that it was hard to follow through in the swing at a flying target. These were made from 1964 to 1965 with only 1200 built and sold.
Manufacturer: Armalite Inc
Model: Ar 17
Type: Shotgun
Gauge: 12
Barrel: 22 inch round
Finish: gold anodized
Stock: plastic
Lot 106: Scarce Armalite Ar-17 Semi-Automatic Shotgun. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/2056/106/scarce-armalite-ar17-semiautomatic-shotgun
