POTD: The Remington Model 7180 Military – Killed by a Bayonet Shortage
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a prototype Remington Model 7180 trench gun that died because the Army ran out of old bayonets. Remington started working on military shotguns in the early 1960s, and this one dates to roughly 1963 through 1965. It is a Model 1100 with a 20 and a half inch barrel, a bayonet adapter, and a heat shield punched with six rows of vent holes, which is the same look Winchester and everybody else used on World War Two trench guns. Swearengen lists it as the Model 7180 Military, the semi-automatic member of the family.
Note: You will see 7180 used online for postwar 7188s converted back to semi-auto, but this gun predates the 7188 by several years.
The bayonet is the whole story here. The Army told Remington that any military shotgun had to take the M1917 bayonet, the World War One pattern, because there were still crates of them sitting in storage and the old trench guns being pulled out for Vietnam would only accept that one. So Remington built to that spec on both the 1100 and the 870.
Then the M16 went out for general issue in 1965 wearing the new M7 bayonet, and somebody finally counted the M1917 inventory and found there were nowhere near enough. Every prototype with the old adapter got shelved. Remington swung over to the M7 pattern, and that is where you get the full auto 7188 the SEALs carried in 1967 and the 870 Mark 1 the Marines adopted in 1969. An entire development line killed by an inventory count. I would call that a very government way to end a program.
Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Vietnam War Era Prototype Remington 1100/7180 Trench Shotgun.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4097/1279/vietnam-war-era-prototype-remington-11007180-trench-shotgun. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
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