M1897 Trench Gun

The M1897 Trenchgun was the first shotgun officially adopted by the United States Military en masse. It is a 12 or 16 gauge pump action shotgun.

History
The M1897 Trenchgun was a short version of its civilian counterpart. The main differences include a shorter barrel, and the addition of a bayonet lug. This weapon was so effective in the trench warfare of the First World War that the German High Command tried to have it outlawed in vain due to its tremendous power. The M1897 trench gun saw limited use during the Second World War, generally used by the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific, playing a decisive role in close quarters combat. In an interesting note was that the hammerless Winchester Model 1912 shotgun (or M12 shotgun) was more commonly used than the older M1897 shotgun, almost 80,000 Winchester M12 shotgun were deployed to the Marines, Air force and Military Police. It is still in the Air Force weapons file, though its prevalence is miniscule at best.

Call of Duty 2
The M1897 trench gun is usable by everyone, can carry six shells in its magazine and it packs a major wallop at close or medium range, often killing the target in one shot. Accuracy isn't a problem with this weapon, since the buckshot spread is pretty tight, even when you're hip-firing. Since you don't need to worry about accuracy, don't bother with the iron sights, except possibly in hardcore matches/harder difficulties. Even if a target survives, he should be seriously wounded; enough for either your pistol or a teammate to finish him off.

Its only flaw is the slow pumping action after each shot. Make sure that you feel confident about one shot killing your target before you fire, because your target might kill you if he survives and opens fire while you're still pumping.

Call of Duty 3
The Trenchgun once again holds six shells and is used by the Americans in the campaign and the Americans and the Germans in multiplayer. In campaign, it is mostly seen used by Leroy Huxley as his most commonly used weapon. It is only during the missions Night Drop and The Forest where it can be found in a bunker, and it can be used at the beginning of the level Hostage. In multiplayer it is used by the player that selects the medic class. Like in other games it is best used at close range to medium range. It is less accurate than in other games so aiming down sights is helpful as it reduces spread. It is mostly used on close quarters maps, in building, or by people guarding the objective in the game as most maps have the objective inside a building.

Multiplayer
The Trenchgun is a pump-action shotgun capable of one shot kills at close quarters. Though not as deadly as the Double-Barreled Shotgun in face to face combat it provides more accuracy, range, and ammo than its counterpart.

It has a reduced 1-shot-kill range in comparison to the shotguns from Call of Duty 4, and is only effective at very close range. Steady Aim decreases the spread and can be very effective for increasing the range of the weapon. Stopping Power can be used to further increase the range by increasing the damage done by each pellet, thus, fewer pellets have to hit the enemy for a kill. The Trenchgun, like its counterpart is best fired from the hip rather than aiming down the sights. Using Sleight of Hand as a tier two perk reduces the amount of time it takes to reload the gun. Using Double Tap with the Trench Gun reduces the amount of time you pump the shotgun, giving you a faster rate of fire.

For stealthiness, this gun can be combined with a bayonet as the attachment, Camouflage as the tier two perk and Extreme Conditioning or Dead Silence as their tier 3 perk. Many favor Juggernaut over Camouflage because if you're stuck in a reloading situation, it takes more bullets for an enemy to kill you.

Nazi Zombies
This gun is often used in Nazi Zombies due to its high power, and better ammo capacity and pellet spread than the Double-Barreled Shotgun. It has a longer reload time because of the individual shells being inserted into the chamber. It's biggest disadvantage is the reload time, and, after round nine, it looses it's one-shot kill ability. A player wielding the Trenchgun is a Hellhound's worst nightmare. Against the Hellhounds it is always a one hit kill, even up past the 300th round. In Der Riese, the Trench Gun can be upgraded to the Gut Shot via the Pack-a-Punch Machine, giving it more power, a capacity of 10, and causing it to reload 2 rounds at a time. The Gut Shot focuses the pellets into a closer proximity increasing the stopping power. An excellent backup close range weapon to have.

Trivia

 * The M1897 is the only shotgun in the game that can attach a bayonet.
 * Only in Call of Duty 3 is the Trenchgun reloaded properly; after loading the 5th shell, the player's character pumps the gun to give room for the 6th shell.
 * In the PS2 version of Call of Duty 3, AI (most notably Huxley), will not pump the shotgun after firing, instead, they will stop for a second (like a cooldown).
 * Attaching a bayonet on the Trenchgun and getting kills with it will not count towards the weapon dossier on CallofDuty.com.
 * In the Call of Duty: World at War's campaign, close range headshots with the Trenchgun can decapitate enemies, blowing up their heads entirely.