M26 MASS



The M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System (MASS) is a developmental under-barrel shotgun attachment for the M16/M4 family of United States military firearms. It can also be fitted with a pistol grip and collapsible buttstock to act as a stand-alone weapon.

The M26 MASS is a militarized version of the Lightweight Shotgun System, developed by C-More Systems and manufactured by Vertu Corporation and originally marketed toward special operations forces. It attracted the interest of soldiers being deployed to Afghanistan who wanted to reduce the number of individual weapons they had to carry by using a shotgun as a rifle attachment instead of a discrete, separate weapon.

Battlefield 3
The M26 MASS is an Assault class underbarrel attachment or stand-alone weapon that is unlocked after reaching 16000 Assault score. It is a straight-pull bolt-action shotgun which is located on the left side of the weapon. The gun itself features similar iron sights to the PDW-R, P90 and Mk11 Mod 0. It can use the following types of ammunition, unlocked in this order:

An important thing to note about the M26 MASS in comparison to other shotguns, is that it is noticably more quiet and, in a hectic firefight, can be difficult for enemies to distinguish from background sounds, making it extremely useful for flanking manuevers. While not having quite as fast rate of fire as other shotguns, the MASS can still prove a handy addition when coming around corners or sneaking up on enemies. The M26 MASS is better suited for close quarters combat than the M320 BUCK. The M26 MASS fires 12 pellets/darts per Buckshot/Flechette shell, same as the MCS 870.
 * 12 Gauge Buckshot
 * 12 Gauge Frags
 * 12 Gauge Flechette
 * 12 Gauge Slugs

It should also be noted that while aiming down sights with the Underslung Rail and the M26 MASS on compatible guns, the player will use their primary weapon's iron sights or other optics attached, in addition to being able to use third-tier attachments such as the laser sight.

Trivia

 * Originally, the M26 MASS had Service Stars that could be earned, but without Efficiency and Master Dog Tags. This was later fixed by the latest patch for the game.
 * In patch 1.04 the M26 MASS was affected by a glitch in that substantially increased or decreased the damage of the weapon if a player equipped the MASS on their weapon's Underslung Rail while also using a Heavy Barrel. The glitch essentially made it so that when the MASS is fired, each pellet had the same damage of a single shot from the main weapon allowing for a potential maximum damage of 403 if used in conjunction with a G3A3 while at the same time making it so a slug round does the damage of a single assault rifle shot, making it very ineffective. This glitch grew worse when using the M26 DART. DICE had acknowledged this as an unintended feature and removed it via the 1.05 patch.