The Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun-12 (named SPSA-14 in-game) is a dual-mode tactical shotgun (capable of both pump action and semi-auto fire). It appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.
Background
It was designed during the 1970s as a military or law enforcement firearm made by the Luigi Franchi S.p.A. company, the company went bankrupt and is now a part of Beretta arms. It can use shot shells, slugs or dart rounds.
Appearances
Shadow of Chernobyl
The SPAS-12 is rarely found anywhere, only being used by a few Exoskeleton zombies found in Yantar and the Red Forest, as well as by Monolith elites inside the Sarcophagus. The weapon is powerful at close range, however is quite heavy. Its mass is about 4.5 kg. Unlike other shotguns in the game, the SPSA14 is semi-automatic, yet still fires slowly at the rate a pump-action shotgun shoots. The real SPAS-12 can fire up to 4 shots per second and can hold 9 shots in an 8+1 configuration, or 8 shells in the tube itself.
The SPSA14 is relatively unpopular, because other weapons like assault rifles have better damage over range, but it is still popular with some players and is generally considered as an improvement over the Sawn off double-barreled shotgun. It is a great weapon against mutants, so one might want to take one into X16 if one is found.
Note that with patch 1.0005 onwards it's no longer limited to Exoskeleon zombies in Yantar or the Red Forest. It has a greater spread and recoil and a bit less damage than the Chaser 13.
The bandit Poker has the special version with rifled barrel that is great if you use slugs.
Clear Sky
The SPAS-12 is more available in Clear Sky, it's sometimes held by Duty members and some Loners wearing Exoskeletons. It is sold by Mitay regardless of faction alignment. Alternatively, if you managed to save Sergeant Cheersov near the entrance to the Agroprom Underground from the swarms of Snorks that would come out of there, he will give you his SPSA14 with 20 extra slug rounds when you talk to him (though even if he is killed you can still pick it up without the extra ammo though you don't have a chance to get the coordinates of the rare Walker P9m pistol). It uses the same upgrades used by all combat shotguns and is surprisingly cheap to maintain and upgrade. It's by far the most reliable gun in the game, but is still heavy and only makes use of the pump-action mechanism.
Ripper Shotgun
There is a unique variant of the SPSA14 called "Ripper", a limited edition boomstick with slightly better durability compared to a stock model but cannot be upgraded, it however can be repaired. It is a quest item for a Duty stalker who needs due to it's sentimental value when he threw it at a Pseudogiant when he ran out of ammo in order to cover his squad and escape, after throwing it at the beast the Pseudogiant stopped chasing the Duty squad and proceeded to gnaw and bite the shotgun. There is a lone Pseudogiant guarding the stash containing this Shotgun. Although slightly more durable than the stock model, the fact it cannot be upgraded and isn't really any better than a regular SPAS in combat makes it better to trade it in.
Call of Pripyat
In Call of Pripyat, the SPSA-14 is readily available almost right from the start, and will likely become a mainstay weapon for the player. Of the shotguns, it is only second to the Eliminator in overall stats, and is capable of fully-automatic fire by default. It has a much better handling and rate of fire after only a few upgrades, and the punch it packs makes it just as useful for zombie or Bandit disposal as it is against mutants.
Gonta rewards the player with if one completes the Hunting the Chimera side mission and Garmata survives, and more experienced Bandits in Zaton and Jupiter will start carrying it by default once some of Beard's/Sultan's faction quests are completed.
Nimble can sell you a Carabiner – a unique variant of SPSA that comes already modified for fast fully-automatic fire, allowing the user to spend another upgrade on lower recoil or an even higher rate of fire. While heavier then the Protecta, it has the same capacity and superior handling.
Multi-chambering technique
Combat shotguns like the Chaser 13 and SPSA-14 can chamber different shot shells at a time, for example in one SPAS-12 one could load 4 shot shells, 2 Slug rounds and 2 Dart rounds. This is done by pressing the fire key during reloading and causing the player to stop reloading. Once satisfied with initial load, pressing the load different ammunition key ("Y" by default) will have the player chamber new shells once he resumes realoding. This method allows one to adapt to different situations quickly as one can rapidly switch from unarmored hunting to armor puncher in a moment's notice.
Trivia
- If looking closely at the weapon it says Benelli on the side, which is odd since the weapon is made by Franchi/Beretta arms and not Benelli.
- Like the other shotguns in this game, the SPAS-12 must be manually unloaded before you can change ammo type, since it does not use a detachable box magazine.
- Stat-wise, the SPAS is slightly inferior in every way to the Eliminator – it even deals only 51 damage as opposed to 52. It is however, much cheaper to maintain than the Eliminator.
- In reality, the SPAS-12 isn't built for the extensive combat duties like the Armsel Protecta. It was more tactically oriented as the shotgun was built to fire slug, and other special rounds with greater effectiveness. The SPAS-12 is also not capable of fully-automatic fire (where the gun will keep firing as long as you keep the trigger pressed and the gun still has ammunition), only semi-automatic fire (where the gun will fire one shot for every press of the trigger) in real life.
- For whatever reason, the SPAS-12's iron sights were properly aligned in Shadow of Chernobyl, but are misaligned in Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. All three games also operate the weapon's pump-action whenever firing a shot, which is not necessary in real life if the weapon's semi-automatic mode is selected.
- As an Italian-made shotgun, the SPAS-12's availability in the Zone (located in Eastern Europe) is somewhat suspect, given that there are several Russian-made semiautomatic shotguns that would be available "closer to home," such as the Baikal MP-153, the Vepr 12, or the Saiga series of shotguns.
Gallery
Shadow of Chernobyl
Call of Pripyat
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