Shotguns in general
I feel like shotguns should be something fun to use, however, in their current state they are anything but. They are very inconsistent, as one shot can kill 30m or so away, yet another is flat out downing someone within 10m. American shotguns are arguably the best, however, the long reload at times can let them down.
Russians and Germans only have double barrel (triple barrel in reality for the M30 Drilling), however, they are the least satisfying of all. High recoil, only 2 shots, and again, a long reload. Plus, they deal less damage than American counterparts. Yes, they are only BR I, but the Ithaca is only BR I, and is better in every aspect.
Proposal to fix (double barrel) shotguns
I’m going to use the april fools event shotgun as an example. It’s double barrel, and copies all the other traits of the tech tree shotguns, bar one (two actually).
The first is that it reloads both shells at the same time. This is something all double barrels should do. I believe it would increase the utility of them more. The main reason I don’t use even double barrels is because a - there’s only 2 shots and b - it takes a long time to reload (3.4 seconds on average). By reloading both shells at the same time, it significantly reduces reload times and brings relevance back to shotguns as a viable weapon.
The other way the april fools sawnoff diverges is through being used as a pistol. This should be enough alone to make enough of a difference between it and other tech tree shotguns. Reloading both barrels at the same time shouldn’t be an event-specific weapon trait.
Other shotguns
This is a buff that can be applied to all shotguns. Namely, just reducing the spread and damage drop off. It doesn’t have to be much, only 10 - 15%. And reducing the vertical recoil by about the same. This would increase the consistency of the shots and would make them feel more satisfying to use.
Conclusion
In short, please make all double barrels reload both barrels at the same time. That’s the most important one (and likely the one people won’t argue with the most). And if possible, reducing the vertical recoil, dispersion and damage drop off by 10 - 15%. All these “buffs” will help to make shotguns more viable and satisfying to use. Finally, shotgun engineers might be a useful addition to my loadout.