The KS-23 has a barrel length of 510mm and an overall length of 1040 mm. One of the KS-23's unique features is its large caliber, which fires a 23mm round (6.27 imperial gauge/4 metric gauge), making the gun the largest-bore shotgun in use today. The KS-23 was exported to a few nations, namely Kazakhstan, North Korea, and Uzbekistan. The KS-23 began to see use during 1985 by the Soviet police and several MVD forces. These rejected barrels were deemed to be acceptable for the lower stress of firing slugs and less-lethal rounds, and thus were cut down in length for use as shotgun barrels.
The barrel for the KS-23 was made from 23 mm anti-aircraft gun barrels that failed the factory testing. As a result, the Soviet public corporation TsNIITochMash designed the KS-23, a pump-action 6.27 gauge shotgun, in 1971. In the 1970s, the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) needed a weapon to suppress prison riots.
