GTA 6 Moreland 850 shotgun: the maybe non-lethal pump gun

The Moreland 850 is one of the few GTA 6 weapons with a model number that breakdowns are confident enough to print. It shows up early in the Extended Look, when Jason and Lucia have to shoot their way out of a stash house raid and Jason takes the shotgun off one of the attackers he has just dropped.¹²

The coloured markers are the interesting part

During the shootout that follows, some of the hit markers over targets are yellow while others are red. GamesRadar reads that as a sign the Moreland 850 is capable of non-lethal takedowns and possibly loaded with beanbag rounds, while noting that headshots still kill.¹ That is an interpretation of on-screen colour, not something Rockstar has explained, so treat the beanbag idea as speculation until the game is out.¹

It fits a wider pattern in the presentation

Non-lethal options run through the whole Extended Look. SVG picked out Jason shooting enemies in the legs to disable them without killing them, and Engadget describes a bullet-time effect that highlights enemies with coloured overlays to help you line up a shot.⁵⁴ Whether that behaviour belongs to the weapon, the ammunition or the targeting system is exactly the thing nobody outside Rockstar can answer yet.¹⁴

Moreland is a new name

GTABase's GTA 6 database lists the Moreland 850 as a shotgun modelled on the Remington 870, a pump action design that has stood in for GTA's pump shotguns for years.³ Moreland itself is not a manufacturer players will recognise from previous Grand Theft Auto games, which fits the pattern of GTA 6 giving guns brand names and model numbers instead of generic class labels.³

What is not confirmed

• Whether the Moreland 850 actually fires beanbag or less-lethal rounds.¹
• Whether ammunition type is chosen by the player or fixed to the weapon.¹
• Damage, spread, capacity, reload speed and price. Nothing published.³
• Whether the shotgun is bought, found, or only appears in scripted fights.¹²

The colour may come from a targeting ability, not the gun

Two independent breakdowns of the Extended Look point to a different explanation for the red and yellow markers than a special ammo type. IGN's rundown describes a new purple meter under the health bar, marked with an eye icon, that powers a slow-motion focus ability similar to Red Dead Redemption 2's Dead Eye. During the final firefight, that ability highlights the most efficient parts of an enemy to shoot: red for a kill, yellow for a disarm.⁶ Eurogamer's own roundup separately describes the same slow-motion shooting moments and draws the identical Dead Eye comparison.⁷

That does not rule out the Moreland 850 firing something other than standard buckshot, but it does mean the yellow markers GamesRadar flagged could belong to Jason's aiming system rather than to the shotgun in his hands. Until Rockstar describes the weapon directly, both explanations, a less-lethal shotgun and a targeting aid that colours any weapon's hit points, remain live.⁶¹

The real Remington 870 behind the name

The pump shotgun GTABase matches the Moreland 850 to, the Remington 870, is one of the most produced firearms in American history. Remington launched it in 1950 as a cheaper, more reliable successor to its earlier Model 31, and by 1983 it already held the record as history's best-selling shotgun with three million sold; production passed ten million units in 2009.⁸ It is used by hunters, sport shooters, police departments and militaries worldwide, which is exactly the kind of ubiquity that makes a gun a default template for fictional weapons in games and films.⁸

Shotguns as a GTA weapon class

GTA's shotguns are built around the same basic idea the real 870 relies on: a smoothbore barrel firing a spread of pellets from a shell, effective at close range and forgiving of imprecise aim.⁹ The series has never settled on one shotgun; GTA Wiki's class overview lists a Pump Shotgun in nearly every game since GTA 2, a fully automatic Combat Shotgun going back to Vice City, an Assault Shotgun from The Lost and Damned, a slug-firing Heavy Shotgun added to GTA Online, and a Double Barrel Shotgun that debuted in Chinatown Wars.⁹ A named, numbered weapon like the Moreland 850 fits squarely into that tradition of the class having several distinct entries rather than one generic shotgun.⁹

GTA's shotguns already use unusual ammunition

A dedicated non-lethal round would not be unprecedented for this weapon class. GTA Online's Pump Shotgun Mk II can be modified to fire a single explosive slug instead of buckshot, and the Heavy Shotgun added in the same game trades pellets for full slugs, which GTA Wiki notes makes it effective at medium range and devastating against vehicles rather than people.⁹ The series has also run a fully automatic Combat Shotgun since Vice City and an even faster Assault Shotgun since The Lost and Damned, so Rockstar has a long history of giving individual shotguns their own mechanical identity instead of treating the class as one interchangeable gun.⁹ None of that confirms a beanbag round for the Moreland 850, but it does mean the idea fits a pattern the series already has.⁹

What would settle the debate

• A weapon-wheel screenshot or menu entry showing the Moreland 850 with a selectable ammo type, which would confirm adjustable lethality rather than a fixed shell.¹
• A strategy guide or Rockstar statement describing the weapon directly, instead of press inference drawn from hit-marker colours.²
• Gameplay showing a headshot under a yellow marker still killing, or a body shot under a yellow marker failing to kill, which would separate the targeting-aid explanation from a true non-lethal round.⁶