Can't initialise public vars in Inspector (C#)

Summary:

• I'm trying to use the Inspector to set a value on a non-static public var, but the game ignores the Inspector and uses only the scripted values.

Intended behaviour:

• I have a class named PlayerControls, which calls a class named Shotgun. If I set Shotgun's _ProjectilesPerShot to 10 in the Inspector, the script should instantiate 10 projectiles.

Actual behaviour:

• The script ignores the _ProjectilesPerShot value I've set in the Inspector (I am setting it on the prefab itself). The asset variables (sound, prefab) work fine, though.

• Initialising _ProjectilesPerShot in the script makes it work, but the Inspector doesn't change this value at runtime. Setting _ProjectilesPerShot = 1 in the script but = 10 in the inspector only instantiates one projectile.

Things I have tried:

• I added a Debug.Log in the Shotgun constructor to show the values of projectilesPerShot and _ProjectilesPerShot after assignment. Both values remain unchanged (0 and 0 if uninitialised in the script, n and n if _ProjectilesPerShot = n in the script).

  ---

  PlayerControls.cs

  using UnityEngine; using System.Collections;

  public class PlayerControls : MonoBehaviour { public Shotgun shotgun;

      void Awake ()
       {
           shotgun = GetComponent<Shotgun>();
       }
       
       void Update ()
       {
           if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
           {
               shotgun.fire();
           }
       }
   }
  
  

  ---

  Shotgun.cs

  using UnityEngine; using System.Collections;

  public class Shotgun : MonoBehaviour { // Inspector-accessible variables. public int _ProjectilesPerShot;

      // Inspector-accessible asset variables.
       public GameObject projectile;
       public AudioClip fireSound;
       
       // Internal variables.
       private int projectilesPerShot;
       
       public Shotgun ()
       {
           projectilesPerShot = _ProjectilesPerShot;
       }
       
       public void fire ()
       {
           audio.PlayOneShot (fireSound, 0.05f);
           for (int i = 0; i<projectilesPerShot; i++)
           {
               Instantiate (projectile, gameObject.transform.position, Quaternion.identity);
           }
       }
   }
  
  
  

  ---

Any help would be greatly appreciated!