Anyone use only just pump shotguns?

7

70extreme

New member
I started twenty years ago shooting an 870 pump for hunting and home defense. Then, I decided I just had to have a semiauto Benelli M1S90 for hunting. Within the last couple years, I picked up an FNSLP Mark I for home defense.

Lately, I have been feeling the tug to get back to a more simple platform. I am half tempted just to sell the Benellis and FNs and go back to 870s.

Anyone go back to a pump gun and where you happy with the choice?
 
From a purely simplistic state, a double gun with double triggers is the ticket. My pump sits in a closet, as a back up for my handgun. For hunting and targets, I'll take my O/U's and SxS's every time
 
THe only shotgun own is a mossberg 500 pump. Would I like a nice benelli semi auto? absolutely, but I dont need it (nor can i afford it at the moment). They are nice, but do not make you any better of a shooter in my opinion.
 
In the household, we have my 500 Mossberg 20 gauge and an H&R 20 gauge.

If I had the cash, I would own a Mossberg auto loader.
Brent
 
i also have a H&R 20 guage. mine is the pardner single shot and if your a good enough shot then its all you need. but back to pumps not singles ha
 
I have a few shotguns one is an 870 an unless I am real desperate for cash I won't sell any of them, in fact I just added one that should arrive at my FFL Tue or Wed. When I was younger I went through a divorce and had to sell some guns; that was decades ago and I still regret selling them (especially the Browning HI-Power)

Mossberg bolt action 12 gauge that belonged to my father
Mossberg bolt action 20 gauge that was my first shotgun but is too dangerous to use
S&W 12 gauge semi
TNN 12 gauge old style coach gun replica
Rem 12 870
Browning Twelvette Double Auto That I just bought because I always wanted one since I was a kid in the 1960s but couldn't afford back then.

Everyone needs more than one shotgun.
 
yes, pump shotguns is all i have ever used. i grew up shooting a pump. truth be told i can shoot it better than some folks can shoot a semi auto. i do have a couple of single shots but they dont get used very much.
 
Have pumps and some semi-automatics, and both have their places. Enjoy shooting my 870's, they go bang every time.
 
I''m a beginner at trap, skeet, and sporting clays. Not into home defense other than what I've always used. Anyway long story short I was at the skeet field today and watched a kid run double all the way through station 5 without a miss using a pump gun. He was shooting double only. Missed high 5 ran the rest without a miss. Went back and tried station 5 a few more times.

Found it interesting that he was that proficient with a pump.
 
I''m a beginner at trap, skeet, and sporting clays. Not into home defense other than what I've always used. Anyway long story short I was at the skeet field today and watched a kid run double all the way through station 5 without a miss using a pump gun. He was shooting double only. Missed high 5 ran the rest without a miss. Went back and tried station 5 a few more times.

Found it interesting that he was that proficient with a pump.
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There ARE exceptions to every rule, and there are always one or two who can work a pump like a wand on lay targets; however those folks are few and far between, as many have trouble keeping the gun on the flight line while working the pump - hence the fondness for semi's and O/U on the skeet and sporting clay fields
 
I grew up using only pumps, but not too long ago I bought my first 1100. I like the shotgun and has never failed me in the field, but has had one issue of the bolt getting stuck trying to unload it.

I find it funny how over the years I went from an old Savage 37 12 ga. my dad gave me when I was younger to more advanced and "reputable" shotguns. But in the end I honestly can say I prefer that old 37.
 
70extreme said:
Anyone use only just pump shotguns?
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I'm just the opposite. After I sold my first shotgun, a Sears (High Standard) pump 40+ years ago, I've never looked back. Now I have SS break open, Semi-Auto, O/U, and O/-O/U models, but no pumps.

shogan191 said:
I''m a beginner at trap, skeet, and sporting clays. Not into home defense other than what I've always used. Anyway long story short I was at the skeet field today and watched a kid run double all the way through station 5 without a miss using a pump gun. He was shooting double only. Missed high 5 ran the rest without a miss. Went back and tried station 5 a few more times.
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To a new shooter, watching Skeet Doubles can be impressive. Station 5 is the un-doing of many in Doubles, since it's the first pair where you take the low (right side) target first.

Yes, some shooters become quite proficient with pump action guns; but, on the target fields you'll find they are usually even more proficient with an auto or O/U. You'll seldom see a pump action gun used in serious competition where a quick second shot is required.

Found it interesting that he was that proficient with a pump.
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Perhaps a pump is the only gun he has.
 
My only shotgun is a Mossberg 500. I have three barrels for it (18" home defense, 24" rifled with sights, and a 28" barrel with screw chokes).
It's light, swings well with the 28" barrel,and I shoot it well. Every time I've shot a borrowed O/U or a semi-auto, I've either had trouble swinging it on targets, or found it to be heavier than it needed to be (11-87!) or oddly balanced for my taste. I use the Mossberg for everything: doves, geese and ducks, squirrels,grouse, deer,turkeys,etc. I occasionally shoot trap and SC with it. I even reload for it. I'll likely never own another shotgun,as this one does everything I need a shotgun to do.
 
Don' mess with the man, who only owns, one gun....Because, he will most likely, knows how to use it:D
 
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hogdogs,

I looked into that hot sauce challenge... Good luck with that. That 20 minute long video from RiceKiller was pretty entertaining...
 
I learned to wing shoot over 50 years ago with my dad's 20 ga. Ithaca model 37. I soon graduated to a marlin model 90 O/U with double triggers that I still have and still shoot very well. A 16 ga. Model 90DT is my favorite upland bird gun.

I do have a model 37 and an 870 that I use mostly for watewrfowl. The 870 cost $259 new and I won't feel so bad if I accidently drop it in the lake.

As for semi-autos, in the 1950's I saw Herb Parsons shoot 7 hand thrown clay targets before they hit the ground with his winchester model 12. A guy asked him why he didn't use a semi-auto. Herb replied, " Because I would have to wait for the semi-auto to cycle!"
 
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