The most reliable shotgun?

A

alfred

New member
Folks argue about the "BEST" of everything.Shotguns are no different.Lets voice our opinions and discuss the reliability of shotguns and the importance of such.

With the exception of a life threatening situation,the absence of reliability is usually just frustrating and a inconvenience.
In a life threatening situation,it can lead to loss of life,property and personal injury.

The most reliable type of shotgun that I have noticed in my 64 years of life in a world of shotguns is?The old single or double barrel hammer striking the firing pin shotgun.I have road a horse.I have plowed with a Mule and a Horse.I have plowed with a tractor.I have rode in a Buggy, one horse and two Horse wagons.I have rode once in a Stage Coach and once in a Freight wagon pulled by a Mule team.Unless you have done this,you cannot begin to imagine the the dust and dirt that gets into everything.Yet,for generations,these type of shotguns were hung for ready access on each of these.Why?Because a person could depend on them.

I am not knocking the pump.It has been around for a long time."The military used it for it's extra firepower as it held more shells".BUT!"It was not as reliable as the double and often jammed in the trenches of WW-1"."Many men of all nations preferred the double barrel in trench warfare"."These shotguns have been preferred and carried by some US.troops in every conflict and war that the US has been in".Notice the quotation marks.My source for these statements have been the vets who were there! I have talked to these men and some women since a child in the very early 50's.They were my inspiration and a reason that I am a vet.

I must mention women of the US.Army.A WW2 Army Nurse told me "We had a Double Barrel Shotgun and we knew how to use it"!This woman was my wife's aunt.Alfred
 
For the most reliable shotgun, I'd have to guess it would be an internal hammer fixed breech. External hammers can collect dirt and they can snag on things with disastrous results. If you want two shots, then get one with two barrels and two triggers. If you want to get off more than two shots, learn to reload quickly else get a second gun.
 
I'm still going to say in the long run a quality pump. I'm tempted to even include the Benelli M-2, but won't because the will not handle some of the low powered specialty rounds available.

Most serious competition shooters use expensive doubles now because they hold up better to several hundred thousand rounds. The tighter tolerances on doubles can cause problems in dirt and grime and if any type of problems happens you need a pretty good gunsmith to right things.

Most pumps have tolerances so loose they rattle when you shake them and anyone with 2 thumbs can replace anything that breaks. There are trap shooters who have put in excess of 200,000 rounds through 870,s with no problems so they can hold up to a lot of use as well.

Another factor is price. To get a quality SXS you could buy 4-5 quality pumpguns. My experience with the cheaper doubles has not been a good one. The 2 I have owned have spent more time in the gunsmiths shop than in the field.
 
Hey Alfred... I'll play a little Devils Advocate or counterpoint to your post. All in good fun.

In a practical world, you have to balance multiple, desirable characteristics against one another. Historic examples of reliability are all well and good and do have a place, but other factors have significance.

Two very important factors are the ones no one talks about... or admits to. Price and "cool factor". Are these "biases" of greater importance than ultimate reliability?

If you want to see examples of the price having a high level of importance, you have to look no further than this forum... R870s, M88s and M500s abound.
A good percentage of the people that have bought these guns did so because of the price. Luckily for them, having been made for decades, these are good, consistent and reliable guns.
Cool factor? Well, cool is different things to different people. No where is cool more important than in the home and self-defense subset. There's an entire industry devoted to the "Farklization" and Tacticoolization" of these guns.
Again, R870s, M88s and M500s abound, and again, luckily for the buyers, having been made for decades, these are good, consistent and reliable guns... too bad that 50% of the useless crap that gets hung off them is of a quality poorer than the guns themselves.

Take away price (within reason) and the brands, models and action designs start to open up considerably.
You can't really (arguably) take away cool factor. Your discipline/subset/peer group establishes what's cool and not cool. What you buy may not blow the skirt of the trap fanatic up, but it may give all the 3-gun boys and girls a real thrill... and visa versa.

Of course, like anything subjective, there are examples that will throw everything I've said out the window.

I have a Benelli M2. It has eaten everything I've feed it. I do feed it a healthy diet however... no junk food. :p
Is it as reliable as your external or internal hammer, fixed breech shotgun? Without an objective, side by side test we're back to anecdotal evidence as proof... meaning no real proof at all.

Having said that, I had a Ithaca 37, bought in the early '70s that also ate everything feed to it.
Un-fazed by intermittent care and stone reliable, I gave it to a friend for home defense after over 30,000 rounds of eating. He still has it.

C
 
i wont mention the shotgun I favor, since ive done it so many times on the board. but, the USMC wanted a new combat shotgun for afganistan/iraq. if you want to talk dusty, gritty, sandy, etc. you dont need to look no farther. and while it is the us military, they put whatever they pick as their new standard issue though a hellish battery of tests, many of which are reliability tests.

the shotgun they ended up picking was not a SxS. it was a semi-auto.

but i will agree, a SxS is very simple, therefore reliable. and you mentioned that when faced with a life or death situation, you want your gun to be reliable and go bang. but i will ask you, are you ok in that life or death situation that it only goes bang twice?
 
Short of obvious abuse or neglect, I would have to say the very most reliable is an external hammer, tang located barrel lever equipped single shot...
Next, to me, is the venerable ol' Mossberg 500.
Brent
 
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