Who invented the pump shotgun?

The first pump action shotgun, the Spencer M1882,
After Christopher Spencer invented the Spencer Repeating Rifle, he made a nice living inventing various tools and machines such as a new type of sewing machine, a lathe, a steam carriage, and drop forged hand tools. In the 1870’s he was partner with Sylvester H. Roper to produce the Roper Revolving Shotgun, a design which was ingenious but a commercial failure.
In 1882 Spencer formed his own company called the Spencer Repeating Arms Co. located in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was there that he invented a new type of shotgun, a shotgun which used a slide mechanism which loaded shells from a tubular magazine. Called the Spencer Model 1882 it is famous for being the first pump action shotgun in the world and the first successful repeating shotgun design. Chambered in 12 gauge (with some 10 gauges being produced), the Spencer 1882 held five rounds in a tubular magazine beneath the barrel. With a working of the pump action a shell was removed from the magazine and inserted into the chamber. Empty shells were ejected out from the top of the receiver.
Unlike the Roper design, the Spencer 1882 became the most popular model of repeating shotgun at the time. Eventually, successive models of pump action shotguns would replace the double barrel as the shotgun of choice. Even today the pump action shotgun is the most popular form of shotgun among hunters, police, military, and sport shooters. The Spencer 1882 was manufactured by Spencer from 1882 to 1890. It was then that Spencer sold his company to Francis Bannerman, who continued to produce the design until 1907.
 
I have a Spencer pump gun, one of the few shotguns I own. It works all right and fires, but the mechanism is interesting.

I won't try to go into detail, but the bolt and carrier are combined. The bolt does not move back and forth like modern pump guns. Instead the combined bolt/carrier is pivoted at the rear and moves up and down like a waving hand.

Odd, but not bad for a first try, and it works, though at first the action is a bit startling.

Jim
 
Back
Top