Why aren't pump action hunting rifles more popular?

I believe the Remington 760 and 7600 are good rifles. They can be as accurate as an average bolt rifle.
The problem is the somewhat weak extraction.
If they bolt head were to be beefed up to take an extractor or much larger dimensions I thin k the pump rifle would be a super good all around hunting rifle. The only problems I have seen with them have always been related in one way or another to extraction and trigger pull. The 760 triggers are not what you'd call "match triggers". They can be slicked up and made pretty nice, but they will never be in the league of a match trigger on an M-1 or m14.

Both the bolt head/extractor and the trigger could be addressed by Remington, but Remington has not had a stellar reputation for listening to the shooting public and answering the demands of what is desired for many many years.

I am sure it’s just a pipe dream to hope Remington would answer the call, but I would love to see a pump in the common calibers they offer, but with a heavier duty bolt head and a heavy duty extractor. If the bolt head was milled open on the bottom so it could be a controlled feed that would be even better, but they would have to go to a fixed ejector in the receiver too.

Then they should simply copy the safety and trigger of the M-1 Garand in principle.

Such a rifle would be outstanding.

The rotating bolt of the 7600 is as strong as many bolt actions now. By addressing the weak extraction, making a more positive feed system and giving the public a trigger without peer, they would probably take a big bight out of the bolt action sales of the market.

I love my Mausers and pre-64 M-70s, but if Remington were to make the rifle I am describing here I am sure I would be first in line to buy at least 2 of them. If they were then to offer them in left hand that would also give them a huge piece of an untapped market.
I won’t be holding my breath however.
 
If you were interested in a center fire pump. Just look at all those different brands marketed. Yup lots of selection there isn't/wasn't. And nothing has changed. Besides we consumers have always been satisfied with our lever's bolts and semi auto's. Why would some manufacture rock the boat and market a whole new designed pump action rifle for these times. When Remington has a well established product that already fills that market place nitch.
Why people don't buy more pumps. I haven't a clue. But I do know most sporting rifle designs were based on military use. Have you ever seen a pump action (rifle) being used under /for battle field conditions lately. Not that I'm aware of. Perhaps that's the reason for a center-fire pump rifles un-popularity.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I had hoped an interesting conversation would follow my question and it has been pretty interesting...good point about the absence of pump rifles in military use affecting things by the way, I can't believe that hadn't occurred to me yet but it sure makes sense.
 
what has been said plus the noise the action makes -- while wanted when a 2-legged is involved, situation dependent but gives the BG the potential to make a change in direction... one does not want to make unnecessary noise where the quarry may hear it.
 
I have 2 Remy pumps in 30-06. One was my Fathers from the late 50's and the other is one my father bought me in the early 80's. First shot on both of them is DN, but they wonder immensely from shot 3-5. Similar bolt actions tend to stay closer to POA up to 10 shots. They are very popular in markets where SA is illegal for hunting such as PA. My father took 50+ deer with his and I have taken a dozen or so with mine and never had any problems. They are a PIA at the range if shooting from a bag as others mentioned.
 
IMHO the reason is that there are only a few who want a pump action center fire rifle. As has been stated previously "Remington listens closely to it customers". I think this is why Remington is the only manufacturer of pump action center fires. Take long look at who uses them, a large majority are as follows:
1. They own a Remington pump 22.
2. They own a Remington pump shotgun.
3. because all their guns are pumps they like them, are familiar with them,
hence their deer rifle is also a pump.
4. They are loyal to the brand.

Off hand I can't think of any other manufactuers in production today who make pump action centerfires.
 
After reading the posts and thinking about it some more, I've got to think that, even though the answer is "multiple factors" as mentioned, the following factors loomed a little larger than most:

1. Pointed bullets in tube mags / The "liability factor". I'd imagine that as long-range and BC became ever more popular among hunters and hobbyists alike over the years, the pointy bullets won out over rounded soft points, particularly in bottle-necked rounds. Most pumps use tube mags which don't play well with pointy bullets, and gives rise to manuf. liability when people blow themselves up - and manufacturers really don't care for that when selling an item that has a pretty razor-thin profit margin to begin with.

2. Legality of semi-autos for hunting: Pumps are the fastest you can get on follow-up shots.... *except* for semi-autos. How many states are semi-autos legal for big or most game? I'd guess more than half, no? So they guys and gals concerned about follow-ups have gone to a semi (for about the same weight as a pump, and not much more price, if any).

3. Kind of related to #2, is the trend toward stand and blind hunting, and away from "walking-hunting" (stalking, etc.), where you generally don't need but one shot, and if you do need a follow-up, a turnbolt is "fast enough".

But surely some other factors contribute as well (reputation for poor accuracy and/or less-than-reliable extraction in the grit, deserved or not).

Edit: On second thought, I don't think #1 is much of it after all in recent history (last 30 years), because, who even made pump centerfires with tube mags? Remingtons is a box mag.... although the lack of them does kind of prove the point also. How many types were there 50 and 60 years ago? I know there were some, but not anymore I don't think. In fact, if you look at the popularity of detachable box mags, I'm a bit surprised Browning or someone hasn't reintroduced a pump to compete with the Remington 7600 (using the same mags as their BLRs for example), in light of how "hot" the industry has been in the last 5 years.
 
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I have a Remington Model 14 in 32 Remington, inherited from my father.

This Pedersen design has all forged and machined action parts and is a real slick piece of engineering. The rifle has a tubular magazine but is designed with a corkscrew twist so the bullets do not rest their points on the primers of the rounds behind them as most tube magazines do, such as the lever actions. Nevertheless, the ammo makers put flat or round nose bullets into the ammo anyway. :rolleyes: Of the four calibers the model 14 was chambered in, only the 35 Remington ever caught on with shooters and is still a currently offered chambering in some firearms.

Pedersen was the designer of many fine actions and was said by John M Browning to be, "the finest firearms designer in the world." That's pretty high praise.
 
Bart said:
Pawpaw says Remington pumps have free floating barrels. Their barrels only touch the receiver they're screwed into? The pump mechanics must also be free floating. Amazing.
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Yep, every one I've ever seen of the Remington 760/7600 pumps are free floating. The barrel touches only the receiver, at the threads. The pump action tube is also free-floating and doesn't touch the barrel anywhere. They're really more accurate than most people might believe. Mine shoots 1.0-1.5 minute, depending who's behind the rifle. I think that's extremely good accuracy for a hunting rifle.
 
Remington Model 14

You can google pics. AS you can see from the pic. The barrel on the Model 14 is also free floating. The magazine tube and pump handle all work thru a ring on the barrel.

d995c7c8-fff3-4de2-8d67-5adc685a4d42_zps25f43b62.jpg

Action closed - pump handle forward.

cba6284f-5eee-478d-9cc3-4e531d1f95a2_zps906336fa.jpg

Action open - pump handle back.
 
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if you ever have a case head blow out, i hope you are firing a rem 760-7600 pump.as you face and eyes will not get any gas. i know of a man who made a mistake reloading shells for his 3006 and 180gr bullets loaded with 4227 in them, like 54grs or so. the rifles whole trigger group was blown out of the rifle along with the magizine and the action was bulged out like a knocked up whale, and what was left case was welded to the bolt head and the rifle was wrecked. but the man only had two broken fingers and a black and blue shoulder. my rem 760-7600,s don,t rattle and don,t weight any more than a regular rifle with wood stock. and they can be had in many calibure from .223 to 35 whelen. i have then in 243-.260- 270 7-08-280-308-3006. years ago i met a man who lost a eye when his pre-64 winchester blew up,i don,t know what caused it, but just like the 760 that let go, much more pressure than it was intended for. what i like is the fact i don,t have to remove my firing hand from the trigger group to work the action or taking rifle off my shoulder. eastbank.
 
Scorch...why is a pump rifle comparatively expensive to make but a pump shot gun can be had for so little?
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Different animals entirely other than the fact that they have a similar handle. Pump action rifles are complex because of the locking mechanism for the bolt. Pump rifles have to rotate a bolt head just like a semi-auto rifles, i.e. cams and cam grooves. Pump shotguns typically use a single lug that is cammed into the barrel extension, which works fine for the pressures involved. Shotguns are simple yet rugged, but there are very few pump shotguns with rotating bolt (the Winchester 1200/1300 come to mind right away, I am sure there are others).

Biggest thing to keep in mind: people vote with their wallets. If more people wanted pump action rifles, there would be more of them.
 
Another pump action rifle would be the AK pump actions. They were made to work around the laws that ban the semi autos in certain areas.
 
People use pump action shotguns because when bird or rabbit hunting, you don't have to remove the gun from your shoulder and can quickly fire a follow up shot if necessary.
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Huh? Last time I checked you don't need to unshoulder a bolt action to get a follow up shot. Maybe if you're shooting a right handed rifle with your left hand, under most circumstances you can cycle the bolt of a bolt action rather quickly, and without removing the stock from your shoulder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=017HY8V8nU0
That's a mosin nagant, which are known for having some pretty sticky, hard to work actions, at times.
 
For what is is worth, there was an attempt to market pump 223s to the police in order not to have them carry an EBR (politics) and take advantage of their 870 training. Didn't work out.
 
Remington 7615P .... Yeah, really expensive. Pretty good idea though.

http://www.remingtonle.com/rifles/7615.htm

FWIW, one of the last 3 rifles I'd ever part with is the IMI Timberwolf in .357 mag - that is one hardcore verstatile gun. It's a fun gun, it's a light hunter, a home defense, and homeSTEAD defense gun for deterring even bears and such from an attack. It works, doesn't really recoil, and is accurate. It's wearing a Burris MTAC 1.5-6x40mm scope, which is a great scope for it. You have the large circle for CQB, and the small center aiming point for precision.

BigG, yeah, I did image search that rifle (model 14) right after your post and got what you show there. Thanks. However, the magazine does NOT actually appear to corkscrew. It appears to be a straight mag with some spiral twisting to the mag walls, but I don't see how this holds the rounds in any way other than straight. I don't see how those spirals would do anything to the alignment of the cartridges inside the mag - even if the rim engages that "rifling" or spiraling, it seems that the mag walls themselves would still keep them straight - and if the rim engages the spiraling, how do they feed right? Weird. And interesting.
 
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watch people shooting a bolt action and you will see most take the rifle down to work the action. they can be worked from the shoulder rather fast,but still your trigger finger has to go along with your hand when working the bolt,slamming it back and then slamming it forward and loseing your sight pictue and the game your shooting at. i can have a newbe shooting a pump at a moving target and hitting it way before i could train one on a bolt action. if i am shooting long range or getting long shots at game,then i will take a bolt action. but for close to medium ranges i,ll be carrying a pump. eastbank.
 
Scorch, thanks for the reply. Did not know that. Interestingly enough I own a winchester pump shotgun like you described. Didnt know it was anything out of the ordinary as far as shotguns go. Again, thanks
 
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