Anyone use only just pump shotguns?

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Prefer autos myself but I never turn down a pump. After all, how will I make the bad guys wet themselves if I don't rack a pump?
 
I've owned pump, auto's, single shots and side by side double barrels (inexpensive coach gun inheritance).

My favorite configuration that I've owned? Easy: pump. Less stuff breaks and it eats what I feed it without ever having cycling issues. My 870 marine magnum is probably my favorite pump that I own. I don't know why, I just have a soft spot for it.

But my favorite handling and shooting shotgun that I've ever shot was a $9000 over and under that a (really) good friend let me run a few rounds through. Wow. Awesome doesn't begin to describe it. It's way out of my price range, though.
 
I have had an FNSLP for 6 months now. I have only shot it a few hundred rounds. But, it has been 100% reliable with everything I have fed it - buckshoot to cheap birdshot. I hunt duck, quail, dove, and chukar with my M1S90. I can count on one hand the number of times it has malfunctioned over thousands of rounds.

All the self defense guys swear by the Remington 870 pump as the ultimate home defense gun. Just last weekend, I had a chance to duck hunt with a guy using an 870. He let me shoot it. Here are my observations:

1. The 870 kicks like a mule.
2. It is not even remotely as fast as my FN (or my Benelli M1S90 for that matter).
3. I heard him short shuck the gun twice during the hunt (click instead of a boom) during the cold, wet, sleep deprived frenzy that is duck hunting.

I guess I just don't get it. I don't see one single advantage of the 870 over a quality semiauto in the self defense world, hunting world, or 3 gun world.
 
I have owned and used semis, o/u, sxs, and single shots, but I always end up going for an Ithaca 37, Winchester m12, usually the 37.
 
1. The 870 kicks like a mule.
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Matter of perspective.

2. It is not even remotely as fast as my FN (or my Benelli M1S90 for that matter).
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Possibly true...but it all depends on the user.

3. I heard him short shuck the gun twice during the hunt
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Cured with practice.

It all boils down to preference. I prefer an 870 for just about anything. I can see where people would prefer an auto, though. It's just one of those never ending arguments about which is better, pump vs auto, glock vs 1911 or AK vs AR...there is no correct answer. The best thing to do is just get one of each and see what you like by depleting your local GS of all it's ammo. :)
 
I've never used a semi-auto shotgun, so I can't speak to that. But my Mossberg 500 just loves to run and the more I shoot it, the happier it seems to get. You find a kind of rhythm and the gun just falls into it.
 
You find a kind of rhythm and the gun just falls into it.
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That just might be why I'm addicted to pumps. I shot it several times this year, dragged my autos out maybe 3 times, but only because a friend wanted to shoot them. I never actually shot the autos.
 
So the answer to this post is YES, there are a crap load of people who use ONLY just pumps...
 
Since this has become a pump vs. semi auto thread. The key issue concerning choosing a pump vs. a semi auto for home defense is which problem is more likely to occur:

The semi auto malfunctioning or a trained user under stress short stroking the pump?
 
At 55, and 40+ years of having 870 pumps, I picked up my first semi-auto, an 1100, a few weeks ago. Time to make those clay doubles a little easier. ;-)
 
I've just started shooting trap with a Wingmaster, it works for me. Never shot a semi or any other type of shotgun. I'd be willing to try though.
 
OK, this is because I didn't grow up with shotguns and I'm coming into the hobby a little later in life, but to me shotguns ARE pumps. Just because of popular media the iconic slide rack defines the shotgun as a weapon for me.

Irrational? Of course. But I don't see this changing anytime soon.
 
Just because of popular media the iconic slide rack defines the shotgun as a weapon for me.
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I have to agree. Nothing like that "schck-schck" sound of the pump-action loading another shell.
 
Prefer autos myself but I never turn down a pump. After all, how will I make the bad guys wet themselves if I don't rack a pump?
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The blood loss from a 00 buck wound generally causes some wetness indeed.
 
Laser Aiming

The 20 gauge is aimed by by looking at the red dot far away. Also there is a tunnel under the laser to see the bb at the end of the ventilator. That bb aiming is OK for a target, but not for a moving animal, since the laser blocks my view. I only aim with the laser under the dimmed light of the forest, but I do not shoot if the sun is too bright to see the red laser dot.
 
I agree that the pump makes the most sense for home defense for the same reason I use a revolver instead of a semi for a home defense pistol--they're not exactly idiot proof, but they're close, and I'd rather any malfunction be squarely my fault than it be the fault of mechanical failure. I trust myself more than I trust any semi-autos that I could afford. being a student I'm confined to a Chinese 870 copy, a gun that has survived almost 10,000 rounds so far and is still going strong. I've practiced with it in multiple configurations on the trap range, shooting from the hip, calling for the bird when the shells were not loaded but in the butt sleeve, and I have become confident that I can run it quick and effective enough to get the job done for HD. I especially like the ease of which you can switch different shells out of a pump, as your left hand can support the gun while working the action at the same time your right hand switches the shells out--much quicker than with any semis I've handled. I also think the pump gun has one of the most ingenious built in safety devices with the slide lock, which people are always confused by if they've never handled one. I usually keep my gun slide locked and unloaded with a full butt sleeve of buck shot and sidesaddle of slugs. I've gotten to the point where it almost doesn't make any difference if the gun were loaded or not, I can still get the first shot off in the same amount of time.
For hunting or real competition, you can't beat the allure of a break action gun.
 
Its my first post on this forum so I will try to make it a good one. Imma shotgun guy, I have several but the pump shotgun for HD is my choice for two reasons. First and foremost, when a perp hears the classic "chunk chunk"...the racking of a well oiled pump normally changes their mind very quickly resulting in instant retreat. Secondly, you have a large area covered instead of having to find center of mass under the diress and not fully awake. This is a great site so far...I look foward to reading, learning and sharing knowledge here.
 
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