Can a pump guy be as good as a semiauto guy?

[Moose23]

Agree with throdgrain about the moral victory

Shoot skeet informally with my friends, they hate to see the old Wincheter 1200 come out. It helps a bit that I've been shooting it for 25 years, though.

 

[BarkeyVA]

Watching the YouTube Showman Shooter video posted above (the original 25 minute film was shot in 1954 or 1955), Herb Parsons says that no other gun but the Model 12 could shoot fast enough to break 7 hand thrown clays before they hit the ground. Checking the video, it appears that Herb shot 7 times in a little over 2 seconds.

Not as fast as Tom Knapp who, according to a previous post above, has broken 10 hand thrown targets in approx. 2 seconds with a current generation Benelli semi-auto. However, Herb was comparing his Model 12 to semi-autos available in 1954 or 1955.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Sarge......

Way back I shot lots with a good friend who was deadly with his well worn A5. We established that I could get off an effective second shot before him. Whether or not he could have been faster with a Benelli is moot.

Shotgunners can do well with either action, but IMO it takes a bit more experience with the pump to milk max performance from it.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

The Model 12 can be cycled and fired at a great rate of speed because the shooter can hold the trigger back and pump the action with a shell fire with each pump. A well worn, rickety police issue Model 12 is great for fast shooting.

 

[ChCx2744]

Unless you're Tom Knapp, the semi-auto will usually win...lol

 

[Hanzo581]

No way you can pump a shotgun faster that a semi-auto can cycle.

 

[Hunterdad]

My duck hunting partner can shoot a pump gun amazingly fast and accurate. You'll never be as fast as an autoloader, but i'd be fun tryin!

 

[Caliper_Mi]

I've heard this said before, and I find it simply ridiculous. I don't believe that a person can cycle the action of a pump shotgun before an automatic cycles itself. An auto cycles in milliseconds. A pump can't beat that. I would love to see a side-by-side high speed video of a supposed faster-than-an-auto pump guy, and any automatic shotgun. My guess is the auto would be done cycling, bolt closed and ready to fire, before the pump guy even ejects the old shell.

There is a video out there of a Winchester SX3 "the fastest shotgun in the world" (Winchesters claim) doing 12 shots in 1.442 seconds. So, that is 120 milliseconds per shot, or 0.12 seconds.

Not saying a pump gun will beat that (the 7 rounds in 2s above works out to 0.286s per shot) but I am pretty sure given a tenth of a second, most anyone could at least get the old shell ejected.

I think the aim disturbance you mention from cycling the pump is more of a handicap on the pump gun than the manual action required.

 

[PT92]

Stick with the Benelli's for competition--Pumps are great for non-competitive shooting as well as protecting your castle.

-Cheers

 

[70extreme]

I went out today and shot skeet. I shot a 18. Not great. But, I don't feel like the Remington 870 held me back. My shooting skills held me back. I just need more time with the gun and practice.

 

[gaweidert]

My first shotgun was a used Beretta AL390 I got at Gander Mountain for $300 five years ago. Very nice shotgun but has a 26" barrel and the stock has some usage dings. As I collect milsurps, I am used to the dings on most of my rifles. I got it because I belong to a gun club that has trap, skeet and sporting clay ranges beside the rifle and archery ranges. Turned out I liked sporting clays a lot. The I decided to get a HD shotgun. One of the myriad of used short barrel 870/500's I see at local shops. Picked up an 870 for about $150.

I then decided that I needed to practice with it to become comfortable and started looking for a 28" barrel for it. I happened to come across a sale on 870's at Wal-Mart so I got a complete 870 for only a few dollars more than a barrel alone.

I started shooting sporting clays with it and found that I really enjoyed using a pump action for doing it. I find that shooting a pump action has not diminished, or improved, my shooting skills. It is just more fun. One added unanticipated benefit of the 870 too. When I go to shoot sporting clays I sometimes latch on with other guys and we shoot as a group. Lots of these guys tote some really fine hardware but don't make fun of my el-cheapo 870. In fact quite a few want to try it out as they haven't shot a pump action in years. Then they let me shoot their shotguns.

My unscientific findings are as follows:

1) They shoot just as good with my 870 as with their $5,000 whatever.
2) I shoot just as bad with their $5000 whatever as I do with my 870.

 

[Mark8252]

Pump Shotgun

My favorite skeet gun is a 20ga Remington Wingmaster. I frequently shoot perfect scores and my average is 23 out of 25. I successfully shoot doubles on report (4 shots) with this gun.
Practise practise practise is what it comes down to.
My next gun will likely be a 410 pump.

 

[21]

Likely a big difference between a new gas operated auto and an old recoil type auto in speed. Parsons might have had a point.

 

[Black Butte]

Doing the following with a pump would seem rather difficult:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcpB2l-ljnc&feature=related

 

[soda]

semi 4 the win