Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
Someone recently expressed surprise that pumps were still so popular. It seems to them that the plethora of good autos would have chased the trombone action into museums and off the range and out of the field. It hasn't happened and will not in the near future.
Here's why.
First, a little History. Semi Auto shotguns showed up in the field almost a century ago. Winchester's Model 1911 and the venerable Browning A-5 and its American made siblings from Savage and Remington were all in the fields before 1920.
Early autos were called "Jamamatics" by exasperated owners. They were ammo sensitive, dirt sensitive, lube sensitive, and tempermental as a Pop Diva. They had a tendency to lose their charging handles over deep mud and water. And, they were expensive.
Gradually, the makers came up with better autos, better ammo for them, and owners learned to make their cantankerous shotguns behave.
New autos are almost as reliable as pumpguns. The difference may be more philosophical than realistic, most can pass the 200 rounds of duty ammo sans glitches test once they are shot in a bit.
But even with reliability and the gas autos offering recoil reduction, there's still 3 or 4 pumps sold for every auto. Partly that's price, most 870s run less than $500 and many less than $300,new. New autos leave little change from a grand,and some run more.
Remington's 870 is the most made civilian firearm with over 8 million units sold. That's more than the 98K Mauser, the Garand, the M-14, and some less than the AK.
Working life of an 870 seems to be roughly 250,000 rounds. That's no misprint.
Given one can purchase many 870s for around $250, cost per round before the receiver cracks runs $0.001.That's Cost Effective, one can buy a shotgun capable of generations of use for less than a week's pay.
It's durable and economical, you concede. But how about versatility?
One 870 here is a parts gun. Its receiver and some other parts first worked at the MD Pen, 954 Forrest Ave, Baltimore Md. With two barrels, a handful of choke tubes,it's capable of doing well on sporting clays, gone 50 straight at trap, taken birds from quail to grouse to geese, shoots slugs into 3" at 50 yards and can serve well for HD. That enough?
How about ergonomics?
Many 870 triggers compare favorably with centerfire rifles. Three here are at 4 lbs or less, better than many Savage 110s and newer Winchesters. Heck, the heaviest 870 pull here is about that on my Post 64 Model 94, and it's had a trigger job.
Few autos have good triggers. Seminole and Angle Port will tweak your 391 trigger to 3 1/2 lbs, but tis costly. Allen Timney has made a good living getting 1100 triggers as good as 870s are from the factory.
As for fit, no auto is easier to fine tune fit on than an 870. The shim kits that come with Beretta and Benelli autos duplicate the homemade jobs done by trap shooting pump gunners since the 30s. More stocks are available for the 870 in aftermarket goodies than any auto, and one can buy anything from a top folder to marblecake walnut made to your dimensions. Wenig will sell you a roughed out blank to whittle into shape and Boyd's has a Nutmeg grain laminate thumbhole set if you really want one.
Weight is a mixed blessing in shotguns, as anyone who had touched off a turkey load in a 7 lb shotgun can testify to. Gas autos carry more weight forward due to the gas system under the barrel and run heavier overall for the most part. That extra will not be welcome some eve 3 ridges away from the truck. And the extra weight forward handicaps smaller folks.
Pumps have a simple MOA, both to learn and to teach. They're easy to make safe after firing, easy to load and unload without chambering live ammo, and do not require 3 hands to do so. And use after a few hundred or thousand rounds verges on being instinctive. 870s are good pointers.
While I've focussed on the 870 here, all this applies to the other good pumps.
Questions, comments, donations?....
Here's why.
First, a little History. Semi Auto shotguns showed up in the field almost a century ago. Winchester's Model 1911 and the venerable Browning A-5 and its American made siblings from Savage and Remington were all in the fields before 1920.
Early autos were called "Jamamatics" by exasperated owners. They were ammo sensitive, dirt sensitive, lube sensitive, and tempermental as a Pop Diva. They had a tendency to lose their charging handles over deep mud and water. And, they were expensive.
Gradually, the makers came up with better autos, better ammo for them, and owners learned to make their cantankerous shotguns behave.
New autos are almost as reliable as pumpguns. The difference may be more philosophical than realistic, most can pass the 200 rounds of duty ammo sans glitches test once they are shot in a bit.
But even with reliability and the gas autos offering recoil reduction, there's still 3 or 4 pumps sold for every auto. Partly that's price, most 870s run less than $500 and many less than $300,new. New autos leave little change from a grand,and some run more.
Remington's 870 is the most made civilian firearm with over 8 million units sold. That's more than the 98K Mauser, the Garand, the M-14, and some less than the AK.
Working life of an 870 seems to be roughly 250,000 rounds. That's no misprint.
Given one can purchase many 870s for around $250, cost per round before the receiver cracks runs $0.001.That's Cost Effective, one can buy a shotgun capable of generations of use for less than a week's pay.
It's durable and economical, you concede. But how about versatility?
One 870 here is a parts gun. Its receiver and some other parts first worked at the MD Pen, 954 Forrest Ave, Baltimore Md. With two barrels, a handful of choke tubes,it's capable of doing well on sporting clays, gone 50 straight at trap, taken birds from quail to grouse to geese, shoots slugs into 3" at 50 yards and can serve well for HD. That enough?
How about ergonomics?
Many 870 triggers compare favorably with centerfire rifles. Three here are at 4 lbs or less, better than many Savage 110s and newer Winchesters. Heck, the heaviest 870 pull here is about that on my Post 64 Model 94, and it's had a trigger job.
Few autos have good triggers. Seminole and Angle Port will tweak your 391 trigger to 3 1/2 lbs, but tis costly. Allen Timney has made a good living getting 1100 triggers as good as 870s are from the factory.
As for fit, no auto is easier to fine tune fit on than an 870. The shim kits that come with Beretta and Benelli autos duplicate the homemade jobs done by trap shooting pump gunners since the 30s. More stocks are available for the 870 in aftermarket goodies than any auto, and one can buy anything from a top folder to marblecake walnut made to your dimensions. Wenig will sell you a roughed out blank to whittle into shape and Boyd's has a Nutmeg grain laminate thumbhole set if you really want one.
Weight is a mixed blessing in shotguns, as anyone who had touched off a turkey load in a 7 lb shotgun can testify to. Gas autos carry more weight forward due to the gas system under the barrel and run heavier overall for the most part. That extra will not be welcome some eve 3 ridges away from the truck. And the extra weight forward handicaps smaller folks.
Pumps have a simple MOA, both to learn and to teach. They're easy to make safe after firing, easy to load and unload without chambering live ammo, and do not require 3 hands to do so. And use after a few hundred or thousand rounds verges on being instinctive. 870s are good pointers.
While I've focussed on the 870 here, all this applies to the other good pumps.
Questions, comments, donations?....
