I am interested in a Remington 870 pump action 12 gauge, but my friend told me that the recoil of a pump action is way stronger than a semi auto on the same gauge. Is that bad?
The recoil from a pump feels different than the one from a semi.
The pump recoil is quick and snappy, while the recoil from a gas operated semi (innertia operated feels kind of in between) feels much softer.
The reason for that is, that the pump is locked up and the recoil has no other place to go but straight into your shoulder.
With the semi, the cycling of the action takes away some of it and kind of breaks it apart, so it feels "slower" or gentler.
If I could make an analogy, the pump feels like a fast whip of a fly swatter (a big one of course), while the gas semi is more like getting hit with a slow(er) moving sledge hammer.
I could shoot the semi literally all day with no discomfort whatsover...with a pump, after about 1 box of 25, I'm starting to have second thoughts.
This goes for bird shot, buck shot or slugs.
The slugs will kick the hardest out of the bunch.