best pump gun out there?

meatgrinder

meatgrinder

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Hey guys,
I have a buddy in the market for a pump gun and I would like to hear some suggestions. This is going to be an all around gun. I'm a little bias to my BPS so I wanted to hear some thoughts on the others such as the winchester, mossberg etc....

Thanks guys
 
Hmmmm. the trouble hear is the "all around" gun. I currently own few different shotguns but my main hunting one (deer, bird, ect..) is an old win model 1300 ranger. it preforms admirably every time.
 
Any combo gun like Mossberg 500 or 535 is all around. Otherwise shotguns are specialists.

I have 28" sx3 for ducks. 22" 1300 for deer rifled. 20g 1300 upland special for upland and bunnies.
 
Yeah, I have several for different jobs, but the only one close to "all round" is my Mossy 500 with 3 barrels - 28" & 24" with accu-choke, and a 24" rifled slug barrel.
 
Benelli nova, I also have an Ithaca 900 in 20 gauge for smaller game and a Winchester 2200 beater and sxp defender for fun. If I had to choose just one it would be the benelli.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
Rem 870 Wingmaster 12ga 3in chamber, no question about it
Click to expand...

Yep agree if talking 12ga with rem chokes
My favorite is a vintage 870 , fitted with a 3" ejector and a new blued rem choke barrel
No pump is easier to work on or get parts and barrels for. They didnot sell almost 11 million of them from being junk.
Nothing wrong with a BPS either only for me the fit is wrong.
 
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Those that know...
Know it is the Time Tested and True 870 Wingmaster...
3'' and barrel length of 26-30'' for your intended game.
Should you have just a Modified fixed choke it should work with most ammo combos.
Where this would be lacking is in a Turkey blind maybe, but then again I have never gone Turkey hunting.
Tight Chokes,
Rob
 
Everyone has their own idea of what a shotgun should be, and what qualifies it as best. Clearly the pre-Express vent-rib 870 Winmasters were very nice in appearance and operation. Now I'm a rifle guy primarily, so some will question my experience to even have an opinion on the subject of shotguns, but I do have a particular point of view. When I carry a shotgun, it's role is usually that of short range, fast shooting, powerful rifle. To me, reliability and ease of repair trumps all else. With that in mind, the Mossberg beats the competition due to its use of screws in place of rivets and stab locked components. Thus, anything that fails on a Mossberg shotgun can replaced by the owner with the use of house hold tools. That is a significant advantage when one lives hundreds of miles from the nearest gunsmith. The old 870s are a marvel of smooth operation, but a polished Mossberg isn't that far behind; when I press the slide release on my 590, while holding the cocked gun vertically, with a slight bump, the slide pretty much drops to the end of its travel.

The BPS is a great choice for the south-paw if you happen to be left handed, but there is a disadvantage. A bottom ejecting shotgun must be loaded into the magazine tube, whereas a shotgun with a right handed ejection port, can have a round simply dropped on top of the follower and pushed home. While a lefty might find that flinging empties across his line of sight can be disconcerting, he actually has the advantage when it comes to single loading the gun through the ejection port as he doesn't have to reach over the top of the receiver.
 
Benelli Supernova is in my opinion the best quality pump on the market.
The only thing that comes close is the BPS, If I were left-handed I would have chosen the BPS.

They are fairly expensive though, and a rifled barrel will set you back about $500.
Worth every penny if you can afford it, I've never regretted buying mine.
 
The Remington 870. Simplicity and reliability and ease of repair if it is required. Parts do not require fitting and many parts interchange right back to 1952 when they first came out...
 
I'm not sure I understand the loading shells in the mag thing. I shoot a BPS at trap every Monday in the summer,50 rounds and have done this for 15 plus years. Not once have I loaded a single shell in the mag tube, to be honest I might have done it once when I went duck hunting in 1989. I just stared shooting an Ithaca 37 and again I load direct to the chamber, seems more natural and quicker than doing the extra cycling thing.
 
guntech said:
The Remington 870. Simplicity and reliability and ease of repair if it is required. Parts do not require fitting and many parts interchange right back to 1952 when they first came out...
Click to expand...

Add the nickel plating of the Marine Magnum, and you have no worries about rust. I have seen many toys come and go from my collection, not my 870 MM. It just plain works.
 
morrisdcode said:
I'm not sure I understand the loading shells in the mag thing. I shoot a BPS at trap every Monday in the summer,50 rounds and have done this for 15 plus years. Not once have I loaded a single shell in the mag tube, to be honest I might have done it once when I went duck hunting in 1989. I just stared shooting an Ithaca 37 and again I load direct to the chamber, seems more natural and quicker than doing the extra cycling thing.
Click to expand...
I'm partial to the Ithaca as a left handed shooter. I have more than one 12 gauge, but more often than not, my one and only 20 gauge pumpgun gets the knod. That is, if I leave the O/U at home instead.
 
I am biased, but for used I still really like the Winchester Model 12. My 2nd choice would be the Rem 870 as long as its not an express. Third choice would be a Browning BPS. I no experience with the Benelli, but I have never heard anything bad.

I use a model 12 with a cutts for just about everything.
 
morrisdcode said:
I'm not sure I understand the loading shells in the mag thing. I shoot a BPS at trap every Monday in the summer,50 rounds and have done this for 15 plus years. Not once have I loaded a single shell in the mag tube, to be honest I might have done it once when I went duck hunting in 1989. I just stared shooting an Ithaca 37 and again I load direct to the chamber, seems more natural and quicker than doing the extra cycling thing.
Click to expand...

I'm with ya on that one man, loading direct into the BPS's chamber isn't very hard.
 
morrisdcode said:
I'm not sure I understand the loading shells in the mag thing. I shoot a BPS at trap every Monday in the summer,50 rounds and have done this for 15 plus years. Not once have I loaded a single shell in the mag tube, to be honest I might have done it once when I went duck hunting in 1989. I just stared shooting an Ithaca 37 and again I load direct to the chamber, seems more natural and quicker than doing the extra cycling thing.
Click to expand...

RedRabbits said:
I'm with ya on that one man, loading direct into the BPS's chamber isn't very hard.
Click to expand...

Okay, let me clarify what it was I was talking about. When the Ithica's slide is all the way to the rear, and I assume the BPS is similar, the carrier is pointed downward to allow the chambered round to dump out. Because you can't get a round past the carrier once the action is fully open, you have to close it, then add a round to the magazine. If the action is locked closed and you simply drop a round into the ejection port on the bottom of the bolt surface, when you cycle the slide it again dumps the round out. What you can do is move the slide partly to the rear, and drop a round in, then close the bolt. That works, but its far fussier than dropping a round in the ejection port of a side eject gun. As I said in my earlier post, I tend to use my shotgun as a rifle, and I wouldn't want to be in a stressful situation and not be able to add a single round to my gun unless the slide is in just the right position; when bird hunting, its less of an issue. In bear work, one might wish to switch from shot to a slug, or from a cracker shell to a rubber bullet. With an 870 or a 500/590, if the bolt is closed, rounds can be added to the magazine and if the action is open, a round can be dropped on top of the follower. Rather than consider this a criticism of the Ithica/BPS actions, just keep it in mind as a peculiarity of the bottom eject action, which for most people will never be an issue.
 
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