Best Pump Shotgun???

[T-Ray]

870. Has been for a long time

[guntotinguy]

Mossberg 500 is my choice....havent shot the others listed,but I can say the 500 is a great shotgun!

[J.Smith]

I have 3 590s and am about to get another one today.

[WacosSon]

Mossy 500/590 for me. Just feels more comfortable. I have broad shoulders and a little shorter arms so the 870's a stretch - great gun though. Wifey can't even shoulder an 870, but the 500s perfect.

Feel it out - its all about how it fits YOU

[Captain Bligh]

870 for me. When I was shopping, I compared to Mossberg. 870 felt like a more solid gun. Mossberg had a lot of slop and noise coming from the fore-end; didn't care for that much. Also, I don't see the logic of a top-tang safety unless you are left-handed. IMHO it's a wasted motion to move the thumb there. The finger is going to the trigger anyway; why not put the safety on the trigger guard? Of course, before I bought a pump I shot a Browning A-5, so I was used to trigger guard mounted safties.

870 got it right.

[45Marlin carbine]

Ithaca 37 or Win 12.

[dabigguns357]

I would have to say that i like the mossberg 500 the best.The price is what gets me,I know you get what you pay for,but i couldn't pass my 500 up.It was a steal for $164.98 nib and even came with a rifled slug barrel.

[DMMikey]

Another vote for Ithaca. Very light, very reliable, bottom eject and feed keeps trash out of action. Can have slug, trap, and field barrels for the same receiver.

[KMO]

The Mossberg 500 can stand with any when it comes to dependability. I tore into my buddy's abused 500 and found it so rusty that I swore it had been at the bottom of a pond. Even before I cleaned it up, it still functioned flawlessly (though a bit noisey). You just can't beat the simplicity of this shotgun...

[sesquipedalian101]

Originally Posted by cannonballmount

A gun has a "personality". You have to be compatible. No matter how nice the gun is, and how many people like it, if it doesn't fit you, your going to miss a lot.

Amen! This comment and the two quoted below are the reason I decided to register for this forum. Any forum that has people who talk such sense can't be all bad...

Also, I just had to put a plug (pun not intended) in for my personal favorite shotgun, the Winchester 1897. I've got one that I absolutely love -- though it has a serious problem. There is only one of it and I have three (3) sons who each think they are in direct line to inherit -- perhaps before I stop shooting it...

So, I've started collecting them -- I have one that will make a nice piece with about 30 to 40 hours worth of work; I am keeping my eyes open for two (2) more because I am not in a hurry to pass along MY shotgun. Anyway, the two now in the family are 12 gauge take-downs with the 29-inch full-choke barrel. We don't do a lot of shotgun hunting; but, love shooting at clays. I am convinced that the old-fashioned full-choke throws a tighter pattern than its modern counterpart. These guns will powder clays (if you can hit them) at distances that other shotguns simply break them into two or three pieces...

I also like the external hammer -- you can carry a shell in the chamber w/o having the gun cocked and ready to fire (put the hammer on half-cock). Also, lacking a "disconnecting rod," this shotgun will slam fire. It is, of course, another great John Browning design!

Originally Posted by tvrobert

I got an 870 12 ga. last week and love it, but a Model 12 is next on the list. I can shoot lead shot on my own property, and if I can find a Model 12 in good shape, and the wife clears the funds, that's next on the rack n' range.

Your wife approves the funds? You are indeed a lucky man!

Originally Posted by ebutler462

So I am not the only henpecked shooter on this site.

You guys should consider yourselves lucky! You just have to talk your wives into the purchase. I never have to talk my wife into a firearms purchase; I can get any gun I want any time I want -- so long as I have enough money to get an "equivalent" firearm for her first. So, you know that "reasonably priced" $300 shotgun you were looking at? Well, I have permission to buy it it will just cost me $600 If I don't have $600, that's okay, DW is willing to take her gun first and let me save up for mine...

I'm just lucky that the '97s I'm collecting are for my sons and therefore exempt from the DW tax...

Oh, woe is me...

-101-

[YukonKid]

870, but you forgot ithica

YK

[rdoggsilva]

I have both 870 and 500. Much prefer my Mossy the way safety is and the fell. I also enjoy using my M1897 Winchester also.

[AZAK]

870. 12 gauge.

Only guns that I shoot more often are .22lr.

For fun or HD or small game or birds...

[fbrown333@suddenlink]

+1 On the 870. I have only shot the mossberg 500, browning 10 gauge SxS, remington 1100, and the 870. for a pump the 870 wins hands down.

[Bushmaster1313]

Remington 870 is the easiest to take care of; Ithaca 37 is the most beautiful; Remington 12 is the most sensuous.

[alloy]

the only pumps ive owned have been mossberg. there are finer shotguns out there i imagine, but ive never had any issues so i will continue owning them, and vote that you really cant go wrong with mossberg.

[gustav129]

835 for me (other)

[zippy13]

bcavin

With so many voting for other, either your list is too short, or you should have restricted it to shotguns presently produced. My vote is for the Winchester Model-12. Sadly, like their Super-X autoloader, it was too well made to compete in the modern market.

[doh_312]

Can't go wrong with an 870

[darkgael]

I was really surprised that neither the Win. m.12 nor the Ithaca 37 was listed. How could they have been left off? Classic guns.
I voted for the Ithaca 37. I have a Featherweight that is as slick as can be. Easy to carry, about a half pound or so lighter than a Wingmaster.
Pete

[Katrina Guy]

I NEVER thought I'd EVER purchase/own a Mossberg, always had considered them for people too poor to spring for a real shotgun, a Remington or a Browning.
That said, and I purchased a Remington HD model in Feb 08 (haven't fired it yet), BUT after a lot of playing with it and researching the Mossberg's dependibilty in this forum, I recently purchased the Mossberg's Persuader. The Mossberg stays loaded near my bed and the Remington 870 HD is in a gun case unloaded. Yes the 870 feels smoother, tighter...however I don't think that a tighter "feel" has anything to do with how reliable a firearm is. (?) I picked the Mossberg PURELY for the location and easy access in an emergency of it's slide release. If i hunted with a shotgun I would never have even considered a Mossberg, again never thought I'd ever own one, but hunting and self defense when someone may be firing back or a gun might jam etc is a big difference.

SO as the poll goes, Remington pump shotgun for hunting, admiring, displaying (if I had a wingmaster)-hey and even maybe because it shoots better, again I haven't fired it yet, Mossberg for down and dirty easy to access vital controls defensive shotgun. So there.

[gustav129]

Originally Posted by Katrina Guy

I NEVER thought I'd EVER purchase/own a Mossberg, always had considered them for people too poor to spring for a real shotgun, a Remington or a Browning.

I paid about just as much for my Mossy 835 as I would have for a Rem 870, so I don't see how you can say they are for "people who are too poor to buy a real gun"

[Deegle]

My favorite is my 1928 Winchester Model 12. I love it for trap. Balanced, accurate, shoots better than any modern gun I've fired. For home defense though, 870.

[Katrina Guy]

and Remington's express line is rather new to me so when I said that I was more referring to 870 Wingmaster vs Mossbergs.
Still, as I said, Mossberg 500's are cheaper (near a hundred bucks) then 870 expresses.

[indy245]

Marine 870

Indy.