Are you finding for the best pump shotgun this duck hunt ing season? Have you explored all the options? Many experienced waterfowlers use semi-autos and the new “intertia” gun s, but there’s a stalwart group of oldschoolers, and a growing house of youngsters who swear up and down that best duck hunting shotgun is the simplest: a pump action model. Who’s right?

For starters, we can all agree that from a technical standpoint, the purest type of scattergun is a good ol single-shot, or side-by-side model, but most guys want to maximize their chances on ducks by having three shots. Besides, duck hunters are notoriously rough on their gear, so grandpa’s mint-condition, custom-engraved trap gun is rarely found bouncing nearby in a muddy duck boat.

The first gun mentioned by some Outdoor Hub staffers was the trusty house of Remington 870 Wingmaster and Express guns.

Although (or maybe because) the invent hasn’t changed much in its 61-year history, the 870 is widely concept of as one of the best pump shotguns for a variety of applications also waterfowl, from upland birds and small game, to larger game like deer. This rugged smoothbore even stands up to the requirements of tactical and law obligation agencies. The most favorite gauges are 12 and 20, but it’s been offered in 16, 28 and .410 bores, not to mention multiple barrel lengths and also rifled slug barrels. The fact that you can now get one in with a stainless barrel, fitted to a hi-tech polymer stock means that you can have the best of both worlds a throwback produce from a bygone era, and a modern, efficient gun that won’t jam up, can take a beating, and will kill you a mess of birds!

In the kind of “intertia,” or semi-autos that don’t rely on internal gas pressure for cycling a round, the duck hunting shotgun on the top of our list is Benelli’s Super Black Eagle Ii. Although all of us loved the principle of a semi-auto that answers the immoderate weight problem of older gas models, we also agree that you have to spend a heckuva lot to get a non-gas semi-auto that positively works well in all conditions. When it comes to cycling shells into positions for followup shots, the reliability curve is quite steep when one dips much below the $600 mark for intertia guns.

What’s great about the Super Black Eagle Ii is that it pretty much represents pinnacle of intertia-driven guns. We say this because not only is it very dependable in all conditions but with this model Benelli has managed to sell out recoil and wonderful 48% which means smaller-framed folks can shoot 3 in. Shells with more accuracy and without being knocked on their butts. After all, when duck hunting season rolls around the last thing you want to worry about is how hard your gun will kick.

One of our staffers who has sense with the Mossberg 835 pump says he liked shooting 2 3/4 and 3 in. Shells, but when blasting geese with the 3 1/2 in shells he occasionally had problems with spent plastic hanging up or “stovepiping” on the way out. Although fullness durable for swampy conditions the Mossberg, he contends, is good as a turkey gun.

The only conclusions we reached when comparing these guns is that, shooting and round-cycling carrying out being equal, the choice of pump or semi-auto just comes down to whether or not a shooter wants to move his or her arm back and forth between shots. If doing that doesn’t influence your target acquisition, then your chances of a remington. mechanical question are mostly (but not always) reduced by shooting a pump gun. Because there’s a greater opportunity of mechanical failure with any semi-auto however, then a pump gun will always have more to offer from a pure reliability standpoint.
The other basic seeing we arrived at is that it’s very difficult to get beyond doubt reliable intertia-operated semi-auto for under $600.

Good luck this duck hunting season, and don’t forget that while commerce salesmen just want you to buy someone else gun, the best pump shotgun you can find might just be the one you’ve been using all along!