Auto vs. Pump

[shaunbowler@yahoo.com]

I have two very good Shotguns.
One Semi Auto and one Pump.
I prefer the Semi Auto in CQC.
What do you folks think. Why one over the other?

Thank You.

[Vinnie Boombatz]

You should have both.

[Kurgan]

I have a Benelli M3. Why choose?

[JohnCCW]

M1 Super 90

[DArBad]

I have one of each. A Benelli Super Nova and a Stoeger M3K. I like them equally.

[bigbossman]

I like the pump for ducks, and the auto for dove and quail.

[W.R.Buchanan]

It kind of depends on what you want to accomplish with your Shotgun Battery. I have 4 Pumps, 2 Autos, and 2 O/U's. For me, I have just about all my bases covered.

The 4 Pumps are 3 M500's and one Ithaca M37 which was my first shotgun.
The Ithaca is for Hunting and Skeet. It has a Cutts Compensator with a full set of Choke Tubes so I could conceivably do whatever I want with it.
1 M500, the short black one, is for the car during these trying times.
The Gray Short One is for the house, and the Long Black One is for everything, Defense, Offense, Classes, 3 guns etc. The last two both have Vang Comped Barrels which make them pattern superbly,,, 00 Buck into 7" at 25 yards!!!

The two O/U's are strictly for Clays.

The 2 Autos are both Browning A5's which I consider to be the Best Semi Auto Shotguns ever made. The Best One is strictly for Bird Hunting. The other I put together for Combat and Pig Hunting. It has a Smoothbore Buck Special Barrel which works perfectly for classes and 3 gun. It is so much faster than the Pumps Guns it is criminal, and I can easily beat your Benelli's and Berettas as well. It is simply faster to reload and get back in action when you run it dry. "Speed Feed feature!!! is the Ship!!!"
Since it is a Recoil Operated Gun there is no Gas to dirty things up, so it stays clean, and as long as it's well lubricated it runs flawlessly for a long time.
The other barrel is a Hastings Fully Rifled Barrel which makes the gun a .73 Caliber Rifle, and with Certain types of Slugs it actually acts like a big rifle. Both barrels have Open Sights. Easily good to 150 yards with the right ammo.
I feel all Combat and Fur Hunting Shotguns should have Rifle Sights.

So anyway,,, that's what I'm doing.

Randy

[BigPimping]

I bought as many shotguns as I can possibly afford. And I'm looking for more.

[tanks]

I have 3 SxSs (12 & 20 gauges) for hunting.
I have 2 O/U for clays
I have one semi-auto for social work. I prefer it to a pump due to faster follow up shots.

[FeuerFrei]

It's a tool box. Semi autos and pumpers. I don't use any break open stuff.

I favor 18" - 20" cylinder bore 12 ga. using bird, buck and slugs.

I don't hunt any more. Got tired of being shot at.

[shaunbowler@yahoo.com]

Great Info. Thank you.
All things being equal, why would you prefer one over the other?

[meno377]

Great Info. Thank you.
All things being equal, why would you prefer one over the other?

You didn't mention the Manufacturers nor the models, but in most to all cases the pump surpasses a semi auto for reliability. In a HD situation that matters more than any other reason.

An exception would be if you were extremely handicapped to the point that you couldn't pump a shotgun. Then the auto makes more sense.

[L-2]

I've got 3 pump action (two Remington 870; one Mossberg 590A1) and 1 semiauto (Remington 11-87P), but I'm concerned if my 11-87P breaks again, it'll be difficult to get repaired as it's now obsolete and parts may be hard/impossible to locate.

I probably should consider getting something else to replace it someday.

[bigbearbear]

I prefer autoloaders. I use a Benelli Supersport and my wife shoots a M2 Compact, both 12 gauge. We used to shoot them for trap shooting and runs through tons and tons of rounds with them before switching to O/U recently, so we're very familiar with the 2 Benelli autoloading shotguns.

Use whatever is available and you're most familiar with.

[L84CABO]

When it comes to shotguns, a lot of folks will emphatically tell you pump over semi-auto, due to reliability. And I'm not sure I understand this, given most folks will have no hesitation defending their life with a semi-auto pistol. Perhaps in times gone by a reliable semi-auto shotgun was a rare beast.

This, however, is no longer the case. I'll also add that I have seen plenty of pump guns jam or get short stroked. I say choose whichever gun you wish just as long as you have proven it be reliable with whatever your preferred number of rounds happens to be. YMMV.