When I moved to Louisiana and immersed myself in the hunting lifestyle here, I quickly realized I needed to buy a new gun if I wanted to be successful. I'm used to hunting with a rifle. The concept of firing pellets into the air at a moving target was foreign to me, but I wanted adapt. During winter break of my freshman year I went to my local Dick's Sporting Goods and bought my first shotgun. The weapon I bought was a Remington Model 870 Express 12-Gauge.
According to the Remington website, "If the Model 870 were introduced today, it would be hailed as a major advance in pump-action shotgun design - the ultimate in strength, durability, silky-smooth bind-free action, and sleek classical lines. Yet this remarkable shotgun has been around for almost half a century, and has become the best-selling shotgun of any type in history, with over ten million made."
This quote could not be more spot-on. I've used this shotgun in a wide variety of environments and it is yet to let me down. Its been rain, sleeted, and snowed on, its been dropped in mud and run over by an four-wheeler, and at the end of the day, following a quick dis assembly and cleaning, it has returned to action no different than the day it came out of the box.
However, this gun and others of the pump-action family, make up one half of the shotguns used in waterfowl hunting. It is perfect for the beginner hunter and is referred to as, "The All-American Gun." On the other end of the spectrum lies the semi-automatic, or autoloading, shotgun.
In 1963, Remington designer, Wayne Leek, debuted a revolutionary shotgun: it was the Model 1100 Autoloading Shotgun, a weapon system that propelled hunting into a new era.
The shotgun uses a recoil-powered loading system to move shells stored in the magazine, into the chamber, following discharge. Let's break down the action step by step.
1. The shooter pulls the trigger, discharging the firearm.
2. During discharge, the explosion from the fired cartridge forces the bolt to travel backwards.
3. As the bolt moves backwards, the spent cartridge is ejected from the weapon.
--3a. Simultaneously, a spring in the magazine pushes a new cartridge forward in place of the ejected one.
4. The bolt hits a spring that sends it forwards again.
5. Traveling forward, the bolt strips a new cartridge into place on the way.
6. The bolt locks back into position, ready to fire again.
While autoloading allows the shooter to send shells downrange more quickly, the complex design and increased amount of moving parts drastically increases the chance of operator error, jams and weapon system failure.
Shotguns have come a long way, but as history shows, the oldest weapons are still leading the way in hunting. At the end of the day, no one system is better than the other. What it really comes down to is preference. Autoloaders offer higher convenience and firing rate, but require more maintenance and have increased chance for failure. It all depends on what the operator wants. Personally, I'll stick with my pump action. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Until next time.
Good Hunting,
Gersh
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