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Why are pump action shotguns such a dominant force in the firearm industry?
Everywhere else, we've moved on to semi-auto rifles and semi-auto handguns. While semi-auto shotguns exist and are certainly prevalent, the tried and true pump action refuses to die.
The pump action is as simple and reliable as a sledgehammer. If I had to guess, it stuck around because it's still relevant to modern shotgun tactics.
Let’s dive deeper into pump action shotguns. I’ll show off some of my favorites and talk you through the pros and cons of the platform.
Picking the best pump action isn't an easy endeavor. For this list, I picked shotguns that were still in production and not imported or produced in such small batches they were impossible to find. To make the cut, they have to be tough, accurate, readily available, and easy to customize.
The entire team at Pew Pew Tactical had input on this article and has put shells through each of the pump action shotguns you see here. Slugs, buckshot, upland hunting loads -- you name it, we've tried it. When you see a shotgun on this list, you know we trust it, whether it lives under the bed or in the corner of a duck blind.
For guns we've written about, we've made sure to link their reviews below so you can get more info. For review guns, we maintain a strict testing protocol. Review shotguns undergo extensive range testing with round counts over 500 rounds. We also pattern .00 buck at 5 yards, 10 yards, 15 yards, and 25 yards and also do a slug test at 100 yards for good measure.
Best Pump Action Shotguns
1. Mossberg 590 Tactical - Best Pump Action Home Defense
The Mossberg 590 Tactical traces its roots to the Mossberg 500 that's dominated the American market since 1961.
This basic gun utilizes a tube magazine, dual action bars, a bead sight, and a field stock.
The 500 tends to be the sporting option, but security models exist. The 590 is a tactical series of shotguns designed for home defense and duty work.
Unlike most shotguns, the 590 Tactical doesn't come with a basic bead sight lifted for the world of bird hunting. It has ghost ring sights that are much more accurate in a tactical setting and you can opt for an M-LOK handguard if you want to add a light or other accessories.
Mossberg uses a tang-mounted safety that's ambidextrous and user-friendly. The controls are laid out simply, easy to access, and very easy to manipulate.
With great popularity comes great aftermarket support. You can accessorize your Mossberg nearly as much as an AR-15. Slap all manner of stocks, forearms, lights, and optics on these guns and make them your own.
The weapons are similar, and both come in various designs and gauges. They share a similar setup but differ in the magazine tube and barrel design.
Popularity breeds innovation, and you can find a 500 or 590 in nearly any configuration you want.
This includes magazine-fed models, field guns, slug guns, and the compact Shockwave. Prices vary depending on features, and the more basic models can be very affordable.
At their core, these guns are designed to be robust, easy to use, and ergonomic.
Remington claims to have built more than 13 million model 870 shotguns so it's hard to pick a favorite. The classic 12-gauge Fieldmaster setup with real hardwood is tough to beat, though.
It's robust, versatile, and very capable. Pick up a few chokes or even spare barrels to cover everything from sporting clays to big game.
Working with an 870 is always an enjoyable experience. The action is slick and smooth, the construction and lock-up are rock solid, and the gun's raised bead ensures your point of aim and point of impact match.
People don't realize how innovative the 870 was when it was introduced in 1950, when the Winchester Model 12 reigned supreme. How do you unseat a gun known as the perfect repeater?
With the 870, shooters received the first gun to use dual-action bars for enhanced reliability and anti-bind design.
Mass production was key, and Remington managed to sell the 870 at an affordable price while offering a very well-made, high-quality gun (hey, that sounds a lot like the magic behind the Remington 700).
This shotgun has been made nearly continuously since 1950 and has become incredibly popular.
Remington has produced dozens of variants to accommodate the tactical crowd, the hunting crowd, trap shooters, wing shooters, and more. Choose from all kinds of gauges, barrel lengths, chamber lengths, and materials.
These guns (especially older examples) are top-tier pump shotguns sold at a fair price. Remington may rise and fall, but the 870 will live forever.
When it comes to affordability, there is no better option than the Mossberg Maverick.
For less than $300, you can buy a robust shotgun for hunting and home defense.
Some cost-saving cuts are made to keep the price low and deliver a basic but entirely useable shotgun.
These include a one-piece forend, a lack of optics cuts, and a cross-bolt safety instead of the 500's tang safety but they don't take away from the functionality of the shotgun. It's still a dual-action bar shotgun with a bead sight and a versatile configuration.
Most 500 accessories will fit the Maverick, giving you room to customize the gun as you see fit. While cheaper, the gun is still incredibly durable and very reliable.
It performs on par with the more expensive guns on this list and eats through nearly any ammo you toss through it. Think of it as inexpensive, not cheap.
If I bought a Mossberg Maverick 88, I'd get the combo field and security model. This option offers you two barrels and doubles the versatility.
4. Benelli SuperNova Tactical - Best Value Pump Action
The Benelli SuperNova series is criminally underrated. I would go as far as to say that it's the greatest advancement to pump actions since the Remington 870.
Benelli used a heavy dose of polymer that cuts weight while providing a corrosion-free finish.
Its pump is much longer than most and sits further back on the receiver. If you have shorter arms, you'll find this action much easier to cycle than most.
Benelli installed a magazine cut-off on the pump that allows you to open the action without plopping a round out of the magazine tube. This makes slug-select drills easy.
The safety is reversible for lefties. The SuperNova also uses a recoil-reducing stock with this chevron design to spare your shoulder from the abuse of 12-gauge recoil.
It's a magnum gun that can fire 3.5-inch shells. You can hunt nearly anything with a SuperNova, from deer to doves and geese. Those big ejection and loading ports also make it a lot easier to load the gun, which is critical for tactical or competition shooting.
Across the top, we have ghost ring sights as the standard, and the receiver is tapped and ready for a rail and a shotgun red dot.
Benelli is often associated with high prices, but the SuperNova is surprisingly affordable. If I had to pick one pump actions to escape into the wilds, it'd be this one.
This might be a controversial one but hear me out.
KelTec often has some bugs in their guns, but, as of right now, the KS7 is the best pump action bullpup shotgun I've ever used. I've had one for several years now, and it runs flawlessly.
As a bullpup shotgun, it's hardly any bigger than a Shockwave, but you get a stock and seven rounds in the magazine tube.
It's also crazy light at only 5.9 pounds. Bullpup shotguns put your hands awfully close to the muzzle, but KelTec wisely put an integrated handguard on the KS7.
The action is super smooth and runs like a scared bat. Bullpups often don't work well for lefties, but the KS7 uses a bottom-loading and bottom-ejecting design to keep hulls out of your face, no matter which hand is running the trigger.
A space-age carry handle sits across the top with a massive, high-visibility sight. That carry handle also provides M-LOK slots to mount accessories, side saddles, and lights. If you don't care for the side saddle, you can install an optic rail pretty easily.
Recoil can be rough, so learn your push-pull technique to make sure you can control it. It's a well-put-together shotgun that has taken me by surprise.
My last pick is always a wildcard, and this time the wildcard is the Benelli M3. It's not just a pump action shotgun; you can use it as a semi-auto, too.
It's one of the rare guns that offers a hybrid design that mixes a Benelli inertia system with a pump action design.
As a hybrid, you get the best of both worlds. A fast-firing rate with lower recoil in semi-auto mode and the ability to cycle any round with the pump action.
All it takes is the spin of a ring, and your gun converts easily. Somehow, it still checks in at just 7.2 pounds, so there's not even a weight penalty for this feature.
Like all Benelli shotguns, this is a fine piece of Italian engineering. Everything about the gun feels high-quality.
This includes awesome controls, excellent accuracy, and incredible reliability. The pump action is super smooth and very satisfying.
The main downside is that when the gun runs empty, the bolt locks to the rear, and you can only release the bolt with the press of the bolt release -- not the pump. That adds some complexity,y but you can make it work with practice.
Oh, and it's expensive. You could buy several of my other picks for the price of one M3.
Benefits of Pump Actions
The inner workings of most pump action shotguns are very similar. It helps to understand how they work so you can pick the best one for you and confidently perform basic cleaning and maintenance on whichever one you buy.
Pump shotguns tend to offer a number of benefits over semi-auto designs. The main being the ability to use a much wider variety of ammunition.
Semi-autos need a certain amount of power to function reliably. Pump shotguns have no such issues.
A pump gun can eat the lightest loads without issue because you're cycling the action in between shots, not a finicky gas system. Pump shotguns can handle those uber-light trap loads, short shells, less lethal loads, breaching loads, and more.
If a shell can safely chamber and fire, you can use it in a pump action shotgun.
Pump action guns also offer an exceptionally affordable firearm with a high-quality design.
A nice Remington 870 or Mossberg 590 costs less than a budget AR-15. Pump guns still offer a rapid-cycling design and allow for proper combative use.
A manual action means the weapon isn't maintenance-heavy and can be used and abused without much TLC. Since you're running the action, there's no dirty gasses caking the inner workings of your action with carbon buildup after every shot.
As manual operating weapons, they often get a green light from anti-gun legislation and are common across the United States and the world (as are aftermarket parts and accessories).
Downsides of Pump Actions
Pump action shotguns are awesome -- not perfect.
They tend to be mechanically reliable than an autoloader but it's more likely that you, the shooter, can cause a malfunction. Short stroking is a very real thing that can occur with poorly trained shooters.
Pump shotguns also require two hands to operate quickly and accurately. That's not useful if you have a hand or arm injury.
Since there's no gas system to absorb recoil, pump guns kick harder than semi-auto shotguns. It takes a skilled shooter to get anywhere near the firing rate of a semi-auto.
This article comes from Pew Pew Tactical author Travis Pike. A self-proclaimed shotgun nerd, Travis loves everything related to shotguns. In fact, he writes most of the shotgun articles you see on Pew Pew Tactical. Aside from owning a few, he tests quite a bit for Pew Pew Tactical and the other publications he writes for. In fact, Travis has spent thousands of hours at the range testing as well as researching the best models available on the market. His experience as a Marine Corps machine gunner, NRA-certified instructor, concealed carry trainer, and 3-Gun competitor gives him unique insight into a wide variety of guns, including the beloved pump action shotgun.
This round-up was edited by Pew Pew Tactical Editor Wyatt Sloan. Wyatt is an NRA-certified instructor with previous experience as a USPSA competitor. He personally owns over 200 firearms and has 10 years of home-based FFL firearm sales. Wyatt uses his extensive experience with firearms at large to test guns for Pew Pew Tactical — evaluating them based on our standards and metrics. You can see some of his shotgun knowledge in action in our Best Home-Defense Shotguns: Tactical, Pump & Semi-Auto round-up.
Final Thoughts
Pump action shotguns are a common choice for defensive, hunting, and sporting -- remarkably reliable, affordable, and capable.
A pump action shotgun is the way to go when you need a quality defensive weapon on a budget.
What's your favorite pump action shotgun? Let us know in the comments below. In need of a home defense shotgun? Take a look at our list of the Best Home Defense Shotguns.
Latest Updates
December 2024: Updated the Remington Fieldmaster to the in-stock 28-inch synthetic version.
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