
It was designed to be used only with black powder, and after it was on the market for a short time, Winchester had John Browning beef up the receiver and make several internal changes to enable the gun to handle the smokeless propellant’s higher pressures.īy 1897, Winchester had made and sold about 30,000 Model 1893s. The 1893 was caught between two eras in firearms history, the end of black powder and the beginning of smokeless powder. It should come as no surprise to a reader of this publication that both designs came directly from the fertile mind of John M. That first successful pump-gun was the Winchester Model 1897, which was an improved variant of the Model 1893. That obviously hasn’t happened, and today, some 120 years after the first successful slide-action went on the market, the good old pump still plays a big role in the shotgun sports. This is not always a good thing, especially with an inexperienced shooter.Īt one time, there were predictions that the autoloader would someday replace the pump gun. Fire a pump gun and the chamber isn’t reloaded until you “rack the slide.” Fire an autoloader and, if there’s ammo in the magazine, you instantly have another round in the chamber ready to go - with your finger on the trigger. And it’s a safety concern with some shooters. They may not truly trust a semi-auto and are comforted by the simplicity of a pump. Some shooters prefer the manually-operated pump because they want to be more in control of the gun’s operation. The recoil-operated autos are cleaner but some, especially the older long-recoil designs, have more of a kick than either the gas guns or pumps. Gas-operated actions are dirtier due to the burnt powder that accumulates and they generally require more maintenance and cleaning. They tend to be heavier and are not as easy handling in the field. There are several different types of semi-auto actions, but all have a more complicated operating system that can be more troublesome than a pump.

The same can be said for the semi-auto, but the self-loading guns aren’t for every shooter.
#Ithaca 37 shotgun video how to#
America has been called a nation of riflemen, and those who learned how to shoot with a rifle are likely to be more comfortable sighting down the rib of a shotgun with one barrel. Many shooters prefer the sighting plane of a single-barrel shotgun. It’s the go-to gun for those shooters who prefer its simple design over the more complicated autoloaders and the pricey doubles and over/unders. Generation after generation, the pump-action remains a favorite scattergun for a variety of reasons. The pump, or slide-action, can do any job well. Its popularity is widespread with all types of shooters and for any shotgunning applications, including hunting, competitive shooting, self-defense, law enforcement and the military. The pump-action shotgun has been the favorite choice of many American hunters for well more than a century. This pump-action, bottom-ejecting shotgun is available in a number of configurations.More than two million Model 37s have been produced over its 80-year history.


