I take the pump gun out from time to time and shoot clays with it. It is my primary hunting gun and clays are good practice for hunting. It is really fun when we decide to shoot skeet with the turkey chokes in.
Unfortunately I do not take the pump guns out as much as I would like.
Biggest reason is since I go water fowling more times then I go small game anymore they sort of get passed up.
From time to time I will take a pump for ducks but since most of the older shotguns I have are not chambered for larger then the 3" shells they sit. Plus the simi-autos are easier to hunt with.
I grew up shooting skeet with my 870. After about a year, I was able to buy a used Skeet barrel for it! Made a nice improvement in the scores for a 15 year old!!
Still love the gun, but rarely use it other than when I have the slug barrel on it. It has been replaced by an 11-87 in the field, and a Browning Special Sporting Clays edition on the skeet field.
I hunt waterfowl with a Mossberg 835 and just got an Ithaca model 37 in 16ga. Have not had it out yet but do plan on taking it after some preserve ringnecks.
It's rair that I shoot clay birds, but when I do I always use a pump. To me it's more for practice than trying to get a good score. Shooting with some of those guys just takes all the fun out of it. They get way too serious.
You could always tell when it was getting close to hunting season. The guys that normally had dedicated trap guns broke out the pumps.
Most of the shotguns I have are pumps, I love them, the
Remington 870's are my favorite. I do have one o/u that I
shoot alot on clays and upland birds but I grew up using
pumps so they are what I like the most.
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