What I have owned and used:
The most would be the 870, followed by versions of the Mossberg, 97 and 12s both takedown and solid, 37, and then BPS.
I seem to always make the 870 work, but they never stood out beyond that of a tool.
The Mossbergs were a tool, clunky and cheap.
The 12s always seemed to be good, but two of my 97s, one solid, the other takedown, always had the WOW/Cool Factor best covered (though to the blind eye they didn't truly handle as well).
The BPS was clearly different than the 870 in mechanics, but I always thought of them the same, like maybe an 870 in Sunday clothes. Had one BPS I used for jump shooting ducks that I liked a bunch.
The 37s however, in forms of Riot/Trench gun, Featherlight, and Deerslayer, have all passed the blind test for me, at being very intuitive in the field, and just plain worked well. So for me, setting the WOW factors and the Tool factors aside, and merely looking at the joy I've found running a pump afield; I'd have to pick the 37 as my overall favorite to use.
