Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Pump Rifles and deer

But that's not necessarily an easy decision either. The O-rings eventually tear and any good PA gunsmith will tell you pretty much the only time they see Remington pumps come in is when the O-rings have tore and then bound up the pump handle. A lot of guys don't want them replaced for that reason.

The Benoit family from Vermont seemed to take an awful lot of big deer, stalking with Remington pumps. They must be quiet enough for that I imagine.

Hmmmm ...... I've never heard or experienced that before, but can see how it would be a problem. When I replace those rings, I always clean out the forend tube and lightly lube it with lithium grease. Not sure it that helps in the long run but it does run smoother.

I have a 7600 now that has the smoothest forend/action I've ever seen. If you stand the rifle upright and hit the forend release button, the slide will fall almost to the back of the action on it's own.

Lithium grease should be great. But WD-40 will rot those O-rings quick. And back in the day a lot of guys used it on their guns.

I bet that would be a great pump gun. I've thought of doing the same thing, maybe cut the barrel to 20" too.

I've had the hammer cock of Winchester 94's and T/C Renegade stop deer cold. They don't like that sound.

The forearm was just one more noise thing that I could eliminate by going to a bolt action. My 141 and 760 both went on the used rifle rack in favor of a quieter, better quality one and done bolt action. About that same time I changed from where I hunted with a group in the heavily hunted north east part of the state where shooting at a moving animal was a pretty common occurrence. Being a M12 and 870 pump gun bird hunter, the pump deer rifle seemed a natural for a faster follow up shot. I don't remember needing a follow up shot in a long time where I deer hunt now.

Pump guns aren't for everyone.

Just the cooler, smarter kids.

Better quality? Really? What did you get a Sauer or Blaser?

Some steel traps have been rusted closed.

I have killed MORE deer with
760 in 35 Whelen
Six in 6mm Rem
Six in 270W
Six in 30-06

than ALL the bolt rifles combined. I’ve had a bunch of B As and killed deer with all
of them too.

There are lots of Wives Tales without substance.


Jerry

My best and most productive years were spent with a 760 pump in my hands.

No rifle is perfect. You pay attention and work with what ya got.
Yeah my 55 yr old 760 can rattle. Not bad,
I can move it around quietly.


General movement (still hunting), it's no big deal. It's way more quiet than any M500 shotgun.
Hate those POS.

My 500 doesn't rattle AT ALL and has accounted for several dozen deer. You've just got to be smart enough to know how to tighten them up. It's not hard and only takes a few minutes.

I started a separate thread but...

I'm thinking about a Savage M170 to play around with.

If you are truly smart you don't buy a fuggin Mossberg.
They were a solid choice back in the smoothbore days.
Tended to outshoot other platforms. Junky but worked well.

Once rifled bbls came out, the swap to Remington was the logical choice.
Still is.

Got my first gun deer w a M500 Regal.
Bought new for $215.
Gave it away after one season.

I slug hunted for many years and have owned a pile of fully rifled and smoothbore slug guns including several 870's, Win. 1300's, Ithaca 37's and Mossberg 500's. My rifled cantilever barreled 500 was the most accurate of the bunch and has never malfunctioned once in the 30 years and thousands of rounds I've used it. In fact, all the others are now gone and the 500 is all that remains, just in case I decide to hunt a slug zone again someday. And please don't try to tell me what a good pump gun is or isn't. I was gunsmithing professionally in a slug zone for years and set up/ accurized/test fired/built/repaired a lot of slug guns. Too many people think if a pump gun isn't "tight" it's junk. Well if that's the case then the Ithaca 37 is the biggest heap out there. Those can have the rattle/slop taken out just as easily as a Mossberg. Surely a genius gun expert such as yourself could accomplish it no problem.

I bought 'OlRufus' 7600. It was the rebore from 243 to 358 Winchester. Cleaned and oiled, synthetic stock, and ready for hunting. I didn't want to ruin the stocks and wish to do some camo art on the synthetic. The trigger job needs to be done and reverse the sinistra safety. I have a folding ghost ring and a Tech-Sights protected post front to install and a forward mount scope base to find. I will then set up a scope and a dot sight in QD rings and will be set for all weather. When finished you guys can critique it or whatever. I know a few guys that will appreciate it whether they want one like it or not. Be Well, .RZ

Isn't that the 30-30 pump? I heard those frequently have jamming issues Tom.

Isn't that the 30-30 pump? I heard those frequently have jamming issues Tom.
I gave my son my 12 ga. 870 in exchange for his little 500 Bantam 20 ga. I've got a cantilever rifled slug barrel on it, and it works just fine. With the choke tube barrel it makes a nice little grouse gun. No complaints here whatsover. The slug barrel wears an old Weave K2.5, and it really likes Hornandy SST saboted slugs. 2" group at 100 yards. Plenty good enough for me for minute of deer accuracy. Mossy's get a bad rap, but I've never had a problem with this nice little gun.