Legendary outdoor writer Nash Buckingham hunted waterfowl with a Winchester Model 97 pump during his younger days. Despite its flaws, however, the pioneering gun remained in production until around 1907. It didn't help that the shotgun ejected empty shell casings upward through the top of the receiver, into the shooter's line of sight. But the Spencer pump never won the hearts of American duck hunters, in large part because it was too heavy and awkward for field use. Its slide-action design-one early publication called it a 'trombone style of gun'-was a genuine breakthrough. The Spencer repeating shotgun, as it came to be known, featured a tubular magazine and a forearm that slid rearward to cycle the action.

The first practical pump-action shotgun was patented in 1882 by American inventor Christopher Spencer and his English collaborator, Sylvester Roper. Here's a look at history's first successful repeating shotgun, and an exploration of why many waterfowlers still believe that the pump is the best all-around gun for hunting ducks and geese. Although the autoloader has in recent years become the darling of most duck hunters, the pump is still going strong. Its three-shot capacity gave it a decided advantage over the classic side-by-side double gun, and it beat out the autoloader in dependability and price. Manually operated, the pump gun relies on the coordination and timing of the shooter rather than on sophisticated mechanisms that can fail under tough hunting conditions.ДЇor decades, the pump gun reigned as the most rugged and durable waterfowl firearm around. There's a love of automation, yes, but that is checked by the need for hands-on performance.

One can still see the Industrial Revolution's marriage of man and machine in the classic slide-action design. The pump gun is a product of the late 19th century, and even the newest models hark back to the earliest days of the machine age.

Winchester model 25 pump gun