Pump action

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A Winchester Model 1912 12-gauge pump-action

shotgun

A pump-action or slide-action firearm is

one in which a forend can be moved
forward and backward in order to eject a
spent round of ammunition and to
chamber a fresh one. It is much faster
than a bolt-action and somewhat faster
than a lever-action, as it does not require
the trigger hand to be removed from the
trigger while reloading. Once fired, the
forend is slid rearward by hand and the
expended cartridge ejected. It is then
reloaded by manually moving the forend to
the front.

History
The first slide action patent was issued to
Alexander Bain of Britain in 1854.[1]

Older pump-action shotguns are often

faster than modern semi-automatic
shotguns, as they often did not have a
trigger disconnector, and were capable of
firing a new round as fast as the pump
action was cycled, with the trigger held
down continuously. This technique is
called a slamfire, and was often used in
conjunction with the M1897 in the First
World War's trench warfare.[2]

Modern pump-action designs are a little

slower than a semi-automatic shotgun, but
the pump-action offers greater flexibility in
selection of shotshells, allowing the
shooter to mix different types of loads and
for using low-power or specialty loads.
Semi-automatic shotguns must use some
of the energy of each round fired to cycle
their actions, meaning that they must be
loaded with shells powerful enough to
reliably cycle. The pump-action avoids this
limitation. In addition, like all manual
action guns, pump-action guns are
inherently more reliable than semi-
automatic guns under adverse conditions,
such as exposure to dirt, sand, or climatic
extremes. Thus, until recently, military
combat shotguns were almost exclusively
pump-action designs.[3]

Advantages
The cycling time of a pump-action is quite
short. The manual operation gives a pump-
action the ability to cycle rounds of widely
varying power that a gas or recoil operated
firearm would fail to cycle, such as most
less-than-lethal rounds. The simplicity of
the pump-action relative to a semi-
automatic design also leads to improved
durability and lower cost. It has also been
noticed that the time taken to work the
action allows the operator to identify and
aim on a new target, avoiding a "spray and
pray" usage.

An advantage of the pump-action over the

bolt-action is its ease of use by both left-
and right-handed users: like lever-actions,
pump-actions are frequently
recommended as ambidextrous in
sporting guidebooks. However, most are
not truly ambidextrous, as the spent
casing is ejected out the side in most
designs.

Disadvantages
Like most lever-action rifles, most pump-
action shotguns and rifles use a fixed
tubular magazine. This makes for slow
reloading, as the cartridges have to be
inserted individually into the firearm.
However, some pump action shotguns and
rifles, such as the Russian Zlatoust RB-12,
Italian Valtro PM5 and the American
Remington 7600 series use detachable
box magazines.

Layout
A pump-action firearm is typically fed from
a tubular magazine underneath the barrel,
which also serves as a guide to the
movable forend. The rounds are fed in one
by one through a port in the receiver,
where they are pushed forward. A latch at
the rear of the magazine holds the rounds
in place in the magazine until they are
needed. If it is desired to load the gun fully,
a round may be loaded through the
ejection port directly into the chamber, or
cycled from the magazine, which is then
topped off with another round. Pump
shotguns with detachable box magazines
or even drums exist, and may or may not
allow the magazine to be inserted without
stripping the top round.

Operating cycle
Nearly all pump-actions use a back-and-
forward motion of the forend to cycle the
action. The forend is connected to the bolt
by one or two bars; two bars are
considered more reliable because it
provides symmetric forces on the bolt and
pump and reduces the chances of binding.
The motion of the bolt back and forth in a
tubular magazine model will also operate
the elevator, which lifts the shells from the
level of the magazine to the level of the
barrel.

After firing a round, the bolt is unlocked

and the forend is free to move. The
shooter pulls back on the forend to begin
the operating cycle. The bolt unlocks and
begins to move to the rear, which extracts
and ejects the empty shell from the
chamber, cocks the hammer, and begins to
load the new shell. In a tubular magazine
design, as the bolt moves rearwards, a
single shell is released from the magazine,
and is pushed backwards to come to rest
on the elevator.

As the forend reaches the rear and begins

to move forward, the elevator lifts up the
shell, lining it up with the barrel. As the bolt
moves forward, the round slides into the
chamber, and the final portion of the
forend's travel locks the bolt into position.
A pull of the trigger will fire the next round,
where the cycle begins again.

Most pump-action firearms do not have

any positive indication that they are out of
ammunition, so it is possible to complete
a cycle and have an empty chamber. The
risk of running out of ammunition
unexpectedly can be minimized in a
tubular magazine firearm by topping off
the magazine by loading new rounds to
replace the rounds that have just been
fired. This is especially important when
hunting, as many locations have legal
limits on the magazine capacity: for
example, three rounds for shotguns and
five rounds for rifles.

The BSA Machine Carbine used a unique

pump-action that also required twisting
the handguard.
Another variant was the Burgess Folding
Shotgun from the late 19th century where
instead of manipulating the forend to cycle
the action, it had a sleeve around the grip
area of the stock which the shooter would
slide back and forward to cycle the gun.
This was done because the forend based
pump action was under patent at the
time.[4]

Shotguns

The RMB-93 pump action shotgun which has the barrel

below the magazine tube
below the magazine tube

The Mossberg 590 pump action shotgun with the

barrel over the tubular magazine.

Pump-action shotguns, also called "slide-

action repeating shotguns" or "slide-action
shotguns" are a class of shotguns that are
distinguished in the way in which spent
shells are extracted and fresh ones are
chambered. The weapon has a single
barrel above a tube magazine into which
shells are inserted. New shells are
chambered by pulling a pump handle
(often called the forend) attached to the
tube magazine toward the user, then
pushing it back into place to chamber the
cartridge (in a few cases this action is
reversed). Fore-ends are replaceable, and
modern ones may include a pistol grip for
a more secure hold, picatinny rails, or a
tactical light.

Trigger disconnectors

Modern pump shotgun designs, such as

the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500,
have a safety feature called a trigger
disconnector, which disconnects the
trigger from the sear as the bolt moves
back, so that the trigger must be released
and pulled again to fire the shotgun after it
closes. Many early pump shotguns, such
as the Winchester 1897, did not have
trigger disconnectors, and would, if the
trigger were held back, fire immediately
upon closing.[2] Due to the higher rate of
fire that this allows, some shooters prefer
models without this feature, such as the
Ithaca 37,[5] Stevens Model 520/620,[6] and
Winchester Model 12.[2]

Rifles
When used in rifles, this action is also
commonly called a slide action or more
commonly referred to in the 19th century
as a trombone action.[7]

The Colt Lightning pump action rifle.

Colt manufactured the Colt Lightning

Carbine from 1884 to 1904 chambered in
.44-40 caliber.[8][9] Later pump action rifles
were manufactured by Marlin, Browning
and Remington.[10]

Airguns
The term pump-action can also be applied
to various airsoft guns and air guns, which
use a similar mechanism to both load a
pellet and compress a spring piston for
power, or pneumatic guns where a pump is
used to compress the air used for power.
See the airgun article for information on
how spring piston and pneumatic airguns
work.

Grenade launchers

The GM-94 Pump action 43mm Russian grenade

launcher.

The 43mm GM-94 is a pump action

grenade launcher developed by the KBP
design bureau for use by Russian special
forces. It carries three rounds in an above
the barrel tubular magazine.

Another pump action grenade launcher is

the China Lake grenade launcher, which
saw usage by the U.S. Navy SEALS in the
Vietnam War in limited numbers.

Other long gun actions

Bolt action
Lever-action
 Break-action
Falling-block action
Rolling block
Semi-automatic rifle

References
1. Simpson, Layne (15 December 2003).
Shotguns & Shotgunning. Iola, Wisconsin:
Krause Publications. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-
87349-567-5.
2. Adler, Dennis (10 November 2015).
Winchester Shotguns . New York: Skyhorse
Publishing. pp. 151–152. ISBN 978-1-5107-
0924-9.
3. Steier, David (13 December 2013). Guns
101: A Beginner's Guide to Buying and
Owning Firearms . New York: Skyhorse
Publishing. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-1-62636-
971-9.
4. "Forgotten Weapons - Burgess Folding
Shotgun" .
5. Kirchner, Paul (1 April 2008). Jim Cirillo's
Tales of the Stakeout Squad . Boulder,
Colorado: Paladin Press. pp. 31–32.
ISBN 978-1-61004-693-0.
6. Thompson, Leroy (20 August 2013). US
Combat Shotguns . Bloomsbury Publishing.
pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-1-78096-016-6.
7. Brophy, William S. (1989). Marlin
Firearms: A History of the Guns and the
Company That Made Them . Stackpole
Books. pp. 435–436. ISBN 978-0-8117-
0877-7.
8. Flayderman, Norm (2001). Flayderman's
Guide to Antique American Firearms... and
their values. Iola, WI: Krause Publications.
p. 669. ISBN 0-87349-313-3.
9. Boorman, Dean (2004). Guns of the Old
West: An Illustrated History. Lyons Press.
p. 128. ISBN 978-1-59228-638-6.
10. Spomer, Ron (1 July 2012). Predator
Hunting: Proven Strategies That Work from
East to West . Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
p. 75. ISBN 978-1-61608-709-8.

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