Pumped for action

Tom Sykes tells of his love of pump action shotguns and how he learned to use them effectively

- Tom Sykes

I always wanted a pump-action when I was young, primarily due to the aesthetics. Most pump actions look big and mean and there is an inner child in most people who shoot that lets us believe we look so much cooler doing anything with a pump action. This image probably stems from Hollywood action films, where actors crank a new round into the chamber at any given opportunity.

I was never allowed one as a youngster, as my dad always believed that they weren’t that practical compared with semi-automatics, and he thought I would struggle with cycling the gun in a live-fire situation. Fast-forward to my early twenties and I found myself purchasing one of my dream guns, the Winchester Ranger. The beaten-up old wooden gun would be a game-changer for me and prove that you can be just as effective with a pump as any other gun, if not better.

Beginnings

I was still following my gamekeeping career when I picked up the Ranger and decided to spend the afternoon getting to grips with the mechanism and the art of ‘pumping’. I was determined to be proficient and what better way to start than with an abundant rabbit population on the estate. I walked up the rush fields with a pocket full of shells and the newly acquainted ‘musket’ at the ready. I rattled through a few shots over the course of an hour or so and had as many rabbits to show for the spent shells. It turns out that the old Ranger and I hit it off immediately and made light work of the darting bunnies. A downside was that I didn’t get to pump the gun as necessary to fire any follow-up shots. Despite this, I still managed to pump the gun quickly after each engagement.