Best Pump Shotguns

The pump action is the cheapest way into a shotgun, and the three famous names now sit at three very different prices. Here is what each one costs on our shelf today.

AmmoSpotter Research Desk By AmmoSpotter Research Desk
Published 9 min read
Best Pump Shotguns

What does a pump shotgun actually cost right now?

687 listings across our two pump categories, priced from $119.99 to $2,899. The median is $419.99, the quartiles are $319.99 and $519.99, and the distribution is lumpy rather than smooth: 30 listings under $200, 126 in the $200s, 130 in the $300s, then a bulge of 217 listings in the $400–499 band before it thins out to 53 in the $700–999 band and 19 above $1,000.

That $400s bulge is where the famous names live. Everything below it is an import, a Maverick, or a Savage 320.

Set that against the other shotgun actions we track and the pump's case writes itself. Median listing price by action: pump $419.99, semi-auto $1,039.99 across 1,254 listings, over-under $1,999.99 across 703. Single-shots are cheaper at $209.99, and they are single-shots.

Pump Shotguns, Cheapest First

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
See all matching deals →

Winchester has more pumps on the shelf than Mossberg and Remington combined

This is the finding that surprised us most. Listing counts in the pump categories: Winchester 194, Mossberg 118, Remington 41. The SXP is not the gun most buyers name first, and it is the gun most retailers actually stock.

It is also cheap for what it is. Winchester's cheapest pump listing is $299.99 and its average across all 194 is $417.24 — below the category median. The grid is clean: Black Shadow field guns at the bottom, then the 18-inch Defender variants a few dollars up.

Winchester SXP Pumps, Cheapest First

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
See all All Winchester deals →

The catch does not show up in the price. It shows up in the parts bin. Across our shotgun parts, barrels, magazines and sights categories, 72 listings name a Mossberg pattern and 50 name a Remington pattern — three name Winchester, and the cheapest of those three is $66.09. If you intend to change a barrel, add a sidesaddle or swap a stock later, the SXP is the one the aftermarket forgot.

Why the Remington 870 is now the most expensive mainstream pump we track

41 listings, cheapest at $455.99, averaging $617.48. Against a $249.99 Mossberg floor, that is roughly $200 to enter the same action type.

Remington 870 Pumps, Cheapest First

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
See all All Remington deals →

Two numbers from our vendor data explain what kind of purchase this is. Zero of the 41 Remington pump listings are carried by more than one retailer in our feeds — every one is a single-source listing, against 65.3% of Mossberg listings being multi-vendor. And only 2 of the 41 sit above their own recorded low, against 164 of Winchester's 194.

Read together, those say the 870 supply we see is thin and already priced at its floor. There is no cross-retailer arbitrage to find and probably no sale coming. If you want one, the price you see is close to the price there is.

That is a statement about the listings, not about the gun. The 870 has been made in the millions, the parts shelf behind it is the second-deepest we track, and a used one is a sane answer to this whole article — but used guns are not in our data, so we cannot price that for you.

Mossberg or Maverick? Often the same gun at two prices

Mossberg's floor is not a 500. It is a Maverick 88, and the Maverick listings are split across two brand records in our catalog, which means two different prices for near-identical guns depending on which record a retailer filed under.

Mossberg Pumps, Cheapest First

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
See all All Mossberg deals →

Maverick 88s, Cheapest First

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
See all All Maverick Arms deals →

The second grid is 13 listings packed into a $249.99–$289.99 band — the tightest price cluster of any brand in the category. Note that the titles in it still say "Mossberg Maverick 88"; the brand field is what differs. If you are hunting for the cheapest 88, check both grids, because the same configuration can appear in either.

What the Maverick gives up against a 500 is real but small: a crossbolt safety instead of the 500's tang safety, a non-interchangeable trigger group, and a shorter options list. What it keeps is the barrel interface and the general pattern, which is why the Mossberg-pattern parts shelf partly applies.

Mossberg's own average — $559.55 across 118 listings — is the highest of the three big names, because the 500/590 line stretches from the Maverick floor up past $1,000 into Retrograde and Mariner territory. The brand is not expensive; the top of its range is.

What you actually give up under $200

30 listings sit under $200. At the very bottom are imports — single-retailer records, no aftermarket, titles that sometimes do not state a barrel length. They are not fraudulent and they do fire, but the failure mode is that a broken part has nowhere to come from.

The sane floor is one step up, and it has a name: the 320, sold as both Savage and Stevens.

Savage and Stevens 320 Pumps, Cheapest First

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
See all All Savage deals →

That grid is worth reading carefully, because it demonstrates the same trap as the Maverick: rows filed under the Savage Arms brand have titles that say Stevens, and there is a separate, thinner Stevens brand record whose floor is lower still at $159.99. Same gun family, two records, two floors. Check both.

Savage's 18 pump listings average $240.21 and 15 of the 18 are stocked by more than one retailer — the highest multi-vendor rate of any volume brand here. Cheap and comparable across retailers is an unusual combination in this catalog.

Most pump shotguns in this catalog are field guns, not defence guns

If you arrived here from a home-defence search, the shape of the category may not be what you expect. Counting stated barrel lengths in listing titles:

Barrel lengthListingsTypical role
10–14 in26Firearm-type, not a shotgun in law
15–19 in230Defensive
20–22 in76Utility, turkey, slug
24 in and over307Field, clays, waterfowl
Not stated48—

So field barrels outnumber defensive barrels, and the supporting features follow: 180 listings carry a camo pattern, 131 name walnut or wood, 56 are barrel combos, 55 are youth or compact, 46 have a 3.5-inch chamber, 34 say turkey. Against that, only 11 listings mention ghost-ring sights and only 10 mention being optics-ready. Three are bullpups, starting at $519.99.

Capacity is the clearest thing you pay for. Listings stating 2–4 rounds (273) and 5 rounds (245) start at the category floor of $119.99. Listings stating 8 or more rounds — 55 of them — start at $453.99 and average $823.45. An extended tube is not a cheap upgrade when it comes factory-fitted.

If your use case is strictly defensive, our best home defense shotguns guide covers the pump-versus-semi-auto question, the barrel-length and pistol-grip legal line, and the lights-and-optics bill. This page is about the action type across every role.

Is 20 gauge the cheaper way in?

The gun, usually yes. The shells, no. Within the pump categories we track 467 listings that state 12 gauge, averaging $478.90, against 173 stating 20 gauge, averaging $404.39, and 30 in .410 averaging $423.82. The 20 gauge pump is the cheaper purchase.

Then you feed it. Here are both gauges live:

12 Gauge Price Index

Live · Oct 10, 2026
Market floor / round
$0.360
Market average
$1.009
Lowest box price
$6.09
30-day trend
▲ 3.4%
Compare all 12 Gauge deals by cost per round →

20 Gauge Price Index

Live · Oct 10, 2026
Market floor / round
$0.368
Market average
$0.922
Lowest box price
$7.92
30-day trend
▲ 2.2%
Compare all 20 Gauge deals by cost per round →

The per-shell floors are close, but 12 gauge sits below 20 gauge on the floor and offers far more choice at every load type. The full breakdown of where the 20 gauge premium is real — target loads versus buckshot versus slugs — is in 12 gauge vs 20 gauge. For a new shooter who will fire a few boxes a year, buy whichever gun fits. For anyone shooting volume, the 12 gauge pays you back in shells.

The shells will cost more than the gun

This is the part that decides how much of your budget the gun should get. Browse the 12 Gauge deals page and the spread is enormous, because shotshells are sold in 5, 10, 25, 100 and 250-shell packs and the box price tells you almost nothing.

Watch what happens when you sort the same cartridge two ways. Cheapest sticker price first:

Cheapest 12 Gauge by Box Price

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
See all matching deals →

Cheapest per shell first, restricted to packs of 100 or more:

Cheapest 12 Gauge Per Shell (100+ Packs)

Prices updated Oct 10, 2026
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Those are two completely different shelves. The first is small boxes of buckshot; the second is target-load flats. One is what you keep in the gun, the other is what makes you able to use it — and per shell, the gap between them is severalfold.

Cost Per Round Calculator

The only number that matters when comparing ammo. Shipping included.

Your true cost per round
$0.500

How many shells is "enough" has a real answer, and we have put numbers on it in how many rounds does it take to get good. The short version for a shotgun: a 250-shell flat is a few range trips, and flats are where the per-shell price collapses. Budget for several. If shell prices are moving while you plan, why ammo prices move explains what is driving it.

Shop around, or wait? For pumps, mostly wait

We can separate those two questions with vendor data, and for this category the answer is lopsided.

236 of 687 pump listings (34.4%) are carried by more than one retailer in our feeds, and the median price spread between the cheapest and dearest in-stock vendor on those is 4.60%. Only 22% of multi-vendor listings differ by 10% or more, and 3% by 25% or more. Shopping around is worth a few percent on most guns — the exceptions are large, and they are where the value is.

415 of 687 listings (60.4%) are priced above their own recorded low since February 2026, with a median gap of 5.86% and an upper quartile of 12.25%. Compared with the roughly 43% figure we see across the firearm catalog as a whole, pumps are marked up against their own history more often than firearms generally.

So the pump shotgun is a timing purchase more than a comparison purchase — with the brand-level exceptions already noted: Remington listings are single-source and sitting at their floor, Winchester listings are overwhelmingly above theirs, Mossberg and Savage are the two worth price-checking across retailers.

Get alerted when 12 Gauge price drops hit.

We watch every listing and email you the moment the cost per round drops.

Set Up a Free Price Alert

Shell prices move on their own schedule, so an alert on the gauge is the lower-effort half of this. Set one, buy the gun when a listing drops, and buy flats when the index does.

How we picked these

We did not pick them in the usual sense, and that is deliberate. Every grid on this page is a live query against our own listings — brand plus category, sorted by price — so what you see is what retailers are actually charging as you read it, not a ranking we froze months ago.

What we bring is the comparison the retailers cannot: listing counts, multi-vendor coverage, each listing measured against its own price history, and the parts shelf behind each pattern. The three big names here are all competent guns. The data says they are not equivalent purchases, and that is a different claim from saying one shoots better.

We do not run ballistics or endurance testing, and we do not publish shot-pattern results as if we had. For what we will and will not claim, see how AmmoSpotter ranks ammunition. When you have chosen one, how to buy a gun online and FFL transfers explained covers the transfer fee and paperwork that sit on top of every price above.

AmmoSpotter earns a commission when you buy through links on this page. It never changes what you pay, and it never decides what we recommend — our picks are ranked on live cost-per-round data pulled from every retailer we track. Full disclosure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest pump shotgun worth buying?+
The honest floor for a gun with a parts shelf behind it is the Savage/Stevens 320 and the Maverick 88, both of which show up in the low-to-mid $200s and below on our listings. Cheaper imports exist and they function, but they are almost all single-retailer listings with no aftermarket, so a broken shell lifter becomes a dead gun rather than a $15 part.
Is the Mossberg 500 or the Remington 870 the better buy?+
On price data it is not close right now. We track 118 Mossberg pump listings starting at $249.99 against 41 Remington listings starting at $455.99, and the Mossberg-pattern parts shelf is larger. The 870 is the better-feeling gun to many shooters and has the tang-versus-crossbolt safety argument in its favour, but you are paying roughly $200 more to enter.
Do I need a 12 gauge, or will a 20 gauge do?+
A 20 gauge pump is usually the cheaper gun and the more expensive gun to feed. Our 20 gauge pump listings average less than the 12 gauge ones, while the per-shell floor for 20 gauge sits above 12 gauge in the live index below. If you shoot a few boxes a year the gauge barely matters; if you shoot clays weekly, 12 gauge wins on running cost and on how much choice you get.
Can I buy a pump shotgun online and have it shipped to me?+
A shotgun ships to a licensed dealer near you, not to your door, and you complete the background check there. Expect a transfer fee on top of the listed price. State and local rules on barrel length, capacity and pistol-grip-only configurations vary and change, so confirm with your dealer before you order anything unusual.
Why are pump shotguns so much cheaper than semi-autos?+
A pump has no gas system, no recoil spring tube assembly and far fewer machined parts, and the two dominant designs have been in production for decades with the tooling long since paid off. The median pump listing we track is well under half the median semi-auto listing. You pay for that in rate of fire and in felt recoil, not in reliability.
How many shells should I budget for alongside the gun?+
More than you think, and that is the real argument for buying the cheaper gun. A single 250-shell flat of target loads costs a meaningful fraction of a budget pump, and getting genuinely competent takes several of those. Use the cost-per-shell calculator below with the live index before you decide how much of your budget the gun should eat.
Topics 12 Gauge 20 Gauge Shotguns Budget Picks Home Defense Hunting

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AmmoSpotter Research Desk

About the author

AmmoSpotter Research Desk

Price & Ballistics Research

The AmmoSpotter Research Desk analyzes live retail pricing across every ammunition, firearm and accessory listing we track. Recommendations here are ranked against real cost-per-round data pulled daily from the retailers we monitor - not against manufacturer marketing copy.

  • ✓Tracks 180,000+ live product listings across 6 retailer feeds
  • ✓Records price history on every listing, every day
  • ✓Cost-per-round methodology applied to all ammunition rankings
  • ✓No product is ranked without a verifiable in-stock retail price
  • ✓Affiliate relationships never influence rankings

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