"I've never had a gun not perform with proper care." Proper care is precisely the reason I shoot pumps. I know full well that I'm going to get mud, water, ice, grass, and everything else in my duck gun. The type of rugged dependability you get from an 870 or bps is worth the extra recoil to me. I also fundamentally believe a shoot pumps better. It's just a theory, but I believe the act of pumping forces me to re-address a missed target rather than simply pull the trigger again and make the same mistake twice.