In Hard Usage Which is most reliable, lever-action or pump action?

[Crash]

I watched a video recently that claimed that a lever-action, because of all the parts moving at the same time and all the small screws, would be more likely to need repair than a bolt action or an AR-15 style semi-auto, especially after a lot of hard action. But, what about a pump-action rifle? Would a pump be more reliable than a lever, especially after hard use? I don't have a pump-action rifle, but I do have a Mossberg Model 500 20 gauge shotgun and it seems to be very reliable.

Your thoughts?

Crash

[jb2012]

There is just so many more variables involved, than just one is better than the other. If you wanted to compare specific models that would be one thing. This is pretty similar to the age old “Which ____ is best?”
Everyone will give you a different answer.

That said for lever guns: henry, marlin or winchester. Henry being probably the fanciest, marlin being the affordable workhorse, and winchester is the classic.

[Crash]

Lever actions have a magazine that is prone to damage in "hard use", but as long as your fasteners are place with thread-locker or something similar, it should not be a real issue. They were the first high-capacity assault rifles.

Pumps, in rifle-calibers, are a bit more problem prone, relating to a (generally) more complex loading/extraction sequence.

You will note: there are many pump shotguns, not many pump rifles, and many lever rifles, but not many lever shotguns. By this point in history, the cartridges have pretty well settled into the platforms optimized for their relative sizes, in relation to the mechanisms feeding them.

Overall, in "hard use", you will find the most reliable platforms to be as follows, in order of reliability/longevity of use in field:

Bolt-action battle-rifle (really can't beat the Enfield, or Mauser-action)
Semi-auto battle rifle/carbine (FAL/Garand/AK/AR/G3)
Lever-action rifle (not many factory offerings today qualify, out-of-the-box)
Pump-action shotgun
Lever-action shotgun


Pump-action rifle

Rob72,

Yeah, it would seem logical that if pump-action rifles were reliable in combat/police, there would have been a lot of them used for those purposes. I do note, however, that many LE agencies and military services use pump-action shotguns--not that that necessarily means that pump-action rifles would be suitable for such usage.

I have a Ruger American in .270 Winchester and haven't used it much, but it seems pretty reliable and is as easy to clean as most bolt-action rifles. As I stated in my original post, I have a Mossberg Model 500 in 20 gauge which is very reliable and which I can cycle much faster than the Ruger (of course) and even faster than my Browning M92 lever-action in .44 Mag. Which leads to the question, will the Mossberg in 20 gauge be more reliable in hard use than the Browning in .44 Magnum--or is there any way of knowing that without putting them through some "hard knocks"?

Thanks for your help,

Crash

[puma guy]

Since the lever action has been around since 1866 and the pump action since just before the turn of the century and many of those guns are still going strong I'd say the jury is still out. Just in case anyone wants to get rid of their aged lever guns (especially Marlins) to update to the newer pump actions I'll be glad to take them off your hands!