I started with a cheap pump to start hunting eight years ago (SXP) and after three years of it I decided to upgrade to a semi after my partner also got a semi so it was a bit of an arms race.

I put about four years into a Winchester SX4. It's a nice light semi that shoots pretty fast. However, I got a bit of money recently from work and decided to splurge on a step up. Same family - Browning - and same choke system. So I've been shooting a Browning Maxus 2 since the start of duck season and so far it's been pretty good. Even though both are gas operated, the Maxus 2 has a bit of a kick to it and also shoots lower than I am used to. But I'm getting used to it and it has a couple bells and whistles more than the SX4. It has a magazine cut off so that if you are shooting duck loads and a flight of geese comes on you; you can rack out the chambered shell and quickly throw in a BB. Nice in theory but I've yet to do it. The other feature is that if you run dry, you don't have to put one in the ejection port and chamber it (two motions). Instead you can shove one into the loading port and it will be sucked up automatically and chambered. Again nice in theory but that function hasn't been as reliable as it seemed when I tried it out at the store.