Winchester SXP Reviews
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Winchester SXP Defender
Winchester Shot Show Specials 2011 SXP Combo |
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winchester sxp defender
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Winchester Super X Pump
With its rotary bolt that allows it to cycle very smoothly and makes it very quick, the SXP is a slide-action shotgun that will serve any hunter well. ![]() Winchester likes to call the SXP “the pump that thinks it’s an autoloader” due to its fast, slick cycling. The first time I tried the gun at the SHOT Show, I loaded two shells to test that claim. I fired, then pulled on the slide. It wouldn’t budge. Puzzled, I looked at the gun. The slide wouldn’t move because it was already back, the empty already ejected and smoking on the ground. The gun is so smooth I had opened the action without knowing it. The same thing happened the next time I shot it. Once I figured out all I had to do was pull the trigger and flick the slide forward, I could shoot this gun very fast. The Super X Pump is the latest version of Winchester’s Model 1300 “Speed Pump,” which hasn’t been made since 2005. Introduced in 1978, the 1300 was an improved Model 1200, which was the notorious low-cost 1964 replacement of the legendary Model 12. While both the 1200 and 1300 suffer in comparison to one of the greatest shotguns ever made, they were a good value, finding a niche competing with the Mossberg 500 and the Remington 870 Express. The 1200 and the 1300 both feature a rotary bolt that unlocks and opens very quickly and is the secret to the action’s speed. The 1300 was made in the New Haven, Conn., Winchester plant until it closed in January 2006. At the time, Winchester management agreed with the union not to make the 1300 for three years. Winchester re-engineered the gun, renamed it, and found a Turkish vendor to produce it. Those guns are coming into the country now in 3-inch, 12-gauge, both as an 18-inch, cylinder-bored Defender model and a field gun with a 26- or 28-inch barrel. My test gun was a field model with a 28-inch barrel. The SXP is not a Turkish-designed gun with an American brand. It’s a gun made to Winchester’s specifications in Turkey. The new gun combines the lines of the popular Super X3 semi-auto, the old fast-pumping action, and several significant improvements over the old model. Says Glenn Hatt, Winchester product manager: “This gun will function better than any 1300 ever made.” Available in black synthetic, the 1300 takes styling cues from the Super X3. The stock has the X3’s semi-Cubist pattern of lines and planes. Red W’s here and there decorate the stock and receiver, and it even has replicas of the X3’s Quadra-Vent in the forearm. Of course, gas vents on a pump serve no purpose; they’re like the chromed, fake vent holes on the sides of 1950s cars. More significantly, the SXP has the X3’s rib profile and stock dimensions, a near-parallel comb arrangement that fits many shooters. It also has the soft “Inflex” recoil pad with a hard insert on the heel found on the X3 and Browning Maxus semi-autos. The barrel is bored to Browning’s standard overbore of .742, and the gun takes Invector-Plus chokes. Among the changes to improve the durability of the SXP is the elimination of the distinctive “fishtail,” V-shaped joint between the head of the stock and the rear of the receiver. The new straight-line joint is much stronger, while the receiver itself is made of aircraft-grade aluminum that is tougher than the impact-extruded aluminum of the old guns. Inside, the action bars and the plate upon which the bolt sits have been made from three pieces into one. Not only does that make the gun much easier to take apart—you can remove the action bars and bolt as one piece—it eliminates a source of wiggle and wear that was a weakness of the old design. After shooting the gun at the SHOT Show, I was reunited with it in Iowa and took it to the skeet field. I found it easy to shoot and smooth to cycle. With its light weight of 6 pounds, 14 ounces, it would make a good upland or turkey gun. The matte finish and sling swivel studs make it suitable for waterfowling, too. What don’t I like about it? The styling isn’t for me. I much preferred the traditional lines of the Super X2. Also, I prefer safety buttons at the rear of the trigger guard, not at the front where the SXP’s safety is located. Unfortunately the safety does not reverse easily for left-handed use, nor does the gun come with spacers to adjust its short 133/4-inch length of pull. The SXP lists for $399, putting it in competition with the 870 Express and 887, the Benelli Nova and the Mossberg 500. All five have something to offer. With Winchester you get a better recoil pad, an over-bored barrel and longer choke tubes. Among the $400 pump guns, the SXP appears poised to give the rest a fast shuck for their money. http://www.americanhunter.org/articles/winchester-super-x-pump/ |
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I completely agree with this, I have a SXP myself and love the thing. I recently went skeet shooting with the SXP and i was complemented about 4-5 times on how fast I was with the gun. My brother has a Browning Auto-loader and i was able to hit just as many doubles as him and i was using a 18inch pump shotgun. I Normally use my Remington 870 20g Pump to the range and i could never hit the doubles due to not being able to pump fast enough. I was never able to have a smooth pump, i was all over the place but the SXP is incredibly smooth , I was very impressed with how this gun performed on the range. |
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A number of years ago I had a fall resulting in a torn rotator cup to my left shoulder. Being right handed I found it has not restricted me in most of my everyday activities. Six months after injuring my shoulder I went out one day to shot my Remington 870 Home Defense shotgun. I found I could hardly work the action. My trouble was racking the slide back to eject the empty, I had no trouble moving the slide forward loading a live shell into the chamber. After giving my shoulder a few more months to heal along with weight and stretching exercises working the action on my 870 was a little better but I would still get what I call short stroke, causing the empty to eject but not load a shell into the chamber. Nothing worse than to hear a click on your follow up shot. I have a number of pistols from 380 and 9mm to 45 acp but I love a shotgun with a short barrel an open choke for home defense. One day at the shooting range I was looking at a friends Winchester 1300 and told him about my problem. He smiled and handed me his empty shotgun to load and shoot. I thought OK I’ll show him what happens when I try and rack off three or four shots in raped succession. To my total surprise I shot off four shots as smooth as butter, he explained and then showed me how the inertia of the recoil actual assists the rearward action of the slide. I proceed to shoot a box of shells without one short stroke. Where can I get one and how much was my next question, He told me Winchester stopped producing the 1300 Defender but to take a look at the SXP Defender. Long story short I’ve had my SXP Defender for a few weeks now with about 100 of assorted low brass, high brass and 00 buck shot and I can honestly say of all the shotguns I’ve shot over my many years of shooting. This is the smoothest action I’ve ever handled. Not to mention I have no more issues racking of my new home defense shotgun.
Frank
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I have never owned a pump action shotgun , but after reading the reviews and watching the videos on the SXP, i think that this gun is definately on my wish list ,
Marc ![]() God Created Man And God Created Woman
Sam Colt Made Them Equal |
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Marc, you will not be sorry. I've been shooting pump shotguns for over 30 years and this has to be one of the smoothest pump shotguns I've ever shot. Like I read in the advertisement, it's the pump that thinks it's an auto loader. ![]() Frank
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Well I just bought the new SXP waterfowl edition. So here's the deal. Took it out to shoot and found that the trigger pull was over twelve pounds. The trigger gauge only went that high. We guess it was at 15 pounds. I tried to call winchester.....never got a live person...anyone having this issue or have a fix? Otherwise I may have to take it to a gunsmith and have it worked over.....disappointed in it so far....
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I would claim it as a warranty issue with Winchester see what kind of results you get..................... just my 2cents worth
"Im just a Peckerwood who lives in the hills with too many guns"
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on the phone forever....never got a human
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When did you call? Keep trying hopefully now that the Holidays are over you’ll be able to reach someone. Good Luck Frank
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Thats what im thinking "Im just a Peckerwood who lives in the hills with too many guns"
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Gunner_D, you can never have too many guns.
Frank
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My SXP Defender arrived yesterday and I just wanted to compair it with my only other modern shotgun, a Remington 870 Marine Magnum.
For the money, the SXP Defender is just amazing. Almost as smooth as the Marine Magnum which sells for $350 more. The butt stock fits me better than the Remington. The drop at comb is just right. Fit and finish is fantastic. The only complaint in that department is that the edges of the slide rails are a little sharp. The design is very thought out. I really like the synthetic stock set, chrome bore, sling swivel studs, trigger, and safety. I'll have to get use to the manual bolt release, the 870 is better in that department. The dull black finish is as tough as nails. I put a Truglo snap on front sight on it and it didn't mar the finish at all. I probably removed that sight 4 times to get it just right. The only other minor complaint other than the sharp edges of the slide rails, is the clearance between the shell lifter and rotary bolt is tight when you load a shell. I think the 2 parts may actually touch and i can feel friction there. I'm sure cycling the action a few hundred time will loosen that up. What a nice shotgun. Thanks Winchester. |
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I got to shoot my SXP Defender before my cowboy match this morning. I used the same ammo as I use in the match, which is Remington GL128's. OMG, what a nice shotgun. I just love it. It points great. Knock down targets didn't have a chance. The TruGlo sight stayed on, it didnt budge, and was very bright even at 7:30 am in January.
After the first 2 rounds I had gotten use to the "automatic" ejection. Just way to cool and FAST. I'm a happy camper. |
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Where did you get the tru-glo sights for it? I'm thinking of upgrading the bead sights on a camp/field combo.
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Amazon.com. It was a bear to put on the first time and would snap on to far behind the front sight bead. I then learned to go at it at an angle. Then I decided to put a little BreakFree under it for rust prevention. http://www.amazon.com/Truglo-Defense-Fi ... lo+shotgun The installation looks so good it's almost factory. Oh Wait, it' now standard on on the Marine Defender from the factory http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/ ... mid=512268 |
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Cool ....thanks for the info, I will check it it out.
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I bought the waterfowl edition last year. It so far has only shot clays. I have only taken it out for birds once but wasn't a good day weather wise. On the range it has performed great. I probably have about 300 rounds so far and I have to say I like the gun. I am a small fellow with short arms and it fits me well, better than my old 870. I have had a bit of a problem though and one I hope never happens in the field. On both occasions I have had it at the range it has jammed shut after firing a round. I will fire the round and it will not cycle back. First time I just worked it a bit and it went. The second time at the range when it happened there was no cycling it. So I took it back and popped out the trigger assembly. I broke it right down so there was nothing left but the bolt still stuck in the chamber. What happens is the lugs turn a bit behind the grooves in the chamber and they don't line up for the bolt to come back out. From there I was able to twist the bolt a bit and out it came with the spent shell. I know how to get it out now and this has happened twice, though I have only had to take it apart once because of the issue. I really do like the gun and hope this rarely happens and never in the field. Out of the three of us that did the shoot this last go I did the best and out of all the guns I shot it worked best for me. I even used all three chokes and performed really well with all.
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I just picked one up Saturday.I never own a pump before.Shot two rounds of trap tp break it in.It was really a lot of fun.I cant believe the smoothness of the action.I just move the forearm back a very little and the shell come out.I really like this shotgun.The wood looks nice also.
Winchester SXP Field
Winchester 1300 Ranger Gloss. Winchester 50 |
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If the Winchester SXP is only half the shotgun my old Model 12 is you can all bet it will do the job. One thing bothers me about all the new firearms, no matter what they are. We used to have people in the U.S. who were good machinists and smart enough to make good firearms. Now it seems that virtually everything is imported. Even with a 32 inch barrel the balance of my old Winchester Model 12 is nearly perfect. My dad bought two in 1927 when I was 2 years old and gave me one with when I was twelve. It's taken many ducks and geese with no problem. As I mentioned before, if the SXP is even close it's a good shotgun.
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Hello rrcmay, welcome to the forum. Have read many stellar reviews about the SXP. My door buster is a 1941 Winchester 97 12 gauge 20". Works fine for me. Also have a 1924 standard.
GOA Life Member
NRA Sustaining Member USMC Korea vet Retired CWO3 USCGR |
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