Emperor Arms Duke

The Duke is a pump-action shotgun, designed to be affordable and reliable. It comes in the usual cardboard box with a window cut out for you to see your new toy. A few accessories are included: one 5 round magazine, a barrel wrench (for changing chokes), some lube and assembly instructions. The safety is well placed on the Duke; it is large enough to be easy to operate (even with heavy gloves), but still small enough not to be accidentally activated. Weapon manipulation (such as racking or loading) can be handled easily by left-handed shooters, unlike many other shotguns. It's no secret that pump guns are generally more ergonomic than self-loaders; this one has a good point over others in that regard. The pump itself feels pretty solid when you rack it back, although there is some wobble when fully extended. The magazine release is a separate block from the trigger guard, to prevent accidental drop of the mag during operation. The construction of this pump-action shotgun appears very solid and there are no shakes or rattles while operating it. The front of the barrel threads are covered with thread protector cap, so you won't be able to attach muzzle attachments without removing this first. The furniture is made from polymer and comes in black color. The stock has an adjustable length of pull, but due to the cheap rubber/plastic buttpad it feels very cheap. This also doesn't help with recoil management, because it simply moves further away from your shoulder instead of absorbing some of the energy. Magazines loaded really easily thanks to its extended follower; there were no problems during loading (which is good for a shotgun). It's not as smooth as any self-loader (e.g.: KSG), but then again those shotguns cost several times more than Duke here (~$185 vs. $500). The bolt release is located above the trigger and is easy to operate, you can drop the bolt by simply pulling it back and releasing; no fiddling around here. There were no failures during shooting even firing hundreds of shells using different brands and types of loads (buckshot, birdshot use). The magazine tube holds 5 rounds, but if you have an extension piece you can add an extra one in there for a total capacity of 6+1 shells. The rest of the shotshells could be stored in the buttstock compartment. There were no malfunctions when fired from there either, but it looks just awkward especially when the shooter takes a ready position holding a shotgun in both hands with stock extended in front. On the other side if the stock was shorter it would be more difficult to load the shells into the tube mag. There is a protective heat shield on that polymer furniture. It appears to be very solid and covers pretty much all of the forend. Even putting the hot barrel completely inside, there wasn't any damage to hands or gloves after firing a few hundred rounds. Pump-action shotguns tend to kick pretty hard because of their heavyweight moving around during every shot; the stock doesn't seem like offering enough features for recoil management (cheap rubber buttpad) and I wouldn't recommend this shotgun for weak shooters due to that reason. On other hand Duke shotguns are offered in youth models for ~$200 which come with a shortened stock and 14" barrel (you can use buckshot with those), if you're purchasing a shotgun for smaller shooters I'd recommend considering one of those. As far as budget shotguns go, this is definitely worth looking at especially for beginners or people who are interested in trying out firearms but don't want to spend much money on it. It's inexpensive yet reliable and offers all the necessary features to use it safely and properly (ghost ring sights, 5+1 capacity). The only problem with Duke was that recoil management isn't great because of the rubber buttpad which doesn't seem like helpful enough. The good thing about this pump-action shotgun is that there are various options available to choose from: different barrel lengths, stocks, furniture colors etc.