I ordered one from Wholesale for just a hair over $220 to my door. I ordered a 20 inch model. I had hoped that it would come with a non pistol grip stock, but what I got was a folding stock with pistol grip.
Here is the screenshot:
This is what I got:
I called Wholesale's customer service line, and spoke with one of their reps. As soon as I mentioned I had a problem with a shotgun, he said "let me guess... is it a pardus?". I told him that I was not dissatisfied with the gun in general, but that it was not the type of stock that I was hoping for, and he offered me 3 options:
1) Full refund including return shipping (I would pay shipping, but they would include it over and above the refund)
2) Exchange with return shipping refund
3) Keep the shotgun with a 10% discount.
The Wholesale rep said they are getting lots of returns because the pictures and descriptions on the website are very poor. They did offer to send me pictures (the actual guns in the warehouse), by email, of any other models I wanted.
I haven't decided yet what to do, as I was hoping to pick up a shotgun that I could hack at and modify for 3 gun, but the stock does not fit my needs. This would make an excellent truck gun, and for the price can't be beat, but I might just try to pick up a used nova instead.
I will give a little review of my findings as I had some time to play around with the gun. I did not fire it, but there are no other reviews that I could find, so I hope this helps any prospective buyers.
The receiver on the gun is laid out the same way as an 870, but the internals and dimensions are not the same. The lifter spring is always active just like the 870. You cannot load the magazine with the action open as the pump covers the loading port. It would not be possible anyhow as the lifter can be pushed too far upward when the bolt is back. The action release is nice and large, but it is a bit sharp, and I took some skin off my hand trying load 2's with it. The action and barrel are finished nicely, anodizing (I think) on the aluminum receiver and black parkerizing on the barrel. The action is relatively smooth, it started out with a small amount of "grit" but smoothed out nicely. It is not as smooth as my 1970's vintage wingmaster, but not much is.
The 20" barrel comes with adjustable rifle sights with an orange fiber optic front bead. They seem nice and the rifle points well.
My biggest beef is with the stock. It is a folding stock with a relief molded into it so that it wraps over the top of the action when folded. This makes it difficult to find a comfortable cheek weld as I was forced to position my head further back than was comfortable. The stock also has a fair amount of play when extended. There is a detent that locks the stock in the open position. One of the reasons why the stock has so much play is that the detent is 0.010" smaller than the hole it fits into. This contributes to the play. I machined a new, tight fitting, detent from delrin and tested it, but it only took up some of the play. The rest of the play is in the hinge pin. I could probably make a new one out of delrin, but I decided I had enough time invested in this project already. For the record, the stock is not super loose; when you grip the gun tightly the play is taken up, but It just isn't my cup of tea. It also has some clips to hold a few shells. They seemed to work well.
Disassembly was straight forward. Remove the magazine cap, pull out barrel, pull out slide and bolt. The action bars are fit into the pump handle by angling the bars into 2 slots and then as you straighten the action bars relative to the pump they fit tightly against a steel insert. The magazine spring and follower are held in place by a retainer that is held in place by the crimped magazine tube. I tried to unscrew the magazine tube (without tools) unsuccessfully, so it may be a press fit.
Assembly is the reverse and is easy as long as the bolt is seated properly on a tang on the action bars.
I hope that this review is helpful for others. I think that this shotgun will hold up well to light use, nothing jumped out at me as poor quality, and for just over $220 the price can't be beat. If money wasn't tight right now, I would probably keep it locked up in the truck tool box. I think I will send it back.
Pardus PS Pump Review
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