Hi Campbell,
Any pump can be 'the best pump' for you, it depends how well you set it up for the way you play. I've shot cockers in one form or another for years, including original WGP snipers as pumps, so obviously favour them a lot. The early ones were heavy, but later WGP, Eclipse and custom bodies are a lot lighter. The downside of snipers is they don't normally have slam fire, unless you fit an aftermarket kit (such as CCM) or some other DIY option.
It's important to get your bottle in the right place. Some set-ups can make the gun feel long, difficult to aim, or hard to pump comfortably. I favour an ASA on a grip mounted rail/drop, with a smaller 0.8L wrapped tank. This helps to keep the gun short and compact, and make it more comfortable to shoot accurately.
Many old pumps are impossible to get new barrels for, which can be a real PITA if you want to get a decent paint/barrel match. Early pumps used bespoke threads not catered for by current kits. Newer pumps should be fine, as these use more readily available threads.
Nice to see you've been bitten by the pump bug BTW
