Where have all the bolt action shotguns gone?

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A few years back, I was looking at old .22 rifles at a local Gun&Pawn. Picked one off the shelf, and wondered at the thick barrel. A Stevens. Hmmm....what's with the bead front sight? And the huge loading port...? It dawned on me it was a .410 singleshot boltie! I bought it, and refinished it to match my old Stevens Model 15 "Boy's Rifle" that an uncle gave me when I was a kid, some fortysome years ago. They make a great pair!
Then, having developed an interest in bolt shotguns, I soon bought an old J.C.Higgins 20 gauge, and a Kessler 16 gauge.
The J.C. Higgins has a funky sheet metal safety that gets bent and it's hair trigger makes it unsafe for field use. You look at it hard it goes off!
The Kessler has a slightly bent barrel - so I installed a TC Contender rear and front ramp sight, and it's a good shooter. The box magazine system is a bit cranky.

I like the odd and unusual. I have a lot of singleshot rifles too. I'm just funny that way. :)
I like a gun with a certain quaint charm. I like odd calibers too - I love my singleshot .22 Hornet and reload for it. It ain't the greatest round, or the most 'efficient', but like a bolt action shotgun, it has a certain charm.
 
I had a Mossberg 16, bolt action when in high school. Several friends also had em. They were about 30-35 bucks in the late 50s.

I dont know what happened to all of them??
 
I thankyou you all for the responses! It brings a smile,and the knowledge that somethings never go out of stile. If your looking for one,gunbroker and auction arms always as a few for sale! Im still committed on my boltgun hunting! Its funny the looks I get,when they see that Im using a mossberg camo695 to make those long shots, and they have 1500.00$ autos! I proudly wear a mossberg cap, and patches on my coat,I never claim not to be a hillbillie, only half of one! As everyday passes I found myself grapping that 695 more everything rather than a rifle or a pump gun even my autos! I guess its a fact I have to skill the shot ! But this form has really opened my eyes, that we are out there skilled shooters!
 
I have two bolt shotguns both handed down from my grandfather. A Mossberg 185k-a, I think that is correct, in 20 and a Marlin goose gun. I killed a lot of dove with the 20 while in college and my first deer ever with the Marlin. I have not shot the Marlin in years but I do shoot the Mossberg every few months. It is a really sweet shooter and a good beginners shotgun.
 
The two things that have gone away as of late are pump rifles and bolt shotguns. Both of which I think are pretty cool but I don't own either.
 
I had a Mossberg bolt action 20 gauge for a time. The MOD choke was perfect for squirrels. But it was traded off for something else. So it goes.

TR
 
I want a 595!!!

Most of us have never seen a mossberg 595, 12 gauge! They made few of them, and that 4rd mag! Yeah baby! I have the mag, it took 8yrs to get one! It came with a 495t, Im always on the hunt for one! Found shotgun forum, and saw a pic brentd of maine 06 had a nice one!:) I made some more wooden deer targets for family practice, deer season is coming! Everyone grap your boltgun and have some fun! Thanks for the feedbacks!! They are great first hunting guns, they teach skill! Every kid should start with a boltaction rifle and shotgun as well as a single break open! They will be great shots! Its also about fun, too! They need to respect what it can and cant do,a gggggood fear of what could go wrong if they take the gun for granted! But also to trust it, and be happy with it! I taught soldiers, by teaching my own kids was the best! Those skills learned served them well in the field as in life! Even if you dont hunt, get your kids a boltgun! It teaches the basics, and those are good skills to have!
 
I have a Stevens .410 in the closet.. it's bolt with a magazine.. and I think I have a Mossberg .20 bolt with an accuchoke. It too has a magazine.

I've not fired them in probably 20 years, but I take them out and wipe them down once a year.
 
Keep up the good work!

I purchased another 385 and a marlin 55 swamp gun! My 10 yr old gets the 385. They are in great shape, I have no doubt they will get the job done! I got them both for under 200.00$ so thats not bad cost wise! Passing the torch to another generation brings a smile. He cant wait to try it out! Keep on shooting those boltguns!:)
 
Its the man or woman not the gun! Skill is learned from experience,not a new toy! If you bow hunt deer , you stalk, and snipe them! The same skills for using a bolt shotgun, since I wrote this tread. Many people have wrote, and I thankyou all for your opinions. I learned a few things. My family and those I taught to deer hunt with boltguns, mostly mossbergs! Very rarely have to spend more that a few minutes to locate that dead deer, they are not wondering around looking for sign. The best part is that many of them years later still use a copy of the one they started with or a newer one! But still a bolt-action shotgun. Last year I shot my tag fill, with my 695! as always. If you want to bush up on those one shot skills then a boltgun is the way to go! Think bolt rifle in a shotgun, and with the exotic ammo out there its more practical than one would think....
 
Those bolt shotguns were roughly made and operating them was like beating on a cheap tin can. But that was not the reason they went into the closet or on the scrap heap. The reason was simply because the magazines became unavailable.

When the factories discontinued the guns, they stopped making the magazines and didn't make enough spares. When the original magazine got lost, or broken, or split at the seams, the gun was useless and the owner trashed it and bought a pump gun. At one point, one shop where I worked had a couple of dozen bolt action shotguns without magazines. The shop owner finally told the customers to take the guns home - we were never going to be able to get magazines.

Jim
 
I've got a Mossy 20ga bolter that was mfg. about 1958/59 that I inherited from Grampa and I use it for trap/skeet. It's got all 3 chokes with it too.

It's not the quickest for follow up shots, but I do like when I can run a string of 20 or more with it and the guys with the $2k plus guns just look at me.


.
 
I use my 20ga bolt gun for deer hunting south of the shotgun line in Michigan. Only problem now is the stock cracked right behind the trigger guard and it needs fixing.
 
My first gun, given to me by my brother when I was 13, is a Stevens Model 39A. A bolt action .410, with a tube magazine. We did a lot of rabbit hunting back then, and it got to the point that I could get a 2nd round off as fast as he did with his .410 pump. Like anything else, it just takes practice.

I've still got that gun, and still rabbit hunt with it. To this day, I can still shoot better with that gun than any of the others I own. There's literally no way I could estimate the number of rounds I've put through that old gun.
 
My granddad had an old Sears & Roebuck 16 gauge bolt, with a polychoke. On the good side, he used it to take enough squirrels, rabbits, deer, and the occasional grouse and goose to keep his family fed over several winters, when he was laid off from the railroad. But, he was the first to say that it wasn't a likable gun. Like many 16s, it carried like a twelve, but hit like a twenty. Like most bolts, it had all the handling characteristics of railroad tie. As soon as he could afford it, he swapped it for the first of the 1100s that he used and loved for the rest of his life.

I myself owned a Marlin rifled slug gun, for about a month. I bought it for deer (obviously,) but couldn't get gun season off from work that year. I hadn't really bonded with the gun, so I sold it. Never got another one.
 
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Steel shot killed the Marlin goose gun. You are required to use steel shot even when pass shooting at ducks in the middle of a pasture, miles away from wetlands. I have heard people who have never done any hunting bash ducks unlimited for opposing such laws.

The Savage slug gun is alive and well anywhere hunting laws make it a pain in the ass to use a rifle. If hunters are forced to use slugs they need a dedicated slug gun with a scope mounted on it. Here in NC we have to have written permission from the landowner to use a rifle to hunt deer. Quite often the use of a shotgun will get you permission to hunt land no one else can hunt. I bought a 91/30 to leave in the barn during hunting season. The 91/30 has already paid off. I got three deer with it last season.
 
Heh! I didn't even notice the date of the original post. I don't know why people want to revive old threads that have been beat to death.
 
Thankyou all for your responses on this. Yes, Savage makes a slug shotgun in both 12 and 20 gauge they are around 500-600.00$ range. The magizines are plastic, the older 210 model is an internal mag. It also came in smooth bore, and camo! Its A Savage, set up like a rifle, no sights scope mount only. I have put sights on them for people, and its heavy! If you have to sit for hours in a deerstand 12-20 ft off the ground with the wind blowing below 0, and snow mixed in the picture to add to your hunting day. Its not very practical! I myself have used many different shotguns to deer hunt with over the yrs, and the mossberg 695 has proved the best! Its lite, takes a beating, but to each his or her own! The point is SKILL is required , not how much lead you can through at it in a few seconds! I have two sons in the US ARMY, that will agree to that! My point is that they teach skill and accuracy in shooting, those skills last a life time!
 
I've never handled any bolt action shotgun that was anywhere near as comfortable as an NEF/H&R single barrel.

I suspect that the reason they're not made in great numbers is that there isn't much demand for them.

About the only one I'd want would be a converted SMLE in .410, and that's just because they're cool.
 
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