Need opinions on bolt action shotguns

[Andyshowfan]

I'm not sure why I'm in awe of bolt action shotguns but they intrigue me. I've never owned one, but have found a guy that has a slew of them and is selling at what seems to be the going price for them. I really want a 20ga to use rifled slugs in for hogs, but the wife wants one for a bedside gun and to possibly bird hunt with. What are y'alls opinions on them. At this moment just wanting a general idea of the accuracy and ease of use these guns may or may not possess, a pros and cons type of advice I suppose. He has mossbergs, jc higgins, stevens, etc. No high end brands.

[JWC]

I have a Mossberg 185 20ga. it's ok to squirrel hunt or rabbit hunt with. Not a huge fan of using it for anything else. To me they don't shoulder naturally and a bolt action isn't very ergonomic to wing shoot with.
They only hold 3 rounds, for home defense that rules them out for me.
Never shot slugs through it but it's only 2-3/4" and only has a bead front sight. Choke tubes are external screw in and I only have full. I've always been fortunate to have better options in shotguns for multiple uses.

Personally when it comes to a slug gun/all purpose shotgun there's a reason pumps are so popular.

But mine's a great squirrel gun. Mine is nostalgic for me. It was bought used in 1950 by my granddaddy for my dad who was 8. He paid $24 for it from a guy that needed cash. I'd say it's accounted for somewhere around a dump truck full of squirrels in the last 60 years. There wasn't no deer to hunt in TN back then and they were poor. They ate a lot of squirrels. My aunt always says "they ate everything but the tails." Everybody nowadays wants to squirrel hunt with a .22 but grandaddy wouldn't have none of that because they'd ruin the brains

[LawEnforcementSalesTN]

Check out the Savage 220 series... sold a few to some hunters... they seem to really love them ... rifled barreled... they're a very nice out of the box gun.  Accutrigger...  retail around 6 but you can find them much cheaper ... Pretty tight groups at 100 yards... simply amazing for a slug!

[JAB]

I only have one bolt action shotgun.  It is a Sears model that I bought used for less than $100 about three years ago so definitely not a 'high end' shotgun.  Mine is a 20 gauge and has the (factory?) adjustable choke on it.  I have read mixed opinions on adjustable chokes but I think that this one actually works, at least to a degree.  I don't use mine a lot but when I have I enjoyed shooting it.  It is surprisingly light weight for a 'repeater' yet the recoil is pretty mild, to me. 

 

With mine, I do have to be careful to operate the bolt 'smoothly' but it is possible to do it both quickly and smoothly.  With practice, I think it is just as quick to operate as a pump.  That said, it does only hold three shells - and that is with one in the chamber.

 

Here is my bolt shotgun pictured with a Stevens 94C 20 gauge single shot.  I bought them both at the same time (which is why they are pictured together.)  These are the first and only 20 gauge shotguns I have ever owned.

 

 

Here is a close-up of the adjustable choke:

 

Edited September 3, 2013 by JAB

[RED333]

Most of the old ones were for geese, long barrel and a tight choke.

Get ya a good pump, one that has a 7 plus mag tube and 2 or 3 barrels.

Barrel for bird, a barrel for deer and a barrel for HD.

[JAB]

My nephew had a bolt action 20 gauge (don't remember the brand) that had a removable box magazine.  It wasn't very reliable, though - jammed pretty often and would just spontaneously eject the mag.  If a reliable one of those could be found, I could see that it might have advantages over a pump in that one could carry two or three spare mags with different ammo types to be able to quickly change the type of ammo being shot.

Edited September 4, 2013 by JAB

[bersaguy]

Back years ago I owned two of them because they didn't cost a lot because most folks wanted Auto's and Pumps but I rabbit and squirrel hunted with them and they were great for that. One was  12 gauge J.C. Higgins and the other was a Stevens 16 gauge. I was surprised that the J.C. Higgins did out perform the Stevens. Thats about all I can say about them but as a kid I loved to hunt and they filled the bill for what I needed.