Why Were Bolt-Action Shotguns A Thing?
 

I see them fairly often, all things considered, at garage and estate sales (my grandfather bought a Sears-Roebuck model several years back). Almost without exception, they are smoothbores. And if I'm not mistaken, a good number are single-shots. While he was growing up in Nebraska, my uncle used to hunt pheasant with one in the early 1980s.

Does anyone recall how these used to be marketed back when they were still produced and prominent? What did you like about them, if anything? Is there some odd story as to why they were developed?

Were one to force modern companies to come up with a marketing strategy for such an odd product, I expect they'd probably struggle mightily.

The only real advantage over pump-actions I can imagine is for hunters using rifled slugs, since the forearm is more stable, it may help the operator to shoot more accurately.

Because they were inexpensive compared to doubles and slide actions. They made no sense because you had to take a hand off the forearm of the gun to load another round which really interferes with shooting at a moving target which is what a shotgun was made for.

Savage 220 rifled shotgun slug is a bolt action is made today and is a solid cheap rifled slug gun option.

not sure why it couldn't be a pump, but if it's a bolt and shoots much better then that's fine with me.

They were young hunter safe. They were an easy transition mentally from a bolt action .22. My gramps could always see the bolt open from where he was sitting.

I have an old Mossberg bolt action .410, runs just fine without taking my hand off of the forend.

Google is your friend, you can find the old print ads quite easily. At the time they were produced, the industry was not so entrenched into our modern paradigm of form factors, so they were advertised the same as any shotgun.

They were also marketed by Marlin as "goose guns." Long barrel, long range (for a shotgun), I think they may have even made a 10 gauge.

Yep Hubby they did.It was called the Super Goose.I,d shore luv to find one.

I used to have one of these in 12 gauge with a 36 inch full choked barrel. Used it for pass shooting geese in my native CO. Knocked a lot of birds out of the air with it shooting 3 inch mag in 2 shot or BBs. But steel shot killed guns like this off.

I used one many years ago for a short while. I think it came from sears probably in the 1960's. It was a long barreled full choke 10 ga. Was way to heavy, cumbersome to swing and the recoil was brutal. The wood sucked and there really wasn't anything nice about it. Glad I didn't own it.

Years ago when we still lived in Tn my dad and I used to go to a Turkey shoot the local police dept. used to put on for fund raising for D.A.R.E. He had an old bolt action shotgun that looked like a Howitzer. That old ugly thing won every time either of us stepped up. Dad sold it to one of the guys running the shoot after a couple of years shooting. They would have it every weekend for a couple of months in early fall. We probably brought home 20-25 hams and turkeys with that old ugly shotty. It didn't just put pellets closest to the X, it blew the X out of the target. Even using 71/2. Hands down that old gun was the tightest patterning shotgun I have ever seen.