Mossberg Bolt-Actions

[SwampWolf]

My lgs has two used Mossberg bolt-action shotguns (I forgot to check the model nos.), fitted with PolyChokes and both in a little better than average condition; one is a 20 gauge and the other a 16 gauge. They're selling for $175.00 each. I don't have any real use for yet another shotgun in my "collection" and I'm of the opinion that the only things bolt-action shotguns are any good for is deer and turkey hunting.
Still, I'm just a little tempted, if nothing else, just for the "giggle factor". Too, they would make good "truck" guns. The guns are affordable and, because I've never owned a 16 gauge, that's the one I'd get. Any thoughts?

 

[12Bravo20]

With the current market being what it is, that is not a bad price. Pre panic I would say a good price was $125- $150. The Mossberg bolt action shotguns are good to go. I have one chambered in 410. My Uncle and cousins all used Mossberg both action 410's when we were young. My 410 has the C-lect adjustable choke.

 

[Kevin Keith]

There's nothing wrong with a good ol' Mossberg! I'd offer them $300 to take the pair off their hands.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

DO IT. Good price and they might come down with a lower offer if you sweet talk them and bat your eyelashes at them.

Nifty guns that last. Excellent truck gun or what we call in my area a "kitchen door gun". Bolt action shotguns came in at a time when pumps were pricy to buy and were an economical choice that offered more fire power over a single or double gun.

When pumps became cheaper, the bolts all but went away. But they're still solid and dependable.

16 gauge shells are harder to find than the more common sizes and usually a tick more expensive, but they are a hoot and make for an excellent little field gun. The purple shells that some makers make in 16 gauge are neat to look at, too! Also there are some potent slug loads and 12 pellet #1 buckshot for social work.

Buy it and shoot it!!

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

My Dad has kept one of the 12ga. tube-fed models as a bedside gun for 40+ years. The sound it makes working the bolt is pretty wild. I will say the stock developed a few cracks which he patched up with acraglas and some reinforcement through-bolts. Seemed to be ok afterwards.

Overall a nice gun.

EDIT: Upon further research, I think his was made by Savage/Stevens, not Mossberg. Its branded as a JC Higgins. NVM.

 

[Fyrstyk]

I have one in 20 gauge with screw in chokes. As said in an earlier post, they make good deer or turkey guns. I put new front and rear sights on mine, and with the cylinder choke tube in place it will shoot 2" groups at 60 yards with foster slugs. I keep mine in my camp as a back-up gun and for varmints.

 

[Virginian]

I had one 60 years ago. That cured me.

 

[12Bravo20]

Here is the Mossberg 183KA 410 I bought about 12-13 year ago at small shop for $125

 

[FL-NC]

I have one dad bought at a yard sale in the 80's for $40, full choke in 20 gauge with a 2 rd detachable box mag. Never really got used for anything, but I am thinking about having Mrs Fl-NC use it for deer this fall.

 

[Barbaroja]

I’ve been looking for a full choked 20 or 16 for a fun squirrel gun.

 

[entropy]

The 16 would be more 'collectable' down the road. (several generations down the road.....) If they appeal to you, yes get one. (Or both.) My first duck gun was a 20 ga. Stevens bolt action, and I did get my first duck with it, a drake bufflehead. There was no getting a second shot at ducks with it, though.
It'd be nice to have it for nostalgia, but my Dad traded it toward my second duck gun, a Savage 311 with a Tenite stock.

 

[12Bravo20]

Talking about old goose guns. I bought a Marlin bolt action 20 gauge with a 30 or 32 inch barrel with screw on chokes. Man did that thing kick bad but it would reach out there.

 

[SwampWolf]

Talking about old goose guns. I bought a Marlin bolt action 20 gauge with a 30 or 32 inch barrel with screw on chokes.

Marlin actually made their 12 gauge, 3" chambered, Model 55 "Goose Gun", bolt-action shotgun with a 36 inch long, full-choke barrel! Talk about a gun with a very specific purpose-I'd love to see someone hunt with it in some of the Michigan grouse/woodcock coverts I haunt.

 

[SwampWolf]

Thanks for all the replies. The more I think about it, the more I believe the same guns were owned by the same person. They look exactly alike, right down to the Polychokes, and in pretty much the same condition. I won't get much use from one (I have shotguns already set up for deer and turkey and, now that Ohio allows some straight-walled rifle cartridges for use in hunting deer, Core Lokt bullets instead of slugs will dirty the bores of my Buckeye deer hunting guns). Too, in terms of a shotgun that handles well, I'd pick a single-shot one over a bolt-action every time.

Still, that old Mossberg does have some "character" and I don't have a 16 gauge and it is affordable...

 

[entropy]

Marlin actually made their 12 gauge, 3" chambered, Model 55 "Goose Gun", bolt-action shotgun with a 36 inch long, full-choke barrel! Talk about a gun with a very specific purpose-I'd love to see someone hunt with it in some of the Michigan grouse/woodcock coverts I haunt.

I used to hunt grouse with a 30" full choke, it was the only barrel I had for my 870. I hunted clay pigeons, squirrel, rabbit, grouse, pheasant, ducks, geese, and turkey with it. When I started hunting deer, I got a Hastings rifled barrel also.

Some of the old timers swore by those Marlin Goose Guns.

 

[12Bravo20]

Okay time for me to be the enabler

I say buy at least one of them. Especially when you consider I paid $125 for a 410 version 12-13 years ago and they are asking $175 now. $50 increase over 12+ years isn't bad at all.

 

[WestKentucky]

I would buy either one in a hurry. I like poly chokes and I like the quiet and simple nature of a bolt action. 20 is good, 16 is better. The only thing to look out for is condition of the magazine if it is a removable mag model. They basically cannot be replaced.

 

[SwampWolf]

I used to hunt grouse with a 30" full choke,

Hunting grouse with a bolt-action shotgun having a 36" long barrel in the kind of cover I hunt in is something I think might find space on America's Funniest Video, no matter the choke.

Too, if you ever managed to get a "double" on grouse with any bolt-action shotgun, you'd be known as the Houdini of the Woods.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

Marlin actually made their 12 gauge, 3" chambered, Model 55 "Goose Gun", bolt-action shotgun with a 36 inch long, full-choke barrel! Talk about a gun with a very specific purpose-I'd love to see someone hunt with it in some of the Michigan grouse/woodcock coverts I haunt.

It's been said the 36" barrel was to get you 10" closer to the geese LOLOLOLOL!!!.

 

[Howland937]

I've got a hand-me-down 12 gauge poly-choked version. It was my great uncle's, then I received it after my grandpa died. I patterned it to check viability for a turkey gun, decided against using it and its been sitting unfired since about 2004. I have no desire to break the streak.