Why would you purposely take a bolt gun to a fight?
The U.S. Army recognized the value of the auto-loader in combat during WW1 via the Pedersen Device and that was over 100 years ago.
If I'm going to a gun fight that I can plan for, I hope to have an AR and a lot of loaded 30-round magazines in my kit.
The thought experiment assumes you have no other choice. So, the apocalypse happened. You're unarmed. You find an abandoned farm house, and inside there's an extensive collection of bolt guns, along with appropriate ammo. Which one?
Like the characters in Cormac McCarthy's book THE ROAD?
All variables being equal, I'd pick the rifle that had the most ammo that was powerful enough to kill whatever I might need to kill.
