Been thinking about getting another shotgun. Really like the old Mossberg bolt action ones. Just haven't decided on a 12 or a 16 gauge. What say you?

I'd go with the 16 simply because I don't have one!

Depends on what your going to hunt for with it.

The only Mossberg bolt action I own is a 12 ga. about 60 years old. It has a C-lect choke.
Probably much easier to find 12 ga. but, as mentioned, figure the intended use.

12 leaves a lot more ammo availability

I have a Mossberg bolt with C-lect choke

it was my Van gun for years , I wouldn't shoot slugs with it , #4 was my go to for it needs shooting
13 stripers were toast , full was tight enough it would take a strip of grass out when shooting 13 stripers

it worked for that , I shot a couple rounds of trap with it and it worked a little abusive the recoil pad was old and hard.

it was a very basic got it done as long as you didn't need many rounds or fast but was versatile

magazines are the weak link and are the hard parts to replace.

Geez, a Mossberg bolt action shotgun? You really need to raise your standards. They are heavy and a "rapid fire" single shot. For the love of God, don't loose the clip.

Rob, all of my others are single shots.

Like with all my others, it will be for whatever I need to shoot. Never used a 16, just a 10, 12, and a 20. Whatever I get I will reload for.

Pete, you think a slug would blow out the C-lect choke?

one of my first years hunting was a 16ga bolt with a c-lect choke missing a bunch of parts worked fine for slugs after the first couple but then it didn't work very well for anything else, the issue is when you have them not opened all the way up.
I wasn't around when they had it happen but someone had it when the area when shotgun only in the late 70s , so they ran a slug through it , broke the band and lost the outer ring , I don't know exactly how it happened but was told , yup first slug they ran with it chocked did that.

but also they don't have much for lock up it is the back of the bolt handle and it batters that bolt handle into the receiver.

so a slug here and there but besides being abusive to you it does seems to slam that bold handle into receiver

Thanks Pete