A piece of Terran historical trivia, the last bolt action gun intended to be used as a front action weapon, the Madsen M-47, which as the name suggests dates from 1947, just after WWII. Aimed at countries that might not be able to afford the latest in weapons it failed to sell in the sea of arms that were available after the end of the war. One irony of history is that Madsen actually made some early auto-loading guns in the 1890s that reached very limited military service.

Here is a short video demoing a surviving weapon.

The second link is to a PDF copy of the manufacturers manual/promotional flyer

I thought this could serve as the basis for a 'trade gun' or something that is marketed to ships crews as a 'last ditch' survival weapon before they have to break out the knives and improvised spears.

Graham