One of the men most responsible for the concurrent addition of the shotgun was prolific magnum designer John Browning. While working for Winchester Firearms, Browning revolutionized shotgun design. In 1887, Browning extrinsic the Model 1887 Lever Action Repeating Shotgun, which loaded a fresh cartridge from its circumscribed daily by the application of the action lever. Before this time, most shotguns were the 'break open' type.

In addition to the commonly encountered shotgun actions already listed, there are also shotguns based on the Martini-Henry go through design, originally mediated by British armaments maker W.W. Shotguns Greener.