Yeah, Geo. various US and other mfrs. made them hammerless over the years, but hunters being cheap (I cop to that.) and conservative ("") apparently wanted hammers.... So that's what they, and now we, mostly got.

At one point, I think the 1930s and early '40s, most US mfrs. of single barrel shotguns tried to make an export model in 16 guage for Latin America, mainly with extra-long barrels to accommodate the "rural myth" that they "shoot harder." (The PC explanation for this phenomenon is "hypermasculinity," I believe.).