I really like shotguns and Mossberg makes cool shotguns. Naturally, I had a great time looking around their booth, to the extent I went back for a second helping and to acquire a little more information. They had some really fun (and practical) stuff out on display.
First of all their Tactical .22 now comes with 25 round mags. Thank God, because 5 rounds of .22 just does not last too long. For those of you who may not be familiar with their Tactical .22 it’s a nice little plinking AR and is comfortable to hold and easy to manage. I think the 25 round mags are really going to help the popularity of this gun, because, again, 5 rounds of .22 just does not last long.
The next thing I took a look at was their Maverick. This is a small, light break action over/under that looks like far too much fun. It’s new, it’s awesome, and I need one.
Mossberg has also started a couple of joint ventures. The most well known of which is the Blackwater partnership they announced back in 2008. This partnership has resulted in a couple really awesome versions of their guns. They actually appended Blackwater’s logo to a couple. One thing to note on these firearms is Mossberg’s movement toward a tri-rail system. You can look for these on a lot of their up and coming guns and personally I think it’s a nice touch. It doesn’t add a whole lot of weight and you have a convenient way to attach a light or anything else your shotgun may need.
Mossberg makes quality shotguns at reasonable prices and it was a great opportunity to see what they’re doing right now. I would love to see more from Mossberg and hope they never lose sight of offering awesome firearms at a great value.
The last photo with the shotgun with the rail on the top rack? Perfect place for a mini red dot as we discussed last week on the radio show.
It would be the spot for a mini red dot, although that particular gun has both that top rail and an XCess sight system, and the XCess sights on shotguns work REALLY well, I had an opportunity to shoot with one at Media Day and was really impressed.
I’m a little surprised that they didn’t put protective wings on the sides of the rear sight like they do with their ghost ring sights, though. The rear sight looks a little overexposed to damage from rough handling.
And Mossberg has also signed Jerry Miculek and bought the ASAP Survival Gear line as well.
They aren’t standing pat on their reputation, that’s for sure.
Will Mossberg start making shotguns that last through a class?
Wouldn’t have one up my *** if I had room for a boxcar.
Any news about the competition model 930 with input from Jerry and Benny Hill?
Aww, no picture of the 500 Chainsaw?
I do have chainsaw photos, I’ll get them up soon but I’m still trying to decide how I want to handle that article. It’s one cool toy.
One question, have they replaced that stupid plastic safety selector on their shotguns that breaks on every one I’ve ever seen yet?
Sure the screw is still there so you can still use it when it snaps but it’s dang rough on the thumb after a few hours of hunting with it.
Would it really cost that much more to have it made of metal? I replaced mine with some brass I bent, shaped, soldered and drilled. It will last as long as the rest of the gun now, possibly longer!
Only other problem I’ve ever had with their shotguns (500 and related models) is the useless ‘poly-choke’ they had on some older shotguns, thank you Mossberg for making the barrel super easy to change out!
That damn thing could be set from imp. cyl. to a couple turns past full choke and the pattern never changed appreciably.
It does say something when after decades of them making a product and all you can find to complain about is 2 minor problems.
I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to ‘break’ a Mossberg pump. short of running over it with a truck of something similar!
Well, I think I paid $5 for my steel safety (which has a slight peak so it’s easy to reliably hit, even if my hands were soaking wet and numb from cold. Took me about five minutes to install it — but it was the first time I ever disassembled a pump shotgun.
Would I have prefered to pay Mossberg the $5, if they just put it on at the factory? Sure. but I walked out of the gun show with a NIB Model 500 (20″ bbl, 7+1 rounds, both the sensible stock and the stupid wristbreaker pistol grip included), a scabbard, and some sheels for under $300. Even with the aftermarket safety switch, I think it still came in under $300. . . I don’t feel I overpaid by a long shot.
Oh, two annoyances that get me about the gun, however. . .
I would have appreciated a pump that had a traditional action slide, instead of the way the action bars are permanently attached to the pump handle — it means if I ever decide to swap my ugly black plastic pump for another ugly black plastic pump, I’ll have to buy an action slide. Likewise, if I decide to buy wood furniture to pimp it out, I’ll need to buy an action slide.
I would also appreciate it if I could buy an OTS 20″ barrel for this gun that has the ghost ring already installed, without it costing more than buying the sight and paying a gunsmith to braze it to the barrel I have and reblue it. (Saw one quote to do it for $100, plus the cost of the sight. The rear sight installation is caveman simple — just screw it into the factory tapped holes, and Loctite the screws.)
Even the plastic trigger housing doesn’t bug me much, once I heard from all the people who have them on truck guns and none of them reported breaking one. If it does bug me beyond my patience, I’ll just buy a metal trigger pack (apparantly, to avoid stupid people reassembling their FCG wrong, the guts come already assembled into the housing — Mossberg doesn’t sell just the housing to swap your trigger group into.)
I like it. When I buy another one (this being the first pump shotgun I’ve ever owned, heck, my the other few shotguns I’ve owned were given to me in a “Hey, you like guns, right? I’ve got this old thing from my uncle that is just gathering dust. . . “), I’ll pick a different model, sure. Now that I have one, I can tell what features I like, and what features I would prefer, so the next time I buy a 12 gauge pump, it’ll probably be an 18.5″ 590. . . but I DO so want an “accessory mount”. . .