Mossberg 500A 12 gauge barrel search

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748

748

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I inherited my dad's dedicated zombie slayer. It's an 8 shot with 20 inche barrel.
Dad had a pistol grip on it, already tried the pistol grip shotgun thing many years ago, didn't like it, was able to find the original stock so I put it back on.

It has the standard pipe barrel with no choke. I also tried the no choke barrel thing many years ago on my S12 and didn't like it, got a polychoke and massively increased its utility. The S12 and its no choke barrel was pretty much limited to blasting shtuff at close range and that's about it. With the polychoke I could actually take it hunting.
(Note I don't want a polychoke for the mossberg)

Does anyone know if I can get a 20 inch barrel for an 8 shot that takes screw in chokes?
Or am I hunting unicorns?

I tried searching for one but there are sooo many 20 inch 8 shot barrels out there, most appear to be no choke, some have a fixed choke or the description didn't mention the choke at all.
 
If you have an outside barrel diameter of at least .805" and an inside diameter (bore) of no more than .730" , you can have your existing barrel threaded for chokes ($65). If not and you can find a fixed choke 20" barrel of LM / M or tighter ( and possibly as open as IC), there is very likely to be enough material at the muzzle to thread for chokes.

I would suggest buying 28" barrel threaded for screw in chokes. The 20" barrel will remain available for zombies and TP thieves and a 28" barrel is much more useful for birds and clays. A 20" threaded barrel is neither fish not fowl.
 
I grabbed my calipers and the OD of the barrel measures 0.855 inches and the ID measures about 0.725 inches.
That's pretty wild no one sells choked 8 shot 20 inch barrels for these guns.

If I could choke it then I could put in a inverted cylinder choke and really scatter shot everywhere, put in a rifled choke and maybe hit something with a slug. Not trying to take it turkey hunting or anything.
 
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DocRock said:
If you have an outside barrel diameter of at least .805" and an inside diameter (bore) of no more than .730" , you can have your existing barrel threaded for chokes ($65). If not and you can find a fixed choke 20" barrel of LM / M or tighter ( and possibly as open as IC), there is very likely to be enough material at the muzzle to thread for chokes.

I would suggest buying 28" barrel threaded for screw in chokes. The 20" barrel will remain available for zombies and TP thieves and a 28" barrel is much more useful for birds and clays. A 20" threaded barrel is neither fish not fowl.
Click to expand...

I think there will be a problem with the 28” barrel. The gun he is talking about seems to be the Defender model with the extended mag tube. The mag tube is as long as the barrel. The barrel has its attachment lug at the very muzzle end IIRC. 28” field barrels have the barrel attachment lug in the position of the standard mag tube length.
 
Supposedly there are some 28 inch barrels for maverick 88 that will fit 8 shot guns.
Probably about 99% of the 28 inch barrels for sale are for 6 shot guns.
It's almost like the 8 shot guns were built for close range and that's it.
 
748 said:
I grabbed my calipers and the OD of the barrel measures 0.855 inches and the ID measures about 0.725 inches.
That's pretty wild no one sells choked 8 shot 20 inch barrels for these guns.

If I could choke it then I could put in a inverted cylinder choke and really scatter shot everywhere, put in a rifled choke and maybe hit something with a slug. Not trying to take it turkey hunting or anything.
Click to expand...
Why is that wild? Most folks use those for HD where a Cylinder bore is just fine. if you want to go hunting, get the 28" with chokes and have at it, or send off a 20" and have it reamed and threaded. By the time you do all that AND buy chokes, that 28" from a pawn shop for $100 will look like a great deal.
 
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Actually sending it off to have the 20 inch barrel hogged out to take win chokes sounds pretty good.
I already have 2 politically correct 28 inch barrel shot guns.
 
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The easiest answer is probably to replace the 8 shot mag tube with the standard 5 shot tube. Almost all the available barrel options are for the short mag tube. Since you mentioned using it for hunting there will likely be a three shotshell limit so you would have to plug the long tube anyway.
 
I have never hunted for anything requiring 3 shot limit.
The main thing I would bird hunt here is ring neck asian dove. Which have no gun restrictions, I could use the S12 and 20 round drum. As they are deemed an invasive nuance species.
 
How difficult would it be to relocate the barrel lug and say make a 24 inch 8 shot barrel?
Looks like it's just brazed on there.
 
748 said:
How difficult would it be to relocate the barrel lug and say make a 24 inch 8 shot barrel?
Looks like it's just brazed on there.
Click to expand...
Your mag tube would most likely extend beyond the muzzle
 
Then I misread - thought we were talking about an 18" barrel................
 
It's pretty easy to unscrew the magazine tube and put on a shorter one. Tons of barrels out there on the used market for the shorter mag tube.
 
There, I bought a "used, but probably new" winchoke tap off ebay for $100 with shipping.
They're $165 new plus what ever shipping is on Brownells.
I'm cheap and not in a big hurry so I can wait.
 
Got a gun broker special 24 inch rifled 3 inch chamber ported barrel for a 6 shot, definitely well used, not the prettiest, for $100 shipped.
I guess I can attempt to torch off the barrel lug, relocate it down a few inches where appropriate for an 8 shot gun and rebraze it with silfos15 and chop off the ported part.
 
Looks like the super common 6 shot cheaper than dirt ported mossberg rifled barrels slug barrels everyone loves to hate are long enough to move the lug forward to the 8 shot position and cut off the porting.
 
There, I bought a "new" winchoke reamer off ebay for $151 with shipping.
They're $185 new plus what ever shipping is on Brownells last time I checked.
I didn't save a ton of cash on the reamer like I did with the tap.
It doesn't have the bushing, oh well.
 
Best of luck to you. I think I might have gone a different direction, but your project should prove interesting
 
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