Mossberg 500 Shotgun Disassembly Guide by Mini-Me

New Haven Mossberg 500 Twenty Gauge

I have owned a few shotguns. Remington/Mossberg/Wilson Combat.

However, I have never seen an almost new looking Mossberg with a single action bar.

I have seen pictures. However, I have never owned one-until now.


I think I might purchase a dual action bar that I can use if "push comes to shove" for this gun. It looks as though it just came from the Mossberg factory. I do not want to be without a spare if the one action bar has a problem. According to Mossberg it was made in the fall of 1982...

I just bought my first shotgun earlier this week. It's a Mossberg 500 Tactical in 12ga.

You have no idea how much this post just saved me hours of headaches lol. I just got back from the range and was absolutely furious that I couldn't get the tube to accept more than 2 shells. I had no idea that there would be the limiter for hunting on a combat shotgun configuration. TY for clearing that up and making it super easy to remove!

undeRGRound said:

Very Nice!

I'm sure I will use this when the Mossberg 590 comes home...

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ACTUALLY, I had to refinish a Mossy 500 J.I.C. Pistol Grip shotty,
and it was NO PROBLEM as I had seen this DIY guide already!

Found a full stock with pistol grip in the clearance bin @ LGS #2.
did the refinish and fitted the new stock! Now a very nice, cheap
BLACTICAL Mossberg 500!

Bravo, Author, Author!

So which model of Mossberg is a Western Field 550AL ? I got one off gunbroker for $75.00

hello all, i just aquired a mossberg 500, 16 ga. with c-lect choke, don t really like the choke but not sure what i can do about it....anyway had to put a stock on it , original was cracked, but problem is it wont feed shells.....seems the shell stop doesnt push out to let shell come in to feed........sorry bout spelling ...thanks BW

Love this thread and cheers to Mini-Even for the instructions! I just bought a used Mossberg 500 and I'm gonna disassemble it and clean it when I get it home, thanks again!

Man you should copyright that! Excellent.

great info , but i need to find a fix to the problem i decisrbed a couple reply back.....thanks BW

Here's my new (used) Mossberg 500:

What a great, informative, educational, interesting, ( I could go on but you get the picture) thread. Thanks for posting this entertaining piece of useful knowledge and I hope it stays available for folks like me, who happen to own a Mossberg 500A..

Thanks for that great demonstration of breaking down the Mossberg shotgun to clean it. I have three Black ones.

Bob Watt said:

great info , but i need to find a fix to the problem i decisrbed a couple reply back.....thanks BW

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hello all, i put a new slide stop and also a new ejector in this thing and still cannot get it to feed,,,,,,any ideas,, thanks

Great detailed instructions and pics. Please if anyone is substituting a full stock for a pistol grip or a Shockwave on a Mossy 500, be aware that the bolt that holds the stock on is a different length on pistol grips. If you use the bolt for the full size stock on the pistol grip, it will break the Tang that comes up out of the trigger group off, that the safety switch that sits on top of the receiver activates. The safety will be non-functional. Be sure to use the proper length Bolt when switching between a full stock and a pistol grip. This is the voice of actual experience speaking.

Hello, can you please help me? I have a maverick 88, when I took the trigger assembly out, the bolt slide went out of place and now it is stuck as well as the action bar. What can I do to get these parts loose so I can realign them?

This is my second post to this excellent thread... My last one was in May of 2017, where I mentioned my Mossberg 500A. Recently picked up a beautiful 500C 20 ga. that must be an early model, as it only has one action bar. I'd like to thank THR for keeping this guide up for over 10 years now. I'll be referring to it yet again now that I have two Mossberg 500's. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words and this guide proves that.

22250Rem said:

This is my second post to this excellent thread... My last one was in May of 2017, where I mentioned my Mossberg 500A. Recently picked up a beautiful 500C 20 ga. that must be an early model, as it only has one action bar. I'd like to thank THR for keeping this guide up for over 10 years now. I'll be referring to it yet again now that I have two Mossberg 500's. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words and this guide proves that.

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Love my 20.ga flex Goes tactical, goes to bird shooting to Slug Rifled barrel.

Super presentation!!