Is this Mossberg 500 lightly used? And worth $250?

If you have this much concern....buy one new.

If you have to have it right now....buy the one you linked.

Personally, given what you said, I'd wait and buy one new.
There is always ambiguity when buying a used gun and you don't seem like it is up your alley. Nothing wrong with that either. Just seems like you are setting yourself up for a lot of worry.

ETA: To me, and only to me: saving 70 bucks isn't worth it if I don't need it now. Buy it new, and shoot the snot out if it. All the wear marks will be your own.
Also - I wouldn't worry about barrel length if you see a good deal. You can always buy a different length barrel, and its good to have options for both hunting and a shorter length.
Best wishes!

If you order and pay for a gun you want, you'll get it. Doesn't need to be in stock to be available . I'd just get a new one, if you're concerned . that being said, a shotgun like that will run for a long time, there's no rifling to wear out and if the action works you should be fine .

Anything mechanical, new or old, can fail.

Having said that, I bought a Mossy 500 from my brother that was used on an Alaskan fishing boat. Thing was abused, ridden hard and put away wet.

It still shoots great and has the features I wanted that were hard to find, which is why I bought it.

So basically, it's a pump gun. Rarely do things go wrong. For $250, if it's the one you want as far as features, I think it's fair.

Everymanalion said:

yes it is exactly what I want, already drilled for swivel studs and 18.5 inch barrel, "barely" used and all black.

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Offer $200. If not, save up to go new, that way you don't have anxiety about it or buyer's remorse

Yea the condition in the pics looks very good. I wouldn't worry about it. It's a bit scratched up, but still comestically it looks very sound.
If it's the exact config and everything you want then buy it. Believe me it's better to buy what you know you want than to buy something a little different "just because right now this was all there was." You'll just be wishing you bought the other that is closer to what you wanted.
Right now gun parts are going up very high, and come the election weeks it won't look any better either. Personally, I'd say buy it. Offer $200 if you must but yea this might be the best you got right now.

In my experience 500s are very durable and run well even when beat up. If this is how you want it setup I'd snag it and take it to the range to put yourself at ease. Parts are easy to come by if something is wrong and fairly easy to work on.

if you don't have heavy wear on it once its in hand id surely pay the 250 for it

JeeperCreeper said:

Offer $200. If not, save up to go new, that way you don't have anxiety about it or buyer's remorse

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This. As Gordon suggested in another thread, show up with a couple hundred dollar bills and see if the seller will bite. If not, you're free to take your money somewhere else.

Get a Maverick 88 combo.

Link sent.

Everymanalion

I would go with what others have already suggested; offer the seller $200 cash and see if he takes it or maybe meets you halfway. Also consider the Maverick 88 if you're still thinking new. Nearly the same gun as the Mossberg 500 for slightly less money. I have one along with an extra vent rib barrel with choke tubes for it. Very versatile shotgun with the two barrels.

I recently read a couple articles online comparing the Moss 500 to the rem 870. One article was a torture test, the testers dropped them both i mud, stopped in water, dragged them behind a truck and ran them over with same truck. Each functioned after the testing.

The Moss is lighter due to alloy receiver and was scared more from being dragged but won the test based on a lower price point.

JohnKSa said:

Hard to tell from the pics. Things to look for.

Wear marks on the magazine tube or action bars where the pump has moved back and forth. Usually the action bars will show some wear, and the more wear there is, the more the action has been worked.

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+1

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. I practice with my 500 and Snap Caps more than I shoot it, and the magazine tube definitely shows the action being pumped.

Blue Brick said:

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...gun-15mosamvrck88hd12spg/15mosamvrck88hd12spg

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I wouldn't give those moron's the time of day, much less my hard earned money.

Bill

The photos are kind of murky but it looks fine. Those receiver scratches can happen easily in a crowded storage situation. It’s a Mossberg 500. It’ll probably last you the rest of your life.

Looks okay to me - and if it were mine - the very first thing I'd do is remove that ridiculous shell carrier (personal opinion...) - and sell it to anyone willing...

My own home defense popper is set up exactly like the Maverick shown by Bannockburn... Any extra weight from spare rounds is next to your shoulder and not likely to slow you down if that gun is ever actually needed...

I carried (was issued each day and had to return it at the of every shift...) either a Mossberg 500 or a Remington 870 on the street for many years and all of them were in well used (actually battered and scarred..) condition. Just about every one was utterly reliable no matter what it looked like...

Whatever shotgun you buy spend your money on ammo and actually use the thing at paper until you're very familiar with it and it won't let you down if ever actually needed... I've seen and handled a bunch of riot guns over the years and most had a lot of wear on the outside -but very few actually had high round counts (whether in civilian or police or military hands...).

By the way, a quick check of Gunbroker for my own personal favorite short barrel shotgun showed four ex-police Remington Wingmasters on the first page (they listed six pages and I only checked the first one.....). All were currently being bid at less than $200....

Two good things...
One, you don't have to worry about scratching up a new gun...and that wear probably won't get worse. I bought my Mossberg 500 well abused about 20 years ago, still shows the same wear, still works great.
Two, there's something to be said for a nice, off the books private sale, these days.
Good luck. When the pandemic madness started, and I upped my response level, the first gun I loaded was my Mossberg.

I’d buy it. I’d try to get him to come down closer to $200, but I’d pay a max of $250.

Looked back at this thread and realized that the advice I'd given wasn't as good as it could be... For anyone just learning about shotguns - particularly defensive shotguns - we have a wonderful resource right here... It's the third entry on this board.....
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/on-fighting-shotguns.355528/

This thread has been running for years - and I doubt anyone will get through it in a few hours. Crack a cold one and read everything Dave McCracken has written there. I never met him - and wish I had... first rate advice in every word.