Got a response from Mossberg..in spite of the pretty obvious pictures(to me anyway), Mossberg says 'my eyes are playing tricks on me'..but send it in if you wish(my $) and we'll get it back in about 2 MONTHS..gadzooks. Gonna show it to a local gunsmith, see what he says..I see tho, the barrel is screwed into the receiver(see the threads when take bolt out)..maybe just 'tighten' the barrel a 1/10 or less of a turn?
So the barrel is screwed into the receiver, and then locked in place by the "barrel nut", that collar thing forward of the receiver. Its threaded also, and works like a jamb nut to keep your barrel from coming out.
Lossening the nut, and turning the barrel till the sights are vertical will reduce the distance from your bolt face, to the datum line in your chamber. Effectively reducing headspace.
This isnt a problem as long as you can still get fully sized, or factory rounds into the chamber with little or no effort.
On my RAM that much of a turn would cause it to be tight, but your gun maybe different, and its the easiest fix.
The OTHER problem you may get, tho unlikely with that little a rotation, is the barrel actually contacting thr bolt head. Again, unlikely but possible.
The final fix for the reduced headspace would be to simply have your smith then ream the chamber to depth once the sights are where you want them.
For bolt head contact, the breach end of the barrel would need to be shortened a few thousands.....which ive done very carefully on a belt sander, but the proper method would be having it chucked up in a lathe.
