Bulking up the Mossberg 500. Or: how to add two pounds.

[buzz meeks]

So lately I've been bitten by the Ithaca 37 bug. In the last four years I've picked up two great, old examples and hunted/shot the snot out of them. Everything their boosters say is right- they're lively, unbreakable and as pretty as a slide gun can be. Since buying them, the Mossberg 500 I worked my butt off to buy when I was 14 (21 years ago- egads) has languished at the back of the safe. Until yesterday. I attended a local, homegrown three gun shoot and the Mossberg, for which I bought an 18.5 inch cylinder bore barrel a decade ago, came out to play. The gun did great and reminded me that the Mossberg, while it's certainly far too ugly to take afield now that I've become an unrepentant pointing dog snob (JUST KIDDING), is still a great little shotgun. Except for one thing. With its factory-issue balsa wood stock and aluminum receiver, the piece is too light and just kicked the crap out of me.

So I want to move the Mossberg back into the rotation and improve on its utility as a defensive and gaming piece. But to do that, I need to add some weight, maybe as much as two pounds. I am gizmo-averse and do not wish to dangle lasers and vertical foregrips from my Mossberg. Every extra appendage just takes away from the pumpgun's simplistic strengths. What can I do? Is there a brand of stock that is notably heavy? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[slopemeno]

Go the other way and get some low-recoil Buckshot. A good recoil pad will make a world of difference as well.

 

[BryanP]

If you've got a hollow synthetic stock you can fill it with padding and bags of lead shot.

 

[Fumbler]

Get the reduced recoil ammo.
Reduced recoil buckshot in my 500 feels like the heaviest 410 load in a single shot.

If you want more weight, take the pad off your stock, drill some holes into it, then mix some lead shot up with jb weld or epoxy and stuff it into the hole.
It will change the balance a little, but will add weight.

 

[AnthonyRSS]

I have loaded shotshells with only shot and put those in the magazine tube ahead of the spring on my 870, and put another one of those in the stock with cloth stuffed around it to keep it from moving. If you don't reload, it probably wouldn't be that hard to find someone who does.

 

[mattw]

you could always get one of those neoprene sleeves that fit over the butt stock that holds and extra 5 or 6 rounds, that might do it.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Two words. Side Saddle.

Did you think these became ubiquitious simply because of the ammo?

Adding that weight right at the COG means handling stays more/less the same while the extra weight turns the recoil Clydesdale into a Welsh pony.

Mossberg's second try at a "Serious" shotgun was the 590. It's barrel is thicker than the 500s to add some weight as well as make it more durable.

R/R Ammo is good idea also.....

 

[buzz meeks]

Thanks folks. I did consider a SideSaddle, Dave. I'm concerned about their bulk and snag-prone high profile. On the other hand, I have shot SS-equipped shotties and I don't recall even noticing the thing was there. A lesson perhaps?

I had thought about adding weight to the buttstock but I don't want to make a muzzle-light gun even moreso. Any way to add weight to the front of the gun? Obviously a full magazine and a flashlight would help. Is there something I'm missing?

Finally, which are heavier in general, wood or synthetic stocks? Among synthetic manufacturers, who are the top names?

 

[mattw]

a magazine tube extension would help with the front weight

 

[buzz meeks]

Don't think that's possible on a Mossberg 500, is it?

 

[Zach S]

Nope.

 

[HSMITH]

Lead tape in the forend, the stuff you get at a golf shop. It is adhesive, thin, and you can control the weight easily. Then you can balance it out for your preffered swing feel by adding weight to the stock. In the stock you can push some Dacron filler into the stock bolt hole and a couple balloons filled with lead shot, then some more Dacron before the butt plate goes on.

Two pounds is a lot, but it is do-able.

 

[foghornl]

Only buckshot that is worth anything beyond a noisemaker in my Maverick 88 is the Rem 3" Mag #4. Sooooo

I took off the butt-plate, and dropped in a bunch of 1-oz slugs I removed from the hulls. 22 of them, IIRC, then put in a few of those foam 'packing peanuts' to hold the lead steady. Balance was kind of screwy till I got used to it, but hey ya do whatcha gotta do....

 

[TMM]

get a real stock. balsa for a gunstock is a sin...

 

[Motor-T]

I think the balsa wood reference was what is commonly refered to as hyperbole.

 

[buzz meeks]

Motor-T- you nailed it. I was being sarcastic. My Mossberg stocks are a stained hardwood of some kind (beech) but lack the density and heft of walnut.

Having read all your posts, I think I will buy some of the walnut Mossberg 500 stocks available at Numrich (walnut on a Mossberg- that's kind of like leather upholstery in my '87 Dodge truck isn't it?). I'll fit one of the new wonder pads eg Limbsaver and then go sample some of the reduced-recoil loads out there.

HSMITH- that's a good suggestion on the lead tape. If the above measures don't get me where I need to be I'll go down that road next. Equal amounts of lead in the forearm and buttstock should balance out, right?

Thanks everybody.

 

[earl_simmons]

http://www.knoxx.com/NewStyleKnoxx/Products/Compstock.htm

 

[geekWithA.45]

Go for tactiUgly (r)(tm), and put a metal folding stock on it.

It's heavier than the wooden stocks, and when folded, provides extra weight right where you need it to make pg hip shooting perfectly controllable.

The mass soaks up the recoil nicely, and now it'll fold up into the trunk nice and neat.