Dropped my gun, what should I look for?

[bigalexe]

I have a Mossberg 500 and it was leaning against the truck unloaded with the action closed (idiot friend did that, I never set down an unloaded gun with a closed action) and the safety on. It was dark and I tripped over it and it fell over.

At this point I picked it up and the safety would not go into fire, nor would the action open fully with the action release, obviously I couldn't fire it and run the slide because it was stuck on safe. So I handed it to one of the guys with us who has considerably more bicep muscle then myself and he just opened it with brute force using the action release.

When I disassemble the gun and clean it what should I be looking for as far as damage, or is it just a one-time incident and the gun is probably ok?

 

[Quoheleth]

Wow...you broke a Mossberg just by tripping over it? If you can't get the action even opened, it sounds like a trip either to the smith or the factory. For that, i might be willing to pony up and send it to the factory. Mossbergs have a reputation for being darn near indestructable. They might be interested to see what happened.

Q

 

[Virginian]

Next time exercise a little patience and wait until you have some light and are not in a rush. I have a rule with guns, never force anything. The way they are built, you shouldn't have to. If something is wrong, take it down carefully and fix it. As a result I have never really screwed anything up too bad.

 

[SteveCase]

My 2 mossbergs have been used and abused, no problems what so ever. Ive dropped then, banged them against trees. once dropped it down the cellar stairs with me tumbling down after it(it was unloaded)

 

[rcmodel]

When I disassemble the gun and clean it what should I be looking for as far as damage,

It is very unlikely falling over broke or damaged anything.

I would look for sand or grit or gravel under the forearm slide, or inside the action.

rc

 

[d2wing]

The safety can come loose and parts fall off on some 500's.

 

[hub]

Any updates bigalexe?

The safety can come loose and parts fall off on some 500's.

I'm thinking if your safety was really loose or cracked and the metal piece inside the receiver fell off that could bind your action but if that was the case the button would probably fall off on the outside too. I also don't see that happening from just knocking it over.

Is it possible that maybe the detent ball or spring under the button somehow fell inside the action causing it to bind. With the ball or spring missing it would cause the safety button to stick too.

If that checks out OK I would agree with rcmodel in that you probably got debris under the forearm or in the receiver. I seriously doubt that knocking it over could or would cause any damage other than cosmetic.

I have a rule with guns, never force anything.

+1, Excellent advice, forcing it open really could have caused some damage inside. Always take it apart if you can do so safely.

 

[bigalexe]

Nothing done as of yet, will probably work on it tomorrow (Wednesday) because its my first day off school.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Probably nothing wrong with it. If it worked before it should still work now.

 

[bigalexe]

Looked at it yesterday, no damage and it runs fine. Probably just jerked something internally when it dropped and my weak arms couldn't open it.

I did find it very odd that it would possibly be permanently damaged from just tipping over onto a gravel/mud driveway. My official cause is it probably got a piece of dirt in the internals that jammed it and once the other person ran the action for me the dirt fell out.

 

[gunsandreligion]

I dropped a 500 20 gauge (unloaded of course) from 15 feet letting it down from a tree stand (I let the rope slip out of my hands) and had no problems whatsoever.