Hey guys, I recently bought a Mossberg 930 SPX from Bud's. After checking her out and cleaning it up, I ran out to the range and put about 100 rounds of mixed stuff, mostly low brass Rem and some W-W buck and slugs. Everything ran through it fine and even the mild birdshot loads ejected smartly. So far so good.
In attempting to zero the slugs at 50 yards, I was unable to bring the groups down to point of aim. With the rear sight all the way down and the front all the way up, as close as I could get was about 6" high, and it was punching nice tight groups for slugs. Three shot groups of no more than 2" center to center.
The zero problem was probably acceptable, but I wanted to see what Mossberg had to say about it so I called CS. They immediately offered to replace the barrel and wanted me to send the old one back first. I suggested that I would rather they sent me a replacement immediately and I could then compare the barrels before sending the old on back. They agreed, and after a couple of weeks I received the barrel.
As you can see in the pics, the front sight base is different. The old one appeared to have a spacer under the base, brazed on, while the new one is one piece. It also has much more elevation adjustment available. But the real surprise was the barrel weight. I noticed just eyeballing it that the new tube was much heavier than the old one. My calipers confirmed it, the new barrel has walls that are .026" thicker. The old barrel weighed 2 lb. 5.4 oz, and the new one is 2 lb. 10 oz.
One of the thing I liked about this shotgun was the light weight and nimble handling. Not sure how I feel about this new heavy tube, but I thought it might be of interest to other 930 SPX owners.....Now to shoot it and see if it shoots those W-W slugs as tightly as the old barrel.
New barrel on right:
In attempting to zero the slugs at 50 yards, I was unable to bring the groups down to point of aim. With the rear sight all the way down and the front all the way up, as close as I could get was about 6" high, and it was punching nice tight groups for slugs. Three shot groups of no more than 2" center to center.
The zero problem was probably acceptable, but I wanted to see what Mossberg had to say about it so I called CS. They immediately offered to replace the barrel and wanted me to send the old one back first. I suggested that I would rather they sent me a replacement immediately and I could then compare the barrels before sending the old on back. They agreed, and after a couple of weeks I received the barrel.
As you can see in the pics, the front sight base is different. The old one appeared to have a spacer under the base, brazed on, while the new one is one piece. It also has much more elevation adjustment available. But the real surprise was the barrel weight. I noticed just eyeballing it that the new tube was much heavier than the old one. My calipers confirmed it, the new barrel has walls that are .026" thicker. The old barrel weighed 2 lb. 5.4 oz, and the new one is 2 lb. 10 oz.
One of the thing I liked about this shotgun was the light weight and nimble handling. Not sure how I feel about this new heavy tube, but I thought it might be of interest to other 930 SPX owners.....Now to shoot it and see if it shoots those W-W slugs as tightly as the old barrel.
New barrel on right: