Interresting observation...

[DevLcL]

I own a Mossberg 500a and a Coast to Coast Stores 12 ga(basically a mossberg clone). The actions have identical demensions except the C2C gun is heavier and all the internal parts are solid instead of more of a frame like the mossy. Working the action on the C2C gun is like speading melted butter while the mossy feels like its got mudd stuck in it.

It basically boils down to this...
The older cheaper hardware store clone is much smoother and much more solid then the real deal. Even the infamous plastic mossy safety is traded for solid metal. The extra weight makes it alot more fun to shoot aswell.

I used to have a Winchester 1300 with the much-hyped Speedpump and this old school hardware store gun is still much smoother.

It doesnt look like any of the parts have been sanded or modified so I'm pretty sure it was made the way it is now. I wonder if the hardware store took a bunch of mossbergs and modified them to a desired standard or machined their own parts then re-blued and re-sold them as a "specialty" shotgun or something. Does anyone have any info on this?

I'm glad my cousin gave this thing to me.

-Dev

 

[Jim K]

I suspect the key word here is "older". When Mossberg made that gun for the trade, their own gun probably had the heavier receiver and all those things you mention. But over the years, cost cutting and ease of production caught up with them, so the newer Mossberg just "ain't made like they used to be."

Jim