It's been hard to come by with the newborn and all, but i was finally able to get to the range with my newly acquired Mossberg 464. Having picked it up used, I had some concerns over the action; especially upon finding out that the Davidson's guarantee doesn't transfer over past the original owner, but I'm thankful to report that most of my concerns have been dispelled by live fire.
Aesthetically, the gun is beautiful. The bleached wood furniture on marinecote steel make for a handsome piece and the checkering is cut, not burned in. This allows the already striking grain to be seen through the pattern for more detail if one looks closely enough. The fit and finish is likewise tight. The gun feels solid and has excellent balance thanks to the 16in barrel. Fire-sights grace this particular rifle standard making for excellent visibility when staring down the barrel. They're not for everybody, but I'm happy with them for closer work. The action is smooth and trigger fine, but this is technically a 'tuned' 464. Your milage may vary on the standard models.
Our first impression upon setting it loose on the range was BOOM! Lighter and shorter than your average levergun, the 464 hits your shoulder like a small howitzer in spite of the recoil pad. Even a few salvos of plain ol' 150gr Federal left our shoulders hurting in a manner reminiscent of 12g slugs with a Blackhawk stock. Heads turned when we lit the 464 off and both of us were left with huge grins. Groupings at 50 yards were 1-2in with open sights. I'm sure I'd be more than capable of drilling holes far past that with a scope or some form of peep sights in place of the fat florescent dots, but that's for another trip.
The thumb lever for the hammer is standard for all 464s, btw.
As mentioned, there were a few concerns upon first picking the rifle up. The first was that cartridges failed to reliably feed from the mag tube about one out of every ten times, though I've since attributed this to too much love on my part. Apparently, the action likes to run drier than my initial cleaning and we didn't experience any similar failures at the range after it had been allowed to sit for a week. Weak shell ejection was another concern, but the spent ones ejected with sufficient force as to not be a concern, something that should have been obvious in retrospect; no bullet = lighter casing. It's not as forceful as my old 336, but hardly the issue it first appeared to be.
On the topic of Marlins, the lever grip safety isn't as clicky or mechanical as my experience with a 336, but you quickly get used to the required pressure that you should be applying anyway. It's not the definitive lockup of a marlin, but it doesn't impede the rifle's use in any way. On that note, if one must be burdened by a safety, the tang switch of the 464 if by far superior to that of a Marlin. It's positioned in such a way that there's very little possibility that it will be knocked unintentionally, unlike the side button safety of a 336.
Overall, there's a lot of win present in this particular version of the Mossberg 464 and another owner on Paco's boards has nothing but praise for it. These are, of course, later models that don't seem to exibit the cancerous attributes of their earlier brethren. About the only gripe I can really bring to bear now that I've taken it to the range is the stiff loading gate, but that's hardly a deal breaker for me.
If you're looking for a low cost levergun, you could do worse (nod to pawnshop pre-remlin Marlins, etc etc). Either way, this one's a keeper for me
Aesthetically, the gun is beautiful. The bleached wood furniture on marinecote steel make for a handsome piece and the checkering is cut, not burned in. This allows the already striking grain to be seen through the pattern for more detail if one looks closely enough. The fit and finish is likewise tight. The gun feels solid and has excellent balance thanks to the 16in barrel. Fire-sights grace this particular rifle standard making for excellent visibility when staring down the barrel. They're not for everybody, but I'm happy with them for closer work. The action is smooth and trigger fine, but this is technically a 'tuned' 464. Your milage may vary on the standard models.
Our first impression upon setting it loose on the range was BOOM! Lighter and shorter than your average levergun, the 464 hits your shoulder like a small howitzer in spite of the recoil pad. Even a few salvos of plain ol' 150gr Federal left our shoulders hurting in a manner reminiscent of 12g slugs with a Blackhawk stock. Heads turned when we lit the 464 off and both of us were left with huge grins. Groupings at 50 yards were 1-2in with open sights. I'm sure I'd be more than capable of drilling holes far past that with a scope or some form of peep sights in place of the fat florescent dots, but that's for another trip.
The thumb lever for the hammer is standard for all 464s, btw.
As mentioned, there were a few concerns upon first picking the rifle up. The first was that cartridges failed to reliably feed from the mag tube about one out of every ten times, though I've since attributed this to too much love on my part. Apparently, the action likes to run drier than my initial cleaning and we didn't experience any similar failures at the range after it had been allowed to sit for a week. Weak shell ejection was another concern, but the spent ones ejected with sufficient force as to not be a concern, something that should have been obvious in retrospect; no bullet = lighter casing. It's not as forceful as my old 336, but hardly the issue it first appeared to be.
On the topic of Marlins, the lever grip safety isn't as clicky or mechanical as my experience with a 336, but you quickly get used to the required pressure that you should be applying anyway. It's not the definitive lockup of a marlin, but it doesn't impede the rifle's use in any way. On that note, if one must be burdened by a safety, the tang switch of the 464 if by far superior to that of a Marlin. It's positioned in such a way that there's very little possibility that it will be knocked unintentionally, unlike the side button safety of a 336.
Overall, there's a lot of win present in this particular version of the Mossberg 464 and another owner on Paco's boards has nothing but praise for it. These are, of course, later models that don't seem to exibit the cancerous attributes of their earlier brethren. About the only gripe I can really bring to bear now that I've taken it to the range is the stiff loading gate, but that's hardly a deal breaker for me.
If you're looking for a low cost levergun, you could do worse (nod to pawnshop pre-remlin Marlins, etc etc). Either way, this one's a keeper for me
