Mossberg 500A, 20" bbl, how many rds

[ronbuick]

I have a Mossberg 500A with the 20" bbl, I can get only 4rds. of 2.75
shot shells into the mag, is this the most that it will hold or do I need to take it apart to remove the plug if there is one in there or is this all she will hold, also I have never removed or taken apart a shotgun to remove a plug before, is this a difficult job, also if there is a plug in there how many rounds would she hold, thanks for your help and any help doing this would be great, again thanks much.

Ron

 

[dak0ta]

If you remove the plug you should be able to get 7 rounds + 1 in the chamber for a total of 8. You can remove the plug by taking the barrel off and the forearm, unscrew the magazine tube (careful not to compress the tube) and then take out the dowel. Or you can take of the barrel and keep putting shells into the mag tube and eventually the plug will pop out of the hole at the end of the mag tube.

 

[Fred Fuller]

No need to remove the magazine tube- Mossberg usually ships all repeating shotguns with the plug in place.

Just remove the barrel as for cleaning, turn the magazine straight down and shake the gun a little. The end of the plug should fall out of the hole in the end of the magazine tube where the barrel nut screws in. The plug has a couple of O rings around it that will stop it from coming all the way, when the end pops out you'll have to pull it the rest of the way. Then put the barrel back on.

Should be easy...

lpl

 

[ronbuick]

dak, just removed the so-called plug, I was thinking of something bigger than a 1/4 dia.
stick with a coulpe of small "o" rings on the plug, are these re-used anywhere or just leave them on the plug, I use these 2" buckshot shells from Centurion that let me put in 9 in the mag plus 1 in the chamber, but I always leave my chambers empty on all my guns, just my habit and that way I do not forget that I would have to rack one in, been doing this for over 40yrs., so I have the potential to have 10 rounds of buckshot, thats a lot of lead going down range, thanks dak.

Ron

 

[bubba15301]

mines holds 6 rounds

 

[ronbuick]

2.75 or 3"???

 

[bubba15301]

6+1 2-3/4"

 

[Al LaVodka]

There's no Mossberg I know of that only holds 6+1 2 3/4" shells UNLESS possibly they are not American shells in which case they may be longer than ours. Even so, I've never heard of that. The 20" barrel should hold 7 in a Persuader (Cruiser) and 8 in a 590 tube. Even the standard 500 holds five of the standard 2 3/4" and even 3" magnums if they are American. If you can't get these numbers there is an issue with the tube/follower and/or spring. Now, as for those short, 2", rounds...

Are you sure that your guns will cycle with them, consistently? I have almost never heard of them being reliable in a repeater of almost any kind. This includes the more recent Aquila stuff. Not even european 2 1/2". Otherwise we'd all be using them to max out our magazine capacity...

Al

 

[ronbuick]

I have 9 in the mag and did cycle it several times and they did chamber and eject each time, did this 4 times, but I will take it to the range to verify, mine does hold 7+1 of 2.75
rds, have not tried 3" yet.

Ron

 

[natman]

I just wanted to confirm that your shotgun looks like this:



There are 20" barreled Mossbergs that have the standard magazine.



Your gun should hold 7 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber for a total of 8 shots.

I was curious about how you could get 4 in the magazine. It sounds like you got a plug for a standard 5 shot magazine in a long magazine. In the event you ever go hunting with this gun, make a longer plug so that you can only get two shells in the mag, otherwise you'll be breaking the law. If you make one out of a dowel, be sure to bevel the ends otherwise it can get caught in the magazine spring.

 

[foghornl]

make a longer plug so that you can only get two shells in the mag, otherwise you'll be breaking the law.

Exactly...The "Game-N-Fish" folks are humorless when it comes to shotguns unplugged while you are supposed to have a max of 3 rounds available in your gun. I do NOT have firsthand experience with this, but I do know a couple of folks that do. NOT pleasant.

 

[ronbuick]

Mine looks to be the upper one, I do not hunt anymore, strictly for HD, if it saves my family of myself's life, it is a moot point to me, that is its only purpose, HD.

Ron

 

[oneounceload]

In the event you ever go hunting with this gun, make a longer plug so that you can only get two shells in the mag, otherwise you'll be breaking the law

That applies to Federally regulated migratory birds such as waterfowl or dove

 

[natman]

In some states, CA for one, you have to have the magazine plugged for everything, including hunting big game with slugs. I know it doesn't make sense, but it's the law nevertheless.