Pre-68 Mossberg 500 Choke

[mlaustin]

I just bought a pre-68 mossberg 500 in 12ga from a local gun shop for $175. Gun is gorgeous, great condition, etc. Unfortunatly, being a CA resident, I have to wait my 10 days until I can have it (grr), but regardless:

The barrel is not threaded for a choke. What's my best option for using it for upland game birds? Just buying a new barrel that's threaded? What do gunsmith's usually charge to thread the barrel out for chokes? Is renting/buying the tools and doing it myself viable? Looks like brownell's sells a tap kit for about $125, which would be the same price as a new barrel, but I'd get to keep the tap kit to work on other guns. What would you recommend?

Also, would getting to use 3" shells make it worth just buying a new barrel for Duck and possible Turkey and Pheasant hunting as well as shooting clays?

 

[mnrivrat]

I think for your usage a new barrel is the way to go if you want choke tubes. The 500 series guins have been around a long time, and used barrels are fairly plentiful in various configurations , as well as new ones.

The gun should be chambered for 3 inch shells already. If it has a full choke barrel, I would just ream out the choke to IC or Modified , and see how it performs that way before buying a new barrel, or threading it for tubes.

 

[mlaustin]

Thanks so much! I think I might wind up just getting a new barrel and seeing if I can sell the old one, I would really like to have interchangable chokes, but I'll definitely pattern it first and hit some clays with it first.

Is there any way to tell what kind of choke the barrel is at currently? It looked very open at the gun store today, but I'm far from an expert on shotguns. There was no visible taper at the end of the barrel.

On a gun lacking even a serial number, will there be any clear indications, or do I just pattern it at set distances and make an educated guess?

 

[mnrivrat]

As a general rule you will find the choke listed (stamped into the metal) on the barrel, near the breech end. A gun of that period was typically choked full. You would not see any exterior difference on the barrel diameter - the taper is internal.

They make cheap little gauges that slide into the end of the barrel to check the amount of choke. The old rule of thumb was to use a US dime, and if it did not fit down into the bore at the muzzle then the gun was full choked.

The procedure to open the choke up is simply to use the proper size reamer and cut away some of the internal material to achieve the more open modified or Improved cylinder choke restrictions. This is generally not expensive. Reaming and threading for tubes however is about a $100 process + the price of additional tubes.

For upland birds in particular ,a full choke is rather tight with modern ammo. Most fixed choke, or one choke tube, modern barrels are coming with modified choking these days. I prefer IC for Dove & Quail , but that is a personal choice .

 

[rcmodel]

See this:

http://www.choketube.com/instal.html

for upland game birds?

Depending on what & where you are hunting?
Your best bet would be to have a gunsmith cut the barrel off right behind the choke.

With todays tight patterning shot-cup wads, and/or steel shot, a 26" cylinder bore is perfect for quail in the brush, or pheasant over dogs.

But, if your "upland birds" are mountain chuckers at 55 yards, you might want to leave it like it is!

rc

 

[mlaustin]

Thanks for all the info! I'll have to wait until the Fourth to find out for sure, since I'm not willing to drive 40 miles round trip just to check out the choke.

Is there any particular advantage to sticking with the old barrel? Even new off of Cabela's, 500 barrels are only about $150...for a factory new barrel with three choke tubes instead of a pre-1968 barrel that I will have to send off to a gunsmith for a few weeks.

As far as what I'm hunting...this season it should be mostly ducks in the Sacramento area (I live about 10 minutes from the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area), but I want to option to go after turkey or pheasant at some point.

 

[rcmodel]

Well, now that you mention ducks changes everything.

You would be better off to get a new steel-shot rated barrel with choke tubes.

You will need steel-shot rated tubes in Imp Cyl or Mod for ducks, and a Full or Extra-full turkey choke for turkey.

rc

 

[mlaustin]

rc - Thanks so much for walking me through this whole thing. I assumed my good theoretical knowledge of shotguns (ie, I know what a choke is) would be enough once I got one, but apparently not. I think I will look around and see if I can get a deal on a used 26" barrel, rated for steel shot, with removable chokes...barring that, I'm going to be in Reno in 3 weeks, so I might just bite the bullet and buy one at Cabela's.

Thanks!