Remmington 870 or Mossberg 500

[Willo]

mossy

Have an 8-shot mossy 500 with 20" barrel. Can break about 20 of 25 clays at 20-30 yards (spare tire-thrown) with #8 shot. Never had a problem. Great gun I keep it next to the bed w/ #1 and #4 buck. Easy to remove the barrel and put it back on.. I never take it apart more than that.

BEST thing about the mossy IMHO is the position of the slide release button. I hate the one on the 870 and didn't really care for the Winchester one. Since I keep the mag loaded but the chamber empty for home protection I wanted one I could rack quickly and the mossy took first place for that.

 

[1911JMB]

Besides the fact I leave one in the pipe, I don't at all have a hard time with the location of the slide release on an 870. Remember, practice beats equipment. And by the way, one thing a lot of people do with any type of shotgun is dry fire it with a loaded magazine and leave the safety off so that its ready to be racked and fired without worrying about anything else.

 

[N3rday]

And by the way, one thing a lot of people do with any type of shotgun is dry fire it with a loaded magazine and leave the safety off so that its ready to be racked and fired without worrying about anything else.

Um...how is that better than just leaving it cocked without a shell in the chamber? Sorry, shotgun noob.

 

[Willo]

you don't then have to push the slide relase button to rack the slide. But I like the added little safety of that button. When I first got the gun I showed it to my girlfriend and she couldn't rack it because she didn't know that you needed to push a release button to do it. I figured she's probably not the only one who doesn't know that.

 

[Dave McCracken]

As a longtime shotgunner and Instructor I have some qualms about folks pulling the trigger on a house gun with loaded mag.

Heck, the idea scares me.

Murphy predicts a shell will find its way into the chamber sooner or later.

Why? Because as an instructor I had to deal with a handful of COs who did this. Various gun posts got extra ventilation that way. Thankfully no one was hurt besides some hearing damage and ruint undies.

Here,HD shotguns are stored empty chamber, action locked shut, safety on, mag loaded to capacity minus one. This duplicates MD DOC practice.

Does it take too long to make ready? Not if we spend some time acquiring skills that can only be bought with sweat.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

What's wrong with keeping the chamber empty but the pin cocked? Surely the same people who advocate that magazine tube springs don't "wear out" would agree that your firing pin spring probably won't wear out in the same fashion?

If you're going to leave the chamber unloaded it doesn't make a lick of difference which way your firing pin rests as long as there's nothing for it to hit. I think pulling the trigger to drop the pin is a very bad idea for precisely the reasons listed above.

I load mine to full capacity but leave the chamber empty.

 

[mp510]

What's wrong with keeping the chamber empty but the pin cocked? Surely the same people who advocate that magazine tube springs don't "wear out" would agree that your firing pin spring probably won't wear out in the same fashion?

If the shotgun is kept for personal protection, that wouldmakel;oading it in an emergency trickier and more time consuming. On the 870, and I believe te Mossberg as well, you need to depress a release in order to rack the pump if the weapon is cocked. That might not be first nature and could be something to fumble around with when fractions of a second count.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Zero, see the new thread.

mp510, "That might not be first nature".....

If one is depending on something in a crisis, operating that something should be automatic. If someone doesn't know their weapon well, they are living in an illusion.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

Aye. I'd figure the pump release would just serve as one of those extra mechanical safties that would prevent the shell from getting into the chamber when you don't want it to.

For what it's worth, I like the locaiton of the pump release on the Mossberg's better, so that was another plus for me. Personally? I'd just as soon remove the thing if I had the know how. From the operator interface standpoint, I think it's think it's unnecessary. I don't know if it hooks up to some other essential mechanical gizmo inside that keeps the pump forearm from giving you an Indian rug burn when you fire the gun or something.

Anyway, I know a guy who keeps a snap cap chambered in his and it seems like a logical solution. He loads it up fully, opens the action (which dispenses a shell from the tube) and switches it with a snap cap, then sticks the shell back in the mag. At that point you can pretty safely drop the hammer and there's no fooling with the pump release after you do. You gotta find your snap cap again after you use the gun, but if you actually wound up using the thing for defense I think that would be the least of your worries.

 

[Willo]

but picture this..

You hear a bump in the night, you grab your gun and rack the slide, the snap cap goes flying and rolls around on the floor, and then you slip on it in the dark and land on your back, blasting a big hole in your ceiling.

 

[only1asterisk]

Understand that I am biased. I doubt I will ever buy a Mossberg of my own, I have too much time invested on the 870 and prefer them anyway.

I spent the afternoon with an 870 and 500 in as close a configuration as can be had. I have little specific criticism of the 500. Its mechanism, esp. the bolt seems to be more complicated than the 870 and less well made. The action bars feel esp. flimsy. I think I could twist them into knots. BUT none of this means anything. The millions of 500’s out there are built well enough work day in and day out. The 870 (besides just feeling right to me) is over built. I like overbuild. So long as I can afford it and it doesn’t have negative consequences (like excessive weight), I go with it. The 500’s receiver is also a good bit longer behind the trigger than the 870 and most 500 stocks seem to have fuller grips to compensate. They also have a couple of features I really like, the tang safety and the longer, heavier magazine tube. I MUCH prefer the location of the 870’s action release lever/button. Even though the Mossberg has been designed for acceptable balance, I think it has more weight forward than an 870 off the same configuration especially when fully loaded. This is important when you need a gun to swing smoothly, but I tend to like more lively, neutral balance.

I like my 870’s and I’ll gladly pay the difference in price.


David

 

[Willo]

humorous

it's funny how different people can experience the same thing and feel totally different about it.

I couldn't stand the "tight" feeling of the 870. I kept imagining it would bind up or something on me. I like the loose feeling of the mossy. And I frankly don't know how anybody can like, or even use, the 870's slide release. The mossy's you just barely have to move your middle finger, the 870 I have to release the grip of my right hand completely, move it around the front of the trigger guard, press the release button and grip the frame with my right hand while the left hand starts the action back, then quickly move my right hand back to the grip. My dad's 6'2 with big hands and can practically reach around the guard with his index finger while keeping his grip, but I can't do that. Plus he has to take his finger off the trigger to do it, whereas you could sit there and shoot the mossy WHILE holding down the slide release if you had to due to some part breakage or malfunction. That one difference in "feature placement" right there assured my purchase of the mossy.

 

[only1asterisk]

Willo,

I barely have to shift at all to hit the action release lever on the 870, but my hands are well beyond average size. I find the little Mossberg button to be more than awkward. You probably like the push button cylinder latch on Ruger revolvers too.

David

 

[nexuspal]

Mossberg 500...

My stepdad has a mossberg 500 and I have an 870...

The 870 has been absolutely flawless and has digested everything I've put through it, including reloaded ammo that was loaded too hot and took 2 hands to get to extract!

The Mossberg on the other hand... I looking at it once and the slide would NOT dissengage. It tood more than 30 minutes of jiggling it around to get it to open. This is NOT acceptable in my book.

870 all the way...

 

[XavierBreath]

This thread is over six months old. I'm guessing Texas has made a decision by now.

 

[Matt King]

This thread is over six months old. I'm guessing Texas has made a decision by now.

Indeed, Xavier After reviewing my options, I decided to pick up a slightly used Remington 870, that I found at a Pawn Shop for $210. I replaced the Wood Stock with a Synthetic one, slapped a Magazine extension on, Cut the barrel down to 18.5 inches, and A Voila the perfect home defense weapon!!

Duck hunting was never really my thing, and I Decided to pick up a rifle for those hogs.

Talk about bringing a thread back from the dead!!