Who's seen or had a broken Mossberg 500?

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The most common problem by far that I observed was broken sight beads. I don't think too many of the shooters even noticed. Students would also occasionally put them back together wrong after cleaning (or not have the parts "just right") and attempt to force things when the problem was noticed. I never saw one break from this.

A few of ours had trigger assemblies that didn't fit quite right. I'm not sure if they came from the depot like that or assemblies had been swapped around. Regardless, my trick for making them fit was to knock them into the receiver with a blow from the barrel, taking care not to hit the bead. (Replacing those got tiresome.) I never saw anything damaged by this, other than the finish.

When giving a safety briefing prior to a shotgun shoot, I used to harp upon the importance of cycling with authority -- "Rack that thing! You're not going to break it and if you do, we'll fix it." On one memorable occasion, a student did just that...he ripped the forearm right off the weapon. He wasn't even all that big of a guy. The look on his face was priceless and we laughed for a long time over that. That's the only time that I remember seeing a Mossberg go out of action during regular use.

The aluminum receiver always concerned me but we never managed to break one. The design seems to be strong enough for its intended purpose.
 
Mossberg/Aluminum Reciever/John Moses Browning

The aluminum receiver always concerned me but we never managed to break one. The design seems to be strong enough for its intended purpose.
Click to expand...

I found this on shotgunworld website a while back:

"On the Mossberg 500, the bolt locks into an extension fastened to the barrel. The critical dimensions are the distance from the locking recess to the chamber, and the distance from the locking block in the bolt and the bolt face. Both are easily measured (in the factory) and kept to a precise figure.

The aluminum receiver only acts as a cover and guide to the moving parts, and does not have to take any of the forces of the firing except to transmit the force of recoil to the shooter.

If this was such a great idea, why did it wait until 1961 (year Mossberg 500 came out; August) to come about? It didn't. The locking mechanism is the same method used by John Moses Browning in the A-S. Browning also used it in a number of different pump actions he designed. So why didn't other manufacturers use it? Browning had the patents. By the time the patents had expired, many manufacturers had been making their models for years or decades. The customers expected a particular design, the tooling was paid for, and the cost and risk of switching was too high. Remington switched to the barrel extension in 1950 with the 870, and pulled it off. Winchester switched in 1964 with the 1200 and almost foundered. Their customer were not ready to have an icon of beauty and shotgun shooting like the model 12 replaced with an industrial tool like the Winchester model 1200.

Mossberg didn't have to worry about the patents, they had long expired."
 
I had a mossberg 500A that I bought used for $200 it came with a vent ribbed barrel 26 inch(I think) and also about a 20nch barrel with a select a choke. The shotgun had been owned by a duck hunter and it hadn't been cleaned in years. I took it home and cleaned it I had several malfucntions with it, the shells would fail to be picked up by the carrier, occasionally a spent shell would fail to exstract and have to be pushed out with a cleaning rod. This happened once when I was at my shooting range, I fired one shot at clay and right after I did a woodchuck came running out of its hole toward me. I tried to eject the spent shell and exstractor failed to remove it. The wood chuck got away, that experience irirtaded me. So I took the shotgun and its barrel to a gunshop and traded it for a 20" smooth bore slug barrel with rifle sites for my 870. Which has never failed me.

Not to say that 870 can't. I had an 20 gauge 870 exspress that would occasionaly eject a live round when the action was pumped (bad shell stop) it also managed to jam a round under the carrier once.

Myself I have always loved the ithaca 37 myself (even had one of these break, the action bar stud snapped off and would not come out so the shotgun could not be disasembled. I had to break the action bar stud with punch and take it out piece by piece and replace it with a new one)

Brother in Arms
 
Late 60's(?) early 70's(?) Mossberg 500 in like-new condition.

Broken hammer.
Shoot when slammed shut.
All sorts of spring-related-timing problems I can't remember the details on. :/

I still have quite a collection of spare springs and an extra hammer. :)

It got stolen recently.

I bought it from my grandfather in law and planned to hang on to it for the kids and grand kids.
He bought it and didn't like the modified choke so went for a full choke barrel and found he could get a whole new shotgun for the same money. :)

After the hammer broke (1975?) I ground all the weight I figured I could get away with off the new hammer before installing it and put in a new stiffer hammer spring too. One of the better modifications I ever did to that sloppy hunk of junk. Along with a clunky Lyman "enonomy" choke to get rid of that sorry modified choke that shot closer to IC. I wanted IM to full and got it with some fiddling around.

YMMV

The best thing I can ever say about that old Mossberg is it fit me like a glove! :)
That's the reason I never replaced it. No kidding. :)

I don't know if it fit me from the start or I grew to fit it tho. :)

Alvin in AZ
 
I have one right now (a 500) that apparently has a bent ejector. Point the muzzle up, and the shell jams just as the action starts forward. Point it down, and it works. I'll get around to taking it to the shop one of these days.
 
I picked up a used 500 for a home defense weapon. Took it to the range and it started ejecting shell out the bottom instead of putting them into the chamber. The shells weren't being held in the tube. Took it back and got a used 870. No problems with that one at all.
 
my Mossy 20ga 500

i love my Mossy 500 20 ga NOW. when i first got it i thought that i had inspected the stock well enoungh. when i got home i found the stock cracked where it meets the reciever. i removed the stock, got some epoxy 2 part "super glue" and applied it into the crack by putting it on paper and continuosly running the glued paper throught the crack. when enough was forced inside i clamped the stock and let it dry for two days. now you cant even find the crack and it strong as ever! -Eric
 
I've got a Maveric 88, basically a cheaper M500. I've had it for about 2 years now, put more rounds through it than i can remember, and when i wrecked my truck it spent about 2 or 3 hours at the bottom of a muddy creek. After a good cleaning it worked just fine, and still works fine today.
 
I second the Maverik 88. Put allot of round through it, shooting clays, and plenty more hunting. Dragged it through brush and over rocks. Zero missfires, zero problems. Durable, rugged, reliable and cheap. My safety hasent broken yet. Easy to clean and disasemble. I dont care for the stiff pump on the 870's, but they do tend to have a more solid feel to them. I've had nothing but good luck with mossbergs; so I'll stay with them out of brand loyalty.
 
I've had both Mossy 500's and Rem 870s. I prefer the Moss 500 to an 870 express, but, I like the older 870 wingmasters better than either.
 
In my case it's just that the Mossberg is all I've ever had since I was a kid, and I've just never gotten too excited about switching. I have known lots of Mossberg owners, and truthfully most people don't have issues. Sure every once in a while something can break, but that's any gun.
 
I like my Mossberg. Its old enough to have a metal safety, and I stole a synthetic Speed-Feed stock for it years ago. (I asked the man behind the table if that $20 price was correct, and he said yes. SOLD!!!).

the only other modification I have made is LockTite on the screw that holds the ejector to the receiver, as I have had one fall out.

A high volume shooter might be better served by another model, but the Mossberg is plenty tough. If I had a plastic safety, I would probably upgrade to the metal one.
 
Is there any difference in the receiver and internal parts between the 500
and 590? As far as I know, the only difference is the bayonet lug and open
mag tube. Is the receiver on the 590 more durable?
 
Locktite will be my friend as soon as the new
ejector screw arrives from Brownells.The other
mod i've done to my 500A is a raised front bead
sight that i got from Brownells.Other than those
2 minor problems i'am happy with my as new
looking $143.00 mossberg.
 
My first shotgun was (is) an 870, 20ga/28"mod. Didn't take long to figure out that I wanted a 12 for waterfowl. I spent many a cold morning with Daddy's 590 (I think that's the model).

It would extract about every other shell. Sometimes it would jerk a chunk out of the rim, sometimes not, but I got really good at knocking them out with a broken HotShot wand.:mad:

Once I fell, without even landing on the gun, but still knocked a big wedge out of the stock where it meets the reciever. I thought I was in big trouble (I was about 14), but it turns out Daddy hated that gun as much as me.:fire:

I had forgotten all about the "empty the mag thru the bottom" trick until I read this thread. Nothing is more endearing to a waterfowler than a shottie that jams on round #1 and then dumps 2 expensive steel shells into the water/mud.:cuss:

Oh, and a friend bought a new 12 maybe 5 years ago, straight out of the box, it wouldn't cycle properly. He took it back and traded it for an 870.

Another friend bought a brand new one in 410 (? I think) for his son at Christmas. Talk about a proud, happy kid who recieves his first shotgun for Christmas and then it won't eject that afternoon.

All that said, I do have a couple of friends who shoot and like Mossys, but I can buy used Wingmasters for the same price as a new Mossy, so why bother with them?:banghead: :neener:
 
I would suspect that those of you who bought used Mossbergs that had
immediate problems were due to the previous owner disassembling it far
past what was recommended for routine maintenance.
 
TBL, that is absolutely -not- true in my case. :)

I remember the very first problem I saw and fixed on the Mossberg.

The carrier dragged heavily against one side and the pivot pins weren't seating all the way in their holes, both. I bent to carrier. What it needed was the pivot pins to be lined up across from each other in a straight line. Not like it was new. ;) The correction needed could be described as slightly lengthening one "arm" and slightly shortening the other. See it? It sure enough operated smoother after that fix.

If it hadn't been stolen I wouldn't have replaced it recently. :) I bought a JCHiggins model-20 made in '53 (high standard 200) that ain't got a plastic trigger assemly or aluminum frame or feel like some of the parts might fall out any second. I like it and don't have to appologise for it being a hunk of junk. ;)

YMMV

The junky old Mossberg fit me tho. :)
I may have grown to fit it?
But either way, a shotgun that -fits- has a quality all its own! :)

And with my improvements of locktime and a mess of other stuff like that I liked it other than it felt like it was sloppy made cheap junk.

I found almost 15 gallons of lead shot piled up beside a gold sluicing machine, I guess they used it to test their homemade equipment? It had like a 10' by 20' bed and the engine was gone that shook it but was prob'ly a V8. :)

I rolled the shot down tin to separte the shot from the gravel and shot all that up in no time flat through that old Mossberg. It was mostly #6 which is the smallest size I shoot.

Alvin in AZ
 
Having a problem with a Mossberg 500. It is a home security weapon and isn't feeding. The follower is dropping all the way down, but round isn't leaving the tube on 9 out of 10 pumps. I'm wondering if the side saddle I have is causing the problem. I had to clearance the front pump wood a little to let it stroke all the way with the side saddle. I can reach in the port and push the little tab to cause the next round to feed. Everything is clean.

Any ideas on how to diagnose the problem?
 
Yeah. I would have already, but I've moved about six times since I put the saddle on and now I don't know where the original factory hardware is. Probably in my storage room. I'll have to look.

Besides, I don't think it is the side saddle per se, but rather the stock pump wood interfering with the side saddle. (I just put it back on, after replacing the crappy plastic front pistol grip that decided to fall into a few pieces. ATI I think. It had an adapter to make it work with the Mossberg and had others for 870 or Winchester.)

It is now doing that dump the round out the bottom thing as the action is cycled forward.

I had the barrel off when I was messing with the pump, so I'm going to take it all apart, clean everything, and reassemble. Don't think I could have done anything with the bolt but who knows.

I'm watching the feed tray as it falls. Doesn't seem to be striking that bar that causes the round to be released. Is it supposed to? Or is it the left action bar that causes the round to be released?
 
PS, I'm a Gator too! Spent three wonderful years in Hoggetowne. What are you doing up so late? :)
 
This is a minor issue...

I have one of the ultra-cheap Big 5 $180 w/ two barrels 500A specials... the first time I took it out the plastic forend cracked down the middle (mold line) and started slipping around. I replaced it with a choate 835 forend (because the Big 5 500A uses a short mag tube and that was one of the few forends that didn't require cutting down or modification to fit) and of course that's been flawless. The gun is still barely used since I've only fired maybe 500 shells so far, but I'm happy.
 
My neighbor inherited a very nice 500 from about 1972. It was very clean and well-maintained, and had been in storage for several years. He shot some clays (I missed mine) with it, and then the forend came loose from the slide. ON inspection, it was revealed that s couple of spot welds had broken. He was accused of overenthusiastic racking, but the repair was affordable and there have been no problems since.
 
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