Looking to buy my first shotgun. Thinking about this model because of high quality, good price and it feels good in the hands. Can I get some opinions or past experience with it please
Just so you know, the gun isn't listed on Mossberg's site.
The problem is that all you've got there is a P/HD gun--no choke and short barrel...Unless all you intend to do is shoot zombies then you'd be okay but other then that, get a 500 Bantam or one of the Turkish models by Kahn, Howa etc. which are just as cheap and come with dual barrels in some cases.
It's a synthetic stock and forearm and the forearm is a Maverick-style pinned one. Not detractions if you didn't want wood anyway. That's how they saved the price on that one, though. If you plan to add wood later, a stock will go right on but you'll need to buy a 500 forearm action tube to mount a wood forearm....and you'll never find a parkerized one to match your gun's finish. Also, the forearm on that particular gun, the Mav-type sporting forearm, will overlap the front edge of the receiver on the pump cycle....so you won't be able to mount a full sized side saddle shell holder. You can buy a short side saddle and you can also trim the forearm if you want a full sized, however.
It's a great gun for its intended purpose of home defense/security etc. Every part is there to suit that intended purpose. You can also add a hunting barrel later if you want....but again, you won't ever find a matching parkerized one.
Ya I've done extensive reading on this shotgun and I don't plan on replacing the forearm so that doesn't really matter. But with the overlapping forearm, I've seen people that cut the overlap before on Remington 870's so I figured why can't it work on a Mossy? And if it doesn't then I buy a Magpul one haha
My former roommate has a 590a1 that would keep all pellets in a 14" circle at 45 yards or so. Flite control buckshot. Works great from cylinder bore barrels.
The shotgun will make a fine general-purpose shotgun and will shoot the same 12 gauge buck, slugs, and birdshot that more expensive and fancier. dare I say "better". shotguns will shoot. So you can defend your family and friends etc. just the same with it.
I will say that the comments about the pistol grip are dead on- Pistol-grip-only shotguns are for extremely specialized use and the movies. And in general, the way they are used in the movies, if they ACTUALLY shot them the way they're holding them/using them they'd lose some teeth, break an orbital bone in their eye or broken nose, etc.
The best thing you could do with this is just buy it,clean it up, and shoot it alot. Then lather, rinse, repeat. CLEAN IT UP, SHOOT IT UP.
if you do want to, you could of course buy a new stock and forend. I would suggest a quality brand but there are copious choices. Some work better than others but everyone loves their type and will defend the choice they make. * In General* i prefer a conventional style shotgun stock and use them on 3 of my 4 shotguns, however I do have a pistol-grip-stock on my Benelli SuperNova Tactical and it does enable a GREAT amount of control. However, the "M4-style" AR-15 collapsible/pistol-grip stocks are not something I personally choose to use nor recommend but many will.
I think you should buy it and shoot it. Couldn't ask for more.
Yeah, I always considered them such because they use the plastic safeties (needs upgrading) and the polymer trigger guards (which some argue don't offer any performance decrease over metal).
I said it before...but that won't stop me from saying it again...
My Mossberg Chainsaw with a Knoxx recoil reduction pistol grip, while funny to some, is the easiest 12 ga I've ever fired. The older you get...the more you appreciate these things. I like having this next to my nightstand.
I have that Remington 870 Tactical... I decided to really have some fun and spent a ton of time, money, and effort and have made it basically an 870 Tactical Magpul Police ...
I was under the (mistaken) impression that the 870 Tactical was an upgraded line of the 870s like the Wingmasters and the Police , but in fact it's an EXPRESS Tactical. So I went through and put every piece of Magpul furniture possible and available under the Magpul SGA 870 gear, I installed every part on the 870P on my Tactical.... and I added an Aimpoint Micro I had on my M930SPX.... It's a great gun.
I want to say this to you- I love Ghost Ring Sights and think they make excellent combat sights on a shotgun... but I don't really love the sights on this gun, they come with the XS Sights Rail picatinny rail installed, along with a mounted rear aperture and front "XS Blade" sight... but they aren't great. The rear aperture is tiny, and extremely low... and the front is not the famous Big Dot sight its the Blade, so they're useable but not awesome. (My M930SPX has LPA Sights ghost ring sights, rear and front fiber-optic sights inserts, awesome awesome awesome sight system!!) ... so anyway you can get the Remington 870 Tactical with a front bead sight for like $349.99 whereas the Ghost Ring 870 Tactical is like $499.99 so .. you might save some money if you would be inclined...
As you noted, you can either modify the Express, or get the Police. Whatever you do, and whichever Remington/Mossberg, I am in love with the Magpul furniture. I bought some for a friend for the 590a1 I got them last year and that changed EVERYTHING about the weapon. So much more ergonomic.
Unobtanium I completely agree, the Magpul furniture is amazing. It's why I bought the 870, straight up. I had just got a small windfall of cash, not enough to change my life but enough to change things right then and there ,and I wanted to buy myself a new "toy". I could have probably went up to $2000 and got a new AR/ACOG but both local gun shops were so terrible, it's a long story but I wound up at ****'s Sporting Goods... and I wanted to drop some cash *RIGHT THEN AND THERE* and walk out with a toy. They had no 590A1a or even 590s, just simple 500 persuaders. Nor did they have a Benelli SuperNova Tactical (another one I wanted badly, which I have also now) but they had the 870 Tactical. I thought, well, at least I could do the Magpul on this, so I bought it as a project gun. I have like $1000-$1200 into I believe. I put every piece of Magpul furniture for an 870 on it, I did every Police upgrade and even have an Aimpoint Micro on it.
Bringing me to my next point- I did not make one upgrade- the trigger group- I read a lot of expert opinions that the polymer triggerguard is much more robust and less likely to break, malfunction, need replacing down the road, or give you any trouble- so I left it. I did do the Wilson Combat oversized trigger, if no other reason than for gaining some experience taking apart and installing things I was not at all comfortable doing just 2-3 years back.
I *really* want a 590A1 now to "complete" my collection, I have 4 out of 5 of my most desired combat shotguns... but there is a specific 590A1 I want, and its the most expensive, and I'll need to drop another $300 on Magpul etc. And it's such a luxury buy there are many other more needy-firearms I have on the list higher priority at the moment.
If only I could win like, $20, $25Gs on a scratch off. That would do me right
I have a 500 exactly like I like it, Knox recoil absorbing stock with pistol grip, 9 round tube, pic rail with aim point micro, sure fire lighted forend, and fiber optic sight and sidesaddle.
I have really enjoyed it, but I want a 590 with ghost ring sights sooooo bad and a 930SPX and a benelli m4 tactical and......
This is a fine shotgun. I have this exact model in my foyer closet. Keep it stock or dress it up. Budsgunshop, Midway and www.mossberg500parts.com all have tons of items, upgrades, and goodies for this gun. For the price, you're probably not going to find much better either.
Any basic mossberg 500 with an 18.5 inch barrel and a 28inch barrel would serve it's purpose. Home defense and hunting/sporting. You can regularly find them for $300.
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