Plus I hate Mossbergs with a passion. That's no secret. I've been fortunate enough to shoot and guide around every kind of shotgun made. With a possible exception of the post Model 12 Winchesters, I don't think there is a worse shotgun made than the various reincarnations of the Mossberg.
It is indeed no secret that you hate Mossbergs with a passion. I happen to enjoy mine, and more than just a little bit. In fact, I probably enjoy it more now than I ever have.
I have also been fortunate to guide. I was a licensed and bonded hunting and fishing guide (#2725) in the State of California from 1995 to 2006. During that time, I was exposed to a variety of makes and models of shotgun. The only gun I can recall failing in the field while guiding clients was a Beretta 391, but I wouldn't be quick to call the model a POS. I don't have much use for them because they don't fit me very well and I can't hit much with them.
Out in California, I didn't deal too much with truly incliment weather or really high humidity. I deal with those things now here in Oklahoma, along with the chaff from prairie grasses and other assorted crapola that likes to wind up in the inner workings of a gun. In this kind of environment, or at least the environment that my Mossberg gets used in, its attributes shine. I know that is hard to believe to a guy with the view that the quoted posted above has, but the M-500 DOES have some pretty nice design elements.
One of them is that the action doesn't rely on close-tolerance fitted parts for correct function. The kind of crapola that gets kicked up in the air just by walking out here and that wants to take up residence in other kinds of gun isn't so inclined to do so in a Mossberg 500. And even if it does, the action will still cycle. The alloy receiver is very nice for corrosion resistance when you're hot and sweaty during the dove opener and the humidity is pushing past 80%. Kinda handy in the rain, too, as there is less to rust. Also handy in the rain, at least on my older version, is that the wood of the slide doesn't try to touch the barrel and there is enough clearance to prevent it from doing so even if the wood swells from moisture absorption. Then, there is the issue that humidity isn't just rough on the outside of a gun, but the inside, too. The M-500 is very easy to detail strip and clean.
I prefer the ergonomics of the safety selector and slide release of the Mossberg over other the Remington 870. I also appreciate the fully open loading port resulting from the elevator being UP when the gun is in battery.
As for reliability, I did have one very disappointing failure of the cheezy plastic safety slide when the gun was only a year and a half old. I fixed it forever by making a slide out of brass. Should I have had to? No. But otherwise, this gun has been flawless in feeding, firing, and ejection, even with crappy old Activ all-plastic shells from the good old days.
As for patterning, mine is a flat shooting 50/50 gun on the board, and one that centers the pattern to point of hold with a variety of loads.
As for swing and balance, mine sports a 24" vent rib barrel running extended choke tubes and balances on one finger just forward of the ejection port. It weighs a tick under six pounds empty, with a very dynamic between the hands feel.
The action was snot slick when I got the gun 31 years ago and it is even slicker now. Practically loads itself. ....And to think that Benelli claim credit for "inertia driven".
Looks-wise, my 1979 vintage New Haven 600ct. came with very highly figured mahogany buttstock and color-matching but less figured fore-end wood. The impressed checkering wasn't any more or less ugly on this gun than it was on Wingmasters of the day. Not walnut, but nice looking lumber none the less, and a factor in the relative light weight of the gun.
The internal finish on mine was flawless from new and shows little wear, though the gun has been used with some frequency every year that I've owned it. I don't shoot competition level volume in the gun, but have certainly gone through 1,000 rounds a year with it since new. It still has plenty of life left in it and will clearly have useful life left when I no longer do.
So, here is one former licensed guide who DOES like at least ONE Mossberg product. I wouldn't trade my New Haven 600ct for anything. That is not to say that I haven't enjoyed higher-end guns, because I have, and that is not to say that I have no want of anything else, because I do. I sold a Parker Hale (Ugaterechea) 20 gauge to make way for a 28 gauge A y A 4/53, which I am currently saving for.
But here's the thing, even the biggest Mossberg apologist can't deny that there are better options in the same price range, or slightly more.
I both agree and disagree with the quote above. I really enjoy shooting and hunting with my New Haven 600ct. I don't have the same warm and fuzzy feeling for Mossberg M-500s of the same vintage, prefering my house brand variant with its slicker feeling single-bar action and much nicer figured mahagony woodwork. I wouldn't personally spend $225.00 on a new M-500 and to be frank, I wouldn't want to shoot a NEW one if it was given to me. It isn't the design I have an issue with. It is the execution. The current production M-500 doesn't feel like mine. It isn't as slick as mine was when new. It isn't as nicely finished inside or out. They look crappy and feel crappier.
But here, I think the "they don't make 'em like they used to" caveat definitely applies. Early production, single action bar M-500's, with walnut stocks and metal saftey slides, have all of the pluses of the Model 500 action with none of the vices of shoddy manufacture present during the last two decades of production.
In short, while I agree with the quoted poster's assertion that the new ones are worthless, I think that the single action bar 500c from the first few years of production, with walnut stock and metal safety slide, ARE a decent gun and worth consideration as a nasty conditions kind of gun.
-JP
