Bought first shotgun: Mossberg 500

F

foogoo

New member
Well I finally did it. I'm primarily going to shoot it on the range, might try something like trap if I have time and of course HD should the need arise. Most comments I hear about this gun are good, what are you favorite accessories or stocks?

Is there a page with good info on things like shot size, loads, slugs, etc.? I'm still fairly clueless with shotgun specifics.
 
Congrats on the new shotgun. My first gun at the age of 11 was a Mossberg 500 youth model 20 guage. I killed many rabbits, ducks, pheasents and also my first whitetail buck ( 14 years old ) with that gun before I finally outgrew the short stock. A very good first shotgun and helped hook me into the world of small game hunting bigtime. Have fun with it :D
 
Mossys are good guns. I have a 500n with 18' barrel, extended tube, Surefire forearm light, and Tac Star Side saddle carrier for extra rounds, and a synthetic shock absorbing stock.

mossy500.jpg
 
Mossberg.. yummy

Man if you could see my arm you would know how much i love to shoot that shotgun..Black and blue and loving it. I went through 50 slugs at the range last weekend and wanted to shoot more. I don't know why but i just love to shoot it. When i bought my 500 i had to wait ten days in commifornia to get it. but there was a gun show that weekend and i ended up buying a few things for it before i even picked it up. Ati folding stock, heatshield with ghost sights, sling and that 6 shell holder thingy you stick on the stock, all for $85.00. Not a great deal but pretty good. then i spent another $200 on slugs and 00 buck. I know sort of overkill but it was my first gun, first gunshow and i just got paid. That stupid ammo guy just keep talking me into this and that lol.. sheesh :D
Low recoil slugs are worth the extra$$ also the wolf slugs are really cheap and seem to be right on target.
Have a great time shooting bro. :D
 
Good choice

Been shooting about 35 years, and I've never owned anything but Mossberg 500 variants....NEVER had a malfunction of any kind...My first (age 15) was a 20 guage...used it for hunting, and used to shoot 100 rounds at "informal" trap almost every weekend...And it was well used when I bought it... In a fit of stupidity, years ago, I sold it....wish I hadn't
 
Great! I'm glad I won't be dissappointed. I had considered cheaper options but I've heard of Mossy's reputation and figured I should spend a bit more (which wasn't even that much) now and have it last.

But back to my other question, can someone explain or direct me to somewhere that explains things like loads or slugs? What kinds of slugs are there and what should I use? What's 00 shot? Waterfowl loads? It's all foreign to me!
 
Personally I am not "in to" accessories for Mossbergs. I've purchased a lot of the "usual" stuff, like Tacstar and Advanced stocks, light rails, etc etc etc. None of it really fits all that well and didn't seem to enhance the weapon's function. I was afraid some of that stuff would fall off or something too. (The Weaver scope rail that screws onto the receiver is a JOKE.)

Having said that, the one mod I would like to try is a Picatinny rail up near the barrel nut, mounting a Sure Fire X200 on it. And a midbead sight. Mine has the dumb ol' brass bead sight, but it is more than adequate for shot, and so-so for close-range slugging.
 
I got mine on sale at Big5 20 years or so ago for $99. Yep, with a coupon to mail in for an extra barrel for free :) It came with the full length modified choke barrel, so I ordered the full choke vent rib to go with it. After 20 years of wanting the rifle sighted slugger barrel, I *finally* got it last month when Midway's eblast came out with it on inventory reduction for $70 :) Just shot it yesterday & love it!

I've wondered about the discussions concerning more recoil when shooting slugs. What difference would it make if you have a single projectile weighing an ounce & projected at 1,300 fps, or if you have a cup full of little pellets (essentially, a solid mass as it travels down & exits the barrel) of the same weight & velocity? I saw/heard/felt no difference between small shot, large shot and slugs. Maybe I'd have to shoot a whole bunch of them to appreciate any difference?

I did have a malfunction with it on opening day of pheasant season the first year I had it. It was cold out, so I was wearing a heavy jacket with snap sleeve cuffs. The first (covey? flock? group?) anyway, a buncha pheasants popped up not 20 yards in front of me & I shouldered intending to empty the gun on them. Upon ejecting the first hull, the snap on my cuff lodged between the reciever & pump handle and there I stood as the birds flew away. It took two of my buddies several minutes (after they finally stopped laughing) to get me out of the predicament, red faced. Aside from that, it hasn't let me down in all these seasons; had many a fine hunt with it :)
 
you don' HAVE TO shoot slugs and 00 buckshot..

unless ur just into pain and knocking down small trees.:)
For shot shells(not slugs) the larger the number,the smaller the shot.I don't know,or have forgotten,why.It's just that way.Number 8 is used for clay targets,4's and 6's for small game.Buck and slugs are for larger game and self defense....and pumpkins.lol. Some ammo will be rated by fps,or feet pre second,and some by the old 'dram equivalent' rating,which compares the load to original black powder loadings.A 3 dram load is fairly stout,and the numbers go both up and down from there.I believe trap loads are usually about 1145fps,I see quite a bit of ammo rated at that speed.
I"ll let someone else explain about slugs,I seldom shoot them..they knock my steel plate off of the hanger.:)
Shotgunning is a real hoot.Enjoy!!!
 
I had three Mossberg 500s when I was stationed at Atlanta. Our foster daughter’s drugged out mom was trading sex to anyone that would kill her daughter. I wasn’t going to let anyone near her or my own daughters so I kept one at each of the three doors into the house. That B*&^% got into our house one time because of court ordered visitation and hid a pistol in her purse which I wrestled away from her before she killed us all. :mad:

Anyway, we moved to Kansas and my family did quite a lot of hunting together. When my son left home he took one with him. I left the other two in North Carolina when I was in Europe.

When I came back my son was stationed in North Carolina and I spent a couple weeks at his place. It was in the woods and nearly surrounded by trees. There was this one tree right in the backyard that had died and we started shooting at it. We kept shooting at the same spot trying to knock it down. We ran out of shells so we drove into town and got a bunch more. Of course the more tree we blew away the smaller our target got so it got more challenging the more we shot. I’ve shot at a lot of things with that Mossberg, but shooting that tree with my son stands out as one of the most memorable. :D

I traded one of them with my son-in-law for one of those new Army sleeping bag systems :D and traded the other one in for a Browning BPS. :( The Browning is a prettier shotgun, but I doubt I’ll ever trust it like I did that Mossy. That Mossy would be frozen to the floor of my duck boat and I could grab it expecting it to shoot.

I hope you have a ton of fond memories a few years from now and if you ever think about trading it for a BPS, don’t! Now, if someone offers to trade a sleeping bag like the one I got from my son-in-law that might be worth trading for, depends on how much you paid for your Mossy. I paid $90 for my Mossy and the sleeping bag goes for $250+ :D
 
Hehehe, tree trimming, BTDT :)

When they brought the two halves of mom's new doublewide, it was taller then I had anticipated. Had to "trim" a few tree limbs pronto, & didn't have a ladder to reach them. #4 shot would blow a limb the size of my shin off in 1 or 2 blasts, but I could hammer away on one the same size with #7 or #8 birdshot for 8-10 rounds before it'd drop. (The guys driving the trucks were unimpressed)

43061-
What on earth were you doing having visits at YOUR house? We've fostered over 100 kids & aint no way we'd ever give up our right to privacy, it's a matter of safety to all of the kids that we care for, now or in the future. One time, A dip$hit newbie caseworker brought a birth parent up our driveway (on her way home from picking up said parent from jail or drug rehab, I forget which), "just to say hello to the kid". GRRRRR!!!!!! They were immediately directed back the way they came, & I had the Supervisor on the phone before they got out of the driveway (man, did he get an earfull!). I've only had two cases where I gave the parent our phone number, & only after knowing them for months and reunification was near.

(Sorry, we all make mistakes. Privacy of the location of a Foster Home is just a trigger for me I guess- it's just about the only right that we have in the system)
 
She was our first foster child. We didn’t make THAT mistake again.

I had teenage girl; our second foster child, whose brothers tried to kidnap her during a different visitation. They brought guns; all I had was the accelerator on my pickup. Good thing it happened near an emergency room, one of them needed it when he crossed my escape route. I know there are two pedals under the dash, but I only used that long skinny one. :)
 
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