Brand New Mossberg 500 light striking

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newmossy

Moderator
Hey guys. For a home defense shotty, I decided to buy a new Mossberg 500 Persuader 12 gauge at my local sporting goods store when it went on sale. Went to the local sporting clays range yesterday to shoot with some friends and decided to put 100 rounds through it when we were done keeping score (used my trusty Remington 870 for that). I cleaned and lubed the 500 before shooting it, and fed it some cheap Federal target load shotshells. The sixth round didn't fire, so I emptied the chamber and loaded a new shell thinking I just had a dud round. Well, about 15 rounds later, same thing happened. Set aside the second "dud" and loaded another. Every 10-15 rounds after that, same thing. The firing pin was striking the primer, but very lightly.

After running the 100 shells through it, I was left with about 8 "duds" that I put into my Remington.... Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. I was -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED-.

One of my buddies thinks I just need to keep shooting it to work out the "kinks" but I feel that a brand new gun shouldn't operate like this. I've grown up hunting and shooting sporting clays with my 20 year old Remington 870 Express without 1 issue, so my confidence in Mossberg isn't very high right now. Anyone have any idea why it would be light striking? I can't figure it out because I lubed and cleaned it properly before use, and no, I didn't over lube it. I just broke it down again and don't see any burs or other imperfections. Would you guys attempt to replace the firing pin and spring, keep shooting it, or ship it back to Mossy? Never had any problems out of any of my other pistols, shotguns or rifles. :mad:
 
Did all the Feds have a light primer hit?

Glad you shot it before using it for HD. If someone is kicking the front door in, that's not the time to find a problem :o...
 
Sorry to hear about your problem. Kinda spoils that new gun thrill. I should know.:(

I'd take the advice already given and contact Mossberg. That gun should be ready for action out of the box. Not like some 1911s.

BTW, I have the pistol-grip SS 500 (with the crazy orange bury container). She has functioned flawlessly regardless of the ammo. Don't let this one steer you away from Mossberg!
 
Just out of curiosity,
Remove the barrel from the action and check how the rounds fit.
There's the possibility that some could be a little too short for the chamber, (or the chamber a little too long).
And maybe compare that to how the rounds fit the 870.
It's just a wild guess, but worth a look, just to get an idea.
 
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It may not help but I always rack pump guns hard to make sure it's not shortstroked.

Beyond that I bought a Mossberg 500 back in the 90's and the first 9 times I tried firing it I got nothing but light primer strikes. Who knows how long it sat at Kmart but after removing the bolt and cleaning I never had a problem. Shot 9 geese with the next 7 shells.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I know it seems like common sense to just send it to Mossberg, but it's not like it's happening every 2 or 3 rounds. If it's just a $4 spring or something similarly stupid, I would gladly fix it myself rather than having to wait a month to get my brand new shotty back.

I just got back from a friends house who has about 20 acres. Put 25 rounds of Winchester Super X through it and it is still happening. So at least I know its not the ammo now. I made sure the barrel was tight, and double checked everything. All the parts that are on the diagram are in the gun.

When I have time this weekend, I think I might disassemble the bolt and clean the internals and check for any missing parts.

I'll keep you guys posted in case someone else has the same issue in the future. I know it's supposed to be a very reliable gun, so I won't give up on it just yet.
 
Remove the bolt.

Drift out the firing pin retaining pin.

Remove firing pin, firing pin washer, and firing pin spring.

Clean channel in bolt, and firing pin parts. Check for excess machine marks on parts and channel. If no excessive marks, reassemble after lubing lightly.

Mossies are not known for weak springs...but it could happen. More than likely you have FOD in the channel. If this doesn't fix it, send to Moss. for them to correct.

Schematic for reference Mossberg 500 schematic fr. Numerich
 
Thanks for your help. This should really help when I go to disassemble it this weekend. If it works, I will let you all know. :cool:
 
If got it just recently, you could probably take it to the lgs that sold it and they might fix the problem or, if it needs to go back to Mossberg, handle the shipping and all. Possibly, they will swap it for another gun, but I doubt it.

Does the tip of the pin look damaged?
 
If he went to a real gun store he might be able to get help there but if he bought it from a chain store with a sporting goods section then they're going to tell him to contact Mossberg. No returns on guns or ammo.
 
Just got done taking apart the bolt. There was a small piece of metal inside the firing pin channel but I highly doubt that it was causing the problem as it was very very small. Everything else looked fine.

Off to Mossberg it goes. And yes, buying from a LGS instead of the sporting goods store would have been the better option, but it was an impulse buy. Didn't do any research on it, just saw that it was a good price and knew that Mossberg 500s were supposed to be just as reliable (if not more reliable) than a Remington 870. It was on sale, and I wanted it, so I bought it right then and there.
 
It might not be the gun at all, it could easily be a bad batch of ammo. When I reloaded using Nobel primers, I would get the same scenario, some had the cup set just a hair deeper resulting in light primer strikes. If it only doing it with that ammo, doubtful that it is the gun.
 
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