Converting a Mossberg Patriot into a (hopefully) Real Rifle

[stagpanther]

I bought a Patriot a few years ago when the they first came out with one in 375 ruger and laminated stock, I thought it would be kinda cool to have a cartridge that theoretically take down anything on the planet, and I simply didn't have a .375 caliber rifle.

I thought it was a steal at its price, I think I paid around $400 and some odd dollars at the time and it seems to function very well.

And then I took it apart and examined it closely, and it looks to me like Mossberg skimped wherever they could. Cheapness in production abounds--but the biggest (and almost inexcusable) shortcut they took IMO was the polymer plastic magazine housing--upon which the action also rests on and the receiver screws are torqued through. This arrangement would strike me as pretty cheesy on a 22 lr--but for a serious recoiling cartridge like the .375 ruger all I can say is "what were you guys thinking?" It's a piece of design junk which will seriously limit the accurate life of the rifle IMO. Making matters even worse, the stock trigger guard is also plastic, so as you torque the main receiver screw both the trigger guard and "magazine bed" compress, and the screw will potentially bind the bolt.

I couldn't find a metal substitute for the magazine housing, so I decided to back it up with devcon and put steel pillars in for the receiver screws. The trigger group is what it is, the triggerpull screw does nothing at all and I'm stuck at 3 lbs--even with the spring removed altogether. I couldn't find a metal trigger guard, so I modified a savage axis metal one to fit and I think it will work OK. The receiver screw holes in the stock were drilled a bit out of alignment originally, so the action was torqued sideways a bit, but I got that fixed when drilling holes for the pillars.

My favorite part about the rifle are the sights (which are apparently Williams), the one place Mossberg really hit the mark, for irons they are excellent IMO. To finish "pimping" the rifle I repainted the chequering to look like something else than cat vomit.

 

[Sarge]

I'm going through a synthetic, camo-stocked 30-06 Patriot myself. I picked it up a week ago for a It came with the usual loose mount screws etc. which I fixed and mounted my Leupold on it. The rifle functioned and shot well. It's as-shipped trigger scaled barely 1 1/2 pounds, a bit light for winter hunting with cold fingers. I yanked the barreled action of the stock, dialed the trigger up to 2 1/4 pounds and sprayed the metal duck boat tan to rain proof it.

Putting it back together got interesting. The manual simply states to tighten the front screw first and gives no torque specs. When snugging the rear action screw I heard a ‘crack’, which surprised me because it wasn’t much past finger tight. I removed the action again and found a crack running down the back of the Magazine Guide. No wonder as there is no bushing or bearing surface to support the Magazine guide at the rear screw.

Looking into the mag well toward the rear, you can see the rear action screw stickling through the unsupported area of the magazine guide. The nice curved upper surfaces mate with the action and encourage the magazine guide to spread around it and crack down the middle.

This is not great engineering and the mag guide obviously wasn't built with ham-handed farm boys in mind. I called Mossberg and one of the things I asked for, was factory torque specs for the Mossberg Patriot. Since certain versions of the MVP share the same, basic plastic 'magazine guide' I thought I'd pass this along. Per Mossberg, synthetic stocked Patriot action screws should be torqued at 25 to 30 inch/pounds, plus or minus 5 pounds. I did not inquire about MVP specs but if you have a plastic stock, it is likely a safe setting. I over tightened mine and broke it. Mossberg is sending me a replacement, presumably when they find enough plastic spoons to run another batch. For now I repaired the cracked magazine well with JB Plastic Weld, great for permanent repairs on all plastics.

The unsupported rear area, between the magazine guide and action, still bothered me and I set about trying to correct it. It bears against the trigger housing just behind the screw hole, with a lot of empty space above it.

The stock is OK for a a beater, lives on back porch/farm truck, hunt in crappy weather gun; but in my opinion, it isn't worth the effort to glass bed. I dug through my parts box and came up with a hard nylon spacer from an old duty holster. It had to be clearanced on both sides and shortened to match the height of the trigger housing.

I flattened some modeling clay on top of the spacer bushing/trigger housing and pressed the magazine housing onto the receiver. There was still about 0.050" gap and I cut a sheet of kydex, of that thickness, to bridge the spacer bushing and trigger housing. This will provide solid support for the mag guide at the rear screw. I put all this back in the stock, snugged the action screws down and noted no cracking sounds. The rear screw feels much more solid now when snugged down. I'll shoot it when the weather cooperates, in hopes it is still 'minute of 300 yard groundhog' accurate.

 

[stagpanther]

I too hemmed and hawed for a bit as to how to go about fixing the magazine housing which also is the bedding and support for the action. I finally decided the gun is basically a "throw away"--I'm not sure if you can even rebarrel the action. What you experienced is what I feared mine was destined for, especially with the crushing recoil of a large bullet full-power 375 ruger cartridge. So I basically used plastic steel wherever I could to attach the housing to the stock and fill the gaps--it's pretty solid now.

The hollowed-out area immediately in front of the trigger is the real Achilles heel of the silly design and IMO is guaranteed to fail; it not only does not provide support for the main receiver screw, but it also flexes under recoil making the action pivot. In addition to liberally applying plastic steel wherever I could, I also installed two steel pillars--the rear one I had to notch in order to clear the trigger housing. The stock (which I assume is made by Boyds) also needed some inlet work, the rear receiver screw was slightly out of alignment so the barrel was crooked in the channel; in addition to that the trigger has a screw on the side which was not completely clearing the trigger inlet.

My cell phone distorts the pictures somewhat when zoomed in.

 

[stagpanther]

Here's the main screw pillar which is notched to clear the trigger. I'll fill in the void around the pillar next.

I figured it was essential to install a metal trigger guard to complete the rigid support.

When I took a look at the bore with my borescope it was the usual amusement park tunnel of horrors ride. It actually isn't too bad, moderate amount of tool chatter down the length--but as typical (unfortunately) with most commercial grade barrels I find these days as I got towards the muzzle I found some gouging/cracking which presumably resulted from debris in front of the cutting tool or a misalignment of the cutting button/tool. I'm finding this is common in mass production barrels these days. It's easy to tell who bothers to inspect them and who doesn't, but I've long suspected that some manufacturers see this as "out of sight, out of mind."

 

[Geezerbiker]

You're doing better than me if you can get JB Weld to stick to plastic. I've used it on all kinds of repairs on aluminum will good results but not plastic. Have you ever heard of Marine Tex? It's amazing stuff but spendy...

Tony

 

[Sarge]

You're doing better than me if you can get JB Weld to stick to plastic. I've used it on all kinds of repairs on aluminum will good results but not plastic. Have you ever heard of Marine Tex? It's amazing stuff but spendy...

Tony

Thanks, I'll take a look at that. JB has a menagerie of products but Plastic Weld is formulated for PVC etc, It has worked for long-term repairs on poly stock tanks.

I like what you did with the bedding pillars, Stagpanther.

 

[stagpanther]

Thanks sarge. I've used marine tex on many plastic stocks--along with RC7 which is essentially the same thing but not quite as much heat tolerance I believe. They both adhere to plastic just fine in my experience. I did in fact use RC7 on the sidewall contact points for the magazine housing, I've never had any indication that devcon plastic steel does not there to plastic, but I can't say for sure. Sticking to stuff that I don't want it to is a far greater problem. I stay away from JB weld. For overall quality results devcon plastic steel is the best stuff I've used, also pricey but well worth it.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Current MSRP is $505. Which suggests almost entry level to me.
"...Cheapness in production..." Lotta Mossberg rifles are like that. S'how they can sell 'ell so cheap. I'd be thinking of bedding the mag housing. JB Weld might be the best thing to use since it is 'filled' with powdered metal vs fibreglass.
"...the void around the pillar..." If it's there to clear the trigger, filling it will create more grief.

 

[stagpanther]

Here's a bird's-eye of the whole install. The epoxy flowed a bit on the main pillar, but it still does what it's supposed to. A little bit of final polish and cleaning and she should be ready for some boom boom pounding. I replaced the main receiver screw with one from a savage since it fits the trigger guard better--otherwise the same thread pitch and necessary length. At 7 pounds rifle weight, a 375 ruger is quite the experience.

 

[JustJake]

Had a Mossy Scout rifle in the synthetic stock.

Junk. Couldn't hold a zero even with a good IER optic and a light trigger pull.

Got rid of it inside 2 months. Should've bought the Ruger Scout in the synthetic stock instead.

Will never buy another Mossy anything.

 

[Red Devil]

Have Two(2) Mossberg Patriot synthetic - Vortex Scoped Combos, chambered in .270 Win, that I got for me boys for Christmas a coupla years ago.

After remounting the optics, they both shoot ~ 1 to 1-1/2 MOA w/ a variety of factory 150 gr. ammo.

< $400/pop.

Very good rifles.




Red

 

[Sarge]

Viewed for what it is--a budget rifle--the Patriot is real easy to like.

The rifle is light. Mine weighs an ounce under 8 pounds scoped, slung and loaded with 5 rounds of 30-06. I actually like the synthetic stock. The rifle slings, handles and goes to the shoulder like a bolt action rifle should. The stock has just enough cheek-piece, with the proper angles to divert recoil away from the face and it has a nice soft pad. A 30 round session didn't bother me at all and I've had my shooting-side shoulder rebuilt. The detachable plastic magazine even works OK.

Of course it has newfangled dingus-triggers, to appease corporate lawyers I suppose. It is well fitted and easy to ignore, resulting in an decent hunting trigger. This one was showing solid 1 to 1 1/2 MOA potential before I broke it.

The Patriot's one glaring flaw is the plastic Mag Guide/Bedding Block. If you never take the barreled action out of the stock, it may never be a problem. Those of us who can't keep our fingers out of things would be well advised to invest in a digital torque driver. They are useful for scope mounting so I guess I can't add the entire expenditure to the price of this Mossberg.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Good modifications guys.

 

[stagpanther]

I view the mossberg rifles like I do rossi's--mostly good but they stubbornly insist on cutting corners (when doing it right would cost little more) and kill a 90% good rifle with 10% absolute brainlessly crappy components/manufacture techniques. So unless you like messing with things--which I do, but nonetheless don't like spending money on crappy stuff--I'd stay away from both of them.

 

[jmr40]

A little history. The Raptor Firearms Company originally made what is now the Mossberg Patriot. It was the cheapest, of the cheap at the time. IIRC they were only in business for 2-3 years in the 1990's. They were truly a POS.

After Raptor went out of business the rights to the design were bought by Charter Arms. They made a few and gave up. After a few years Mossberg bought the rights to the design.

Mossberg has done a little better job with QC, but it's not a well designed rifle meant for serious use.

 

[stagpanther]

"...the void around the pillar..." If it's there to clear the trigger, filling it will create more grief.

Why would filling in the area around a trigger with permanent epoxy be a problem? I just don't get it.

 

[Sarge]

I shot the Patriot today between downpours and the spacer/shim arrangement worked well. My backstop area was flooded so I didn't hang targets but I did have steel painted so I used that. I soon had bullet splashes touching or an inch out at 100 yards. I moved back to 200 yards and put three in 3 1/2" with one called flyer. Not bad for shooting from a turkey chair resting my left elbow over one knee and my right elbow hanging out in the breeze. This rifle has plenty of accuracy for what I'm going to do with it.

I tore the Patriot down when I got back home. I had cranked down pretty good on the action screws at the last assembly, basically giving the repaired magazine guide every opportunity to fail. It held together fine and after 20 rounds, the kydex shim bore imprints of the trigger housing. The fit is good and this arrangement is fully supporting the magazine guide.

And thanks, 4V50 Gary.

 

[dakota.potts]

This was a cool thread to stumble into. Looks like some really disappointing build quality but appreciate seeing the way you guys tackled making improvements on these rigs. Some high quality experimentation.

Marine Tex as mentioned above is good stuff. In fact very common in the industry for fairly high dollar custom rifles. Some classmates of mine has really good luck with Devcon epoxy with steel powder, but once I got good with Marine Tex I never did any experimentation with others. Much prefer it over Acra glass/ Bedrock

 

[jetinteriorguy]

Thanks, I'll take a look at that. JB has a menagerie of products but Plastic Weld is formulated for PVC etc, It has worked for long-term repairs on poly stock tanks.

I like what you did with the bedding pillars, Stagpanther.

In my business I’m called on to do a lot of plastic repairs, and the Plastic Weld is some really good stuff and with proper prep will stick for as long as I’ve ever been able to monitor which is about 12 years so far. My plastic inertia bullet puller/hammer broke about five years ago and I repaired it with Plastic Weld and embedded fiberglass and so far it’s withstood some pretty hard beating.

 

[stagpanther]

In my business I’m called on to do a lot of plastic repairs, and the Plastic Weld is some really good stuff and with proper prep will stick for as long as I’ve ever been able to monitor which is about 12 years so far. My plastic inertia bullet puller/hammer broke about five years ago and I repaired it with Plastic Weld and embedded fiberglass and so far it’s withstood some pretty hard beating.

I understand that--but in the firearms environment I usually am asking whatever I use to function as a bedding compound in addition to being a bonding agent. So it has to be able to support repeated high impact, form a non-deteriorating smooth surface and be able to bond to metals, wood and (rarely) plastic. It also needs to be able to withstand high temperatures and solvents. That's a tall order and it's hard to find a product does all these things well. So far, devcon does for me.