Converting a Mossberg Patriot into a (hopefully) Real Rifle

Tried a Mossberg Patriot in .243 Win for my oldest. Got it for $249 about 6 years ago. He has about 150 rounds through it, most at prairie dogs and a few Pronghorn.

Not sure if doing the fixes is worth the bother, especially if I can sell it for what we have in it and get something better for him. But it might make a good project when I have nothing else to do...maybe in about 2030. :)
 
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I don't think anyone was suggesting Plastic Weld is suitable as a bedding compound.
 
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It's raining at the moment but I'll see if I can test fire some 250 gr game kings today. It's a hungry case and I don't have that much powder for it, so I've had to cut back to 3 shot groups.

"La Bomba"

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For the guy who wants to avoid all this fix-it nonsense and just get along with his as-issued Mossberg Patriot, here's one owner's experimentation with action screw torque and how it affects accuracy.

Best results occurred around 35 inch-pounds, the upper limit of what I was quoted from the factory. I'm betting Mossberg didn't get those figures from an Ouija Board. Go much beyond that you'll break something- as I can attest.

https://youtu.be/d5WNfffNq3s
 
The torque pressure thing is a bit suspect--because in reality the rear screw of the patriot is doing almost nothing to support the rear of the receiver--there are only two slivers of the magazine housing that contact the receiver. Notice also, when you look at the support area (what little there is) on the magazine housing for the receiver one side is much thinner in width than the other, so as you torque the screw that has to result in an unevenness is side to side support of the receiver--the failure crack in the video looks identical to your's. Before I did anything to my rifle I could see a wear mark where the plastic was abrading on just one side of the receiver in the rear contact area. In my experience a well-bedded action will "tell you" when the torque is enough, and it's almost always less torque than on a poorly bedded receiver, there is a discernible "hit the wall" resistance rather than a "mushy, search for it voodoo pressure."
 
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stagpanther said:
The torque pressure thing is a bit suspect--because in reality the rear screw of the patriot is doing almost nothing to support the rear of the receiver--there are only two slivers of the magazine housing that contact the receiver. Notice also, when you look at the support area (what little there is) on the magazine housing for the receiver one side is much thinner in width than the other, so as you torque the screw that has to result in an unevenness is side to side support of the receiver--the failure crack in the video looks identical to your's. Before I did anything to my rifle I could see a wear mark where the plastic was abrading on just one side of the receiver in the rear contact area. In my experience a well-bedded action will "tell you" when the torque is enough, and it's almost always less torque than on a poorly bedded receiver, there is a discernible "hit the wall" resistance rather than a "mushy, search for it voodoo pressure."
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Mossberg's torque specs for the Patriot are the best and only reliable source. The rifles aren't shipping with broken magazine guides and reviewers are reporting acceptable if not excellent accuracy, particularly at this price point. They really, really need to beef up the magazine guide and related stock contact points. If the rifles cost 5-10 bucks more each, nobody would howl about it. It would certainly reduce that "mushy, search for it voodoo pressure"- an apt description and one I LOLed at.
 
Mossberg's torque specs for the Patriot are the best and only reliable source. The rifles aren't shipping with broken magazine guides and reviewers are reporting acceptable if not excellent accuracy, particularly at this price point. They really, really need to beef up the magazine guide and related stock contact points. If the rifles cost 5-10 bucks more each, nobody would howl about it. It would certainly reduce that "mushy, search for it voodoo pressure"- an apt description and one I LOLed at.
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That's true, I agree that anyone who does not choose to modify their gun to follow factory specs. The "voodoo" is further complicated by not only are you trying to get and maintain good support with the receiver, but you are also dealing with compression of the plastic and the knowledge that it can fail under easy-attainable loads. A full power 375 ruger cartridge being fired in a lightweight rifle is going to put significant stress on that system. Prior to my deciding to giving my housing the treatment--it was obvious the flexing in the plastic was allowing the action to move under firing.

I have bigger fish to fry than that with my patriot, the bore has a significant "fissure" near the muzzle which is showing signs of gas leaking and cutting of the bore. Even just a few shots leads to immediate heavy fouling which can take hours to clear. It appears right under the front iron sight, I don't know if there is a connection or not--or whether they use an internal tool of some sort to hold the barrel while the holes for the sights are drilled. I have at most maybe 50 shots through the bore.
 
That's too bad about your barrel. Some years back I had a 'well known imported lever action' in 45 Colt show a nearly imperceptible 'wrinkle' in the bore, right under the front sight dovetail.

Some people, me in particular, don't have any business with a bore scope. I might turn perfectly usable barrels into tomato stakes.
 
Some people, me in particular, don't have any business with a bore scope. I might turn perfectly usable barrels into tomato stakes.
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Luckily for the rest of the shooting public, I have a supernatural ability to attract defective/flawed firearms and parts. :rolleyes::D
 
The first test with thee 250 game kings did not go well, at 220 yds the groups were opening up significantly, though it could be the charges weren't good or perhaps the damage to the bore were affecting things. I don't know.

The magazine housing actually functions as something of a gasket; under pressure it presumably conforms and supports the receiver. Problem with that is only under a certain pressure is the contact uniform with the receiver, as it varies under torque the plastic can flatten out proving little to no support to the sides of the receiver. Further complicating things is the contact for the rear receiver screw is flat on the receiver--whereas the front one is round. On my wooden stock this results in little to no side support for the receiver and side-to-side movement is notable under little pressure. I decided to add some bedding for the sides of the receiver--I'm also going to bed a small area in front of the lug slot that contacts the barrel nut.
 
I just shot a group of 230 hotcors at 213 yds and there was a significant improvement in the grouping, the vertical stringing is gone for the most part and the overall group was about 1.5 MOA. However, signs of gas cutting around the muzzle are getting worse, it's even starting to wear away at the crown outside the bore. I'm getting that "could kaboom" feeling with this thing for some reason.
 
Is this flame-cutting or wear even around the muzzle or is it limited to the fault?
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Hard to tell--there's obviously gas escaping around the fissure in the bore and there are "tracks" in the crown that are roughly analogous to the rifling--but one area on the crown has more wear and even some evidence of what looks like copper residue. I was thinking about fire-lapping with some Tubbs bullets, but I'm not sure its worth the trouble.
 
Being somewhat obsessive about "getting things to work," I spent more time trying to polish down the bore near the muzzle with JB paste, it's amazing how crud keeps coming out for an hour or more even after shooting just a few cartridges.

I also found evidence the scope bases and rings were taking a pounding under recoil, which I figure was possibly aggravated by the "rockering" of the receiver. I made one last attempt to add support to the action and put a bit of extra stiffness to the foreend. Not one of my better bedding jobs, but I've never tried something as weird as bedding a flexible plastic magazine housing before. I also switched out the scopes to an oldie but goodie scope, a fixed magnification 12x SWFA which is built like a tank and is one of the all-time best value budget scopes ever made IMO.

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Next step is the dumpster if things don't improve.:rolleyes:
 

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Jut an update- Mossberg has shipped a replacement mag guide, no charge. They were out of stock in their parts department, so they apparently pulled one from production. I appreciate the fact they made the effort.

The part wasn't faulty. I do hope they update the Patriot manual with torque specs for the action screws.
 
Jut an update- Mossberg has shipped a replacement mag guide, no charge. They were out of stock in their parts department, so they apparently pulled one from production. I appreciate the fact they made the effort.

The part wasn't faulty. I do hope they update the Patriot manual with torque specs for the action screws.
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It's a pretty cheap part--I've seen it being sold retail at most places at around $13/14. The one thing it does well is easily and smoothly change magazines. Just my opinion, but I'm betting that magazine housing is the basis for all the rifles they produce as the foundation of modular cheap production. I think if they made a metal option it would make their rifles shoot better and more reliably. It's interesting that the particular model I have was silently dropped from their production only a year or two after introduction with much fanfare.
 
Went out for a test fire session--things were going OK until I got to this group (a moderate load of 73.4 grs of H414 driving a 250 gr gameking) when the trigger seized, it cannot be reset and the safety won't budge. As far as I can tell the trigger parts are riveted together and are not user-serviceable. Looks like the rifle itself has cast the final vote.

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My personal opinion is that this "tinker toy" level of quality would leave me very hesitant to rely upon it in a dangerous game situation.
 

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The replacement mag guide arrived today and installed without issue. Meaning I didn't bust this one.

Sorry yours is dealing you fits, stagpanther.
 
The replacement mag guide arrived today and installed without issue. Meaning I didn't bust this one.

Sorry yours is dealing you fits, stagpanther.
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Thanks, let's just say I have a talent for it. ;) Happy shooting, what counts is you're happy and it gets the job done for you.
 
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