I got a 18 and half inch, bead sight, Mossy 500. About 20 years old. Kinda of hard shooting Foster type slugs (Win). Nice groups with a bead-sight only, but shoots 12-14" to left of center on 50 yard line. I see that Mossberg offers an aftermarket ghost ring sight that I can have installed by a gunsmith. Question: Is the rear ghost ring adjustable for both windage & elevation ?
Mossberg factory ghost ring
- Thread starter JWM
- Start date
SteelChickenShooter
New member
I was fooled by the sights and found mine could not be adjusted enough to make the holes where they needed to be at 50 yards. One review I saw online was a comment saying the sights were of dubious value or purpose.
I posted a similar comment in another thread and my sighted Mossbergs were on my mind when I said I wonder why Mossberg bothers to put sights on shotguns. Well, in retrospect I admit mine were the short barrel versions. Probably not fair since I never bought a longer barrel gun such as those used for turkeys. Well, not totally true. I have bought and do have outstanding longer barrel shotguns- it's just that none of them are Mossbergs.
I posted a similar comment in another thread and my sighted Mossbergs were on my mind when I said I wonder why Mossberg bothers to put sights on shotguns. Well, in retrospect I admit mine were the short barrel versions. Probably not fair since I never bought a longer barrel gun such as those used for turkeys. Well, not totally true. I have bought and do have outstanding longer barrel shotguns- it's just that none of them are Mossbergs.
Slugthrower
New member
I assume it has only one bead and not another. A single bead is at best a marginal reference point. They are best used for shot and not slugs. A two bead, patridge, or aperture sight will be much better.
You have an 18.5 inch barrel so right off you are going to have issues with the shorter sight radius. You will have approximately a 2 ft. long sight radius, if you use the top rear most of your reciever as a your second reference point. Shooting a slug to 50 yards with your eye off dead center by only 1/8 of an inch to the left will throw your slugs POI by 9 an 3/8ths. to the left in relation to POA. Add to that a slight flinch that moves the shotgun a mere 1/32nd to 1/16th inch more and now you're into the 12-15 inch range. If your cheek isn't welded to the stock and/or you move your head in any way it will affect your accuracy. So as you can see it doesn't take much in the way of human error to induce accuracy problems.
By way of comparison. A 28 inch barreled 500 would only be off by approximately 8-10 inches under the same set of circumstances.
Once you start to shoot slugs with the idea of accuracy at longer ranges, you need to treat it as if it is a rifle. Ghost rings will be a much better choice if you desire this. It will prove much more accurate than the single bead set up. How much more accurate will depend on you.
The 590 ghost rings sights are decent but nothing spectacular. They will be an improvement over a bead only. The rear sight will adjust for elevation and for windage. Personally I like the LPA sights, they are using on the SPX 500 these days, better than those 590 sights.
Both will require soldering of the front sight. LPA does have a front sight that doensn't need brazing and is of a slip on nature. It is an option , but to me it is not worthwhile compared to a properly soldered sight.
You will lose the speed of a bead and gain the precision of a rifle like sight. A fair trade in a defensive shotgun IMO. The 590 sights run about 70 bucks and the LPA's are going to be around 200. You will need a picatinny rail for the LPA's as well if you do consider them for application.
You have an 18.5 inch barrel so right off you are going to have issues with the shorter sight radius. You will have approximately a 2 ft. long sight radius, if you use the top rear most of your reciever as a your second reference point. Shooting a slug to 50 yards with your eye off dead center by only 1/8 of an inch to the left will throw your slugs POI by 9 an 3/8ths. to the left in relation to POA. Add to that a slight flinch that moves the shotgun a mere 1/32nd to 1/16th inch more and now you're into the 12-15 inch range. If your cheek isn't welded to the stock and/or you move your head in any way it will affect your accuracy. So as you can see it doesn't take much in the way of human error to induce accuracy problems.
By way of comparison. A 28 inch barreled 500 would only be off by approximately 8-10 inches under the same set of circumstances.
Once you start to shoot slugs with the idea of accuracy at longer ranges, you need to treat it as if it is a rifle. Ghost rings will be a much better choice if you desire this. It will prove much more accurate than the single bead set up. How much more accurate will depend on you.
The 590 ghost rings sights are decent but nothing spectacular. They will be an improvement over a bead only. The rear sight will adjust for elevation and for windage. Personally I like the LPA sights, they are using on the SPX 500 these days, better than those 590 sights.
Both will require soldering of the front sight. LPA does have a front sight that doensn't need brazing and is of a slip on nature. It is an option , but to me it is not worthwhile compared to a properly soldered sight.
You will lose the speed of a bead and gain the precision of a rifle like sight. A fair trade in a defensive shotgun IMO. The 590 sights run about 70 bucks and the LPA's are going to be around 200. You will need a picatinny rail for the LPA's as well if you do consider them for application.
Slugthrower
New member
double tap 