The Mossberg 500 can be upgraded somewhat, if you want to spend the money.
I refuse to own a shotgun with a plastic triggerplate assembly.
You CAN buy a 590 alloy assembly from Mossberg & have it installed.
Brownells sells a steel safety replacement.
I have their Shockwave here (without intending to get into the arguments for & against those).
It's billed as a 590 by Mossberg, but it isn't.
Has the 500 plastic triggerplate & plastic safety.
On mine, I've had the gun worked over by a couple different shops.
My local guy installed the 590 alloy triggerplate and the Brownells steel safety, cleaned up the action.
He also discovered the gun had almost no forcing cone, corrected that.
The barrel went to Vang Comp for porting.
Some of the above is extraneous to the discussion, but illustrates how a Mossberg can come & how it can be upgraded.
In "utility" models with plastic furniture, Mossbergs tend to not be quite as refined as GOOD Remington 870s.
By "good" I exclude all of the Express models.
My longtime gunsmith of 30+ years says the Mossberg is a good gun, but overpriced typically for what it is.
And Cerberus/Freedom Group is gone.
Efforts are being made at Remington to upgrade quality.
Denis
I refuse to own a shotgun with a plastic triggerplate assembly.
You CAN buy a 590 alloy assembly from Mossberg & have it installed.
Brownells sells a steel safety replacement.
I have their Shockwave here (without intending to get into the arguments for & against those).
It's billed as a 590 by Mossberg, but it isn't.
Has the 500 plastic triggerplate & plastic safety.
On mine, I've had the gun worked over by a couple different shops.
My local guy installed the 590 alloy triggerplate and the Brownells steel safety, cleaned up the action.
He also discovered the gun had almost no forcing cone, corrected that.
The barrel went to Vang Comp for porting.
Some of the above is extraneous to the discussion, but illustrates how a Mossberg can come & how it can be upgraded.
In "utility" models with plastic furniture, Mossbergs tend to not be quite as refined as GOOD Remington 870s.
By "good" I exclude all of the Express models.
My longtime gunsmith of 30+ years says the Mossberg is a good gun, but overpriced typically for what it is.
And Cerberus/Freedom Group is gone.
Efforts are being made at Remington to upgrade quality.
Denis