Mossberg vs Remington Pump Guns

Old thread, I know, but I just wanted to chime in and say something that I think needs to be said.

For all the assertions I've heard that certain parts on the Mossberg 500 will assuredly break, namely the polymer trigger guard and safety switch, I have yet to see a single verifiable report of any such breakage occurring, nor have I ever seen someone demonstrate the supposedly fragile parts breaking, so I'm beginning to wonder if these assertions are based purely on assumption or otherwise confirmation biased based on limited reports which lack any proof.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that these parts can and probably have broken before, but I cannot find any evidence whatsoever to suggest that such a thing will occur without merely wearing out from decades of regular use or otherwise being subjected to abuse.

Honestly, I actually scoured the internet in search of any evidence to support these assertions of parts failing, but the most I ever found was a few unsubstantiated but otherwise plausible reports of vintage Mossberg 500s from the 60s safety levers breaking in recent years after decades of annual hunting trips.
The trigger guards and trigger group pins that everyone is so convinced will snap right off if the firearm is dropped and the trigger guard hits the ground? I literally couldn't find ANY evidence nor even plausible reports of ever occurring.

If these issues were real and the parts were actually as fragile as folks assert, then surely we would see no shortage of verifiable reports online to serve as proof. Gun shops would be getting in Mossbergs will broken safeties and trigger guards/groups on a regular basis, there would be photographic evidence of it all over the internet from Google Images to YouTube Videos, and even demonstrations of how easily these parts could be broken on YouTube.

I would even be so bold as to presume that a fair amount of the folks who make such assertions about parts breaking on the Mossberg 500 are also the sort who still insist that polymer framed pistols cannot hold up to regular shooting, use silly dated derogatory terms for polymer framed pistol like Tupperware guns, and make absurd, unilateral arguments about how steel guns are better than polymer because the frames will hold up better to deliberate abuse or outright negligence.
 
For Post_103, before internet was a thing, I came across an older Mossberg 500 with a broken plastic safety button. The gun was/is owned by a brother-in-law and I estimate it was bought in the 80's. It was one of those which came with and 18.5" barrel and another longer barrel. I took no pictures and the cameras used back then used 35mm or Polaroid film. I didn't even own a digital camera for maybe 10 years later.

I didn't know as much about guns back than but knew a shooting range/gun store (no longer in business) which had a gunsmith who replaced the safety. I suspect the safety has not broken again, as I suspect my BIL hasn't even shot that gun since then.

I agree I'd suspect Mossberg must have redesigned or at a minimum, used up a bad batch of plastic safeties by now. I also agree I've never heard of a polymer trigger guard breaking/fracturing on either a Mossberg or a Remington. If I did have a plastic Mossberg safety break today, I'd probably replace it with a metal one; or if I just wanted to spend money and perhaps do some possible/preventative maintenance.
 
I got my 500 about 1998. The safety never broke, but on two occasions, the detent ball underneath it slipped out of position and which rendered the safety unusable--I don't recall now if it got stuck on "fire" or "safe." After the second time, I replaced the plastic safety with a metal one and haven't had an issue since. I suspect the plastic one had a little more flex, which allowed that detent ball to slip about a bit more.

I have both a 500 and an 870. I probably like the 500 a little better (being a lefty may be part of it), but there may be some truth to the plastic safety thing.
 
I had a 2007 M500, no issues with the safety or trigger guard. Although during clays, I had a round fall out of the receiver instead of being picked up by the shell lifter when cycling. I tightened up the magazine tube with blue loc-tite and it never happened again. I have read with some of the shell interrupter and latches being slightly off dimension resulting in similar dropped shells or lack of release but that's due to QC.
 
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