Now, tell me, what was this about?(mossberg 500 failure)

[Raccoon Ricky]

So, I've been loving my shotgun. I mean, I shoot 50 or 100 rounds through it in a day, and I feel like I've shot a freaking gun, and I haven't gone through too much ammo. It feels like it's cheaper than shooting my AK was, but maybe I'm just making more money now? Doesn't matter.

So I've got this mossberg 500, right? ATI ar-15 style telescoping stock, heat shield, 18.5" barrel. Simple and enjoyable to shoot.

So last time I went shooting, I finally ran some 3" magnum slugs through to see what they were like, right? I'm used to shooting .22s and 5.56, not twelve-gauge. But bam, put a hole through a paintcan at somewhere around 15-20 meters, split a 4 or 5" section of a punky cedar tree about 8" in diameter at the same distance. Ok, not bad for just a bead sight. Color me suddenly impressed by the shotgun.

Well, I handed her off to my buddy, he pushed a slug in the tube and racked it, and nothing happened. We check it out, and the elevator is stuck in the middle of the reciever, and racking will open the action or close it, but the elevator isn't elevating.

Now, I don't know if this happened when I fired the slugs, because I loaded them directly into the chamber from the side, rather than tube. So I wonder, did I just put it back together wrong last time I cleaned her? The over-all action seems simple and all, but it's not as foolproof as an AK in reassembly. It's not as easy as an M16. Maybe I didn't get the action bars to fit into the bolt carrier properly?

I field stripped her right then, put everything back in the right way, it worked fine, fired one more slug through her, then did about 50 rounds of birdy though her by the end of the day.

 

[g.willikers]

Here's an animated video on the operation of the 500.
It might give some insight on the problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-3hvtMqWvo

 

[Slopemeno]

Most likely? He didn't push the round far enough in to the magazine for it to be held by both shell stops.

 

[Raccoon Ricky]

What do you mean by that? I loaded the first two slugs directly into the chamber and fired them.

And why would that cause the elevator to jam up?

 

[Sharkbite]

I would guess improper assy the first time. That is based on the proper function after the re-assy.

If you can load the tube and pump round into and then out of the chamber, youre good to go.

 

[Blindstitch]

I've had it happen before using 3 inch remington goose loads. I shot, racked it back then forward for follow up and click. When I racked it back again I noticed the elevator didn't drop. Cycled it a few more times then manually pulled it down. The rest of the day it worked just fine and I've never had the problem since so I don't know.

Yes I cleaned it maybe 5 times since and shot 100's of rounds through it. But I also haven't shot any more 3 inch shells in it. Just shoot 2 3/4 of the same power so I can use them in my double with 2 3/4 chamber.