Picked up this Mossberg 500 for deer season

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AeroEngineer

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I found this Mossberg 500 while I was looking for a rifled slug barrel for my 930. The only 930 slug barrels I could find in stock were new and going for $200+. While browsing GunBroker I came across this Mossberg 500, and to my surprise my bid ended up winning. Mossberg 500 with cantilevered slug barrel plus scope for just a bit over $200, including shipping and transfer. There are a few cosmetic blemishes on the receiver and stock (which were well described by the seller), but on the inside the gun looks almost new. I'm guessing the previous owner carried this hunting a fair amount but shot it very little.

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It came with a Simmons 3-9X40 scope and rings, which I need to mount. Definitely budget optics, but hoping this will get me through a season of hunting. I also grabbed one box of each type of 12g sabot slug at the LGS. I'm planning to try these out as soon as I can get to the range to see what groups well.

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This is my first pump shotgun and my first slug gun. Any advice from experienced slug hunters?
 
Practice for a quick second shot, should one be needed.
Fast, smooth pumps with the stock still solidly on the shoulder, while maintaining a good cheek weld, that allow the sights to quickly come back on target.
 
Practice, practice, practice. You don't want to attempt a follow up shot and realize you forgot to chamber another round. ( speaking from experience here.). Make sure you get used to the action!!!!!
 
Congrats that's a great price for a great gun! Many people seem to look down on Mossbergs as inferior to Remingtons, but I think they're a better gun and value.

It's good that it already has some blemishes, so you won't get as irritated when you add your own dings and scratches to it. There's nothing like the string of four-letter words that will erupt from your mouth when you put your first ding on a beautiful gun.
 
I had a 500 some years ago and liked the way it handled. The only problem I ever had with it was the spot welding the factory did on the action bars which broke while goose hunting. Took it in to Montgomery Wards where I bought it and the gunsmith pinned the bars and I never had another issue with it. Sold it to a friend when I bought a Remington 870 and the last time I spoke with him, it was still running after 40 years.
 
I love you guys!

Great buy on a great gun.

Great comments. Obviously u r shooting sabot. make sure gun is reasonably tight in shoulder. Be careful with optics -- don't let it give you "scope eye."

Most of all...

...have fun!
 
im from Ohio originally and shotgunning for deer was our only option.

I used a Remington 870 with a 20" smooth bbl and iron rifle type sights. kept shots to 75 yards or closer.... I recommend getting a cardboard box to use as a target so you can get an idea or how much drop you get and the groupings at various distances. I found at 50 yards I had virtually no drop. after that I started to get about 2-3" drops for every 10 or so yards.

a longer bbl, a rifled bbl and the like will improve this.
 
It's interesting to see what people use for hunting in different areas, and what is considered "normal". We rarely see a shot here in Utah during rifle season less than 150 yards away, so shotguns are a no-go here, where in other areas they are the best choice by far. My shotgunning is for pheasant and duck, at one point in my life I didn't even know you could do anything else with a scattergun. :)
 
Thanks for all the advice! I'm definitely going to give this shotgun a good bit of practice before taking it into the field. I'm starting with the 3 boxes of 5 in my pic, and once I find which load(s) this Mossberg likes I'm going to stock up. I'm hoping the Hornady sabot slugs perform well, as I discovered Sportsman's Guide has Hornady slugs at a very reasonable price.

Assuming no issues with function, I'm going to look for a used 18.5" barrel, so out of season this shotgun can pull second duty as a backup HD firearm.
 
Try the Brenneke KO slugs. They are cheaper than sabot types and shoot great out of both rifled and smooth bore barrels. With a rifled bore, you may have to be a little more dillegent about wirebrushing the bore but that's a minor inconvenience.
 
The county i hunt and live in (NY) up untill this upcoming season i could only use shotguns for deer. I used an 870 wingmaster open sights with winchester super X rifled slugs. My other rig was a 1100 with a rifled Hastings barrell and a nikon scope what a tack driver that gun was with those Hornady SSTs. We all used to use those winchester partition slugs which are like 20 bucks a box. ouch. Then I discovered the SST a few years back. All I can say is wow. Good luck and what a great buy on the mossberg great guns.
 
@hogdogs - Glad you like the ambi ejection port :) Actually a result of my accidental use of the "mirror" funciton in my photo editor. It would be pretty cool if it were real.

@RodTheWrench - It is interesting to see what firearm is "normal" for deer hunting in different areas. Combination of varying geography and local regulations make for a wide variety. I grew up in New Hampshire, and the hunting I did there (many moons ago) was in the mountains with heavy forest, and all we ever carried were shotguns simply due to range of shots presented.

Now that I live in Virginia, when I got the itch to get back into hunting I was planning to hunt rifle since Virginia allows it. However, as I started to research hunting areas I found there were quite a few local sites that offered limited lottery hunts, but only with archery or shotgun. From what I have gathered if you can get a lottery license (and odds are about 40 to 50% ish)in one of these areas the hunting is excellent. I decided to set myself up with a good shotgun hunting rig that could pull double duty for shotgun only or shotgun/rifle areas.
 
So what IS a cantilevered barrel? I assume it's rifled for slugs, isn't it?
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The cantilever is that long scope base that sticks out behind the barrel over the receiver. Unlike a standard base which is screwed onto the receiver, the cantilevered base is a part of the barrel itself.

The downside is that they tend to be quite flemsy. If you bump it too hard, it will move the POI.
 
AeroEngineer,
You have yourself a fine weapon there, sir. :) I have a Mossberg 500 Turkey Special and I purchased the same cantilever rifled slug barrel, but it came with a Simmons 3x9, at Dick's Sporting Goods.

I use the Hornady ammo and it will shoot 1" groups at 50 yards. I shot a doe, later that year and it absolutely slammed that deer to the ground. I'd never seen a DRT kill on a deer like that one. :cool:

Be VERY CAREFUL about attaching and/or holding the scope too close to your face. After the Deer Gun Season, I'll see at least one guy with a cut over his eyebrow, from the shotgun's recoil slamming the scope into his face. :p

Enjoy!
Bowhunter57
 
Be VERY CAREFUL about attaching and/or holding the scope too close to your face. After the Deer Gun Season, I'll see at least one guy with a cut over his eyebrow, from the shotgun's recoil slamming the scope into his face.
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Bowhunter57,

The advice is much appreciated. I just sighted in the Mossberg this afternoon. I remembered your warning and backed a bit off of the scope before firing the first shot. Good thing, otherwise I would have caught the scope to my face :o This was my first experience with anything other than birdshot in a shotgun, and the recoil from the slugs exceeded my expectations. :eek:
 
I mounted the scope and had a chance today to sight in the Mossberg today. Prior to this, my only experience with a shotgun was shooting birdshot. I knew to expect some significant recoil, but what kicked off when I squeezed the trigger exceeded my expectations :eek: Wow. I was shooting 2-3/4" Hornady SST slugs, so I can only imagine what a 3" or 3-1/2" slug would feel like.

My first couple of shots were off the target, but a quick laser boresight check gave me an adjustment on paper. I fired a final group of three off bags at 50 yards:

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POI is about 4.5" high at 50 yards. I'm planning to adjust my scope until POI is about 2" high at 50 yds.
 
I had one of those as my first deer shotgun. Very accurate. A pretty decent gun all around. Harvested a bunch of deer with the one I had. The only reason I traded it off was the hard trigger pull and I bought 2 Ithaca Deerslayer 2's.

There are 2 screws you need to make sure are tight. The screw that secures the safety button and the screw that secures the ejector.

I had to fix mine when the screw on the safety came loose and let the internals flop around, just as a deer was in front of me.

I fixed one for our old blacksmith, his safety screw came loose and the screw to the ejector came loose so when he racked the slide, it grabbed and bent the part.

DO NOT LOOSEN up the safety screw unless you are mechanically inclined and can understand how it goes back together. There is a little ball bearing and spring that are easy to get lost.

Both of those screws are a prime candidate for Guntite (blue loctite) (no other grade).
 
My safety was gummed up, so I needed to take it apart for a good cleaning. I used a rag to capture the spring and metal ball after disassembly. Some cleaner and then a little CLP and the safety is nice and smooth.
 
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