Unusual Aftermarket Trap Barrel

[arcticap]

I picked up an unused Mossberg 500 aftermarket trap
barrel at a gunshow because I planned on buying an
inexpensive used gun for my kids to use. I never did pick
up a Mossy and the barrel has been sitting around for a
while because quite frankly, I not sure about whether the
quality of the barrel makes purchasing a 500 worthwhile.
The barrel is made by a company named Simmons Gun
Specialties Inc., Olathe, Kansas and the finish is kind of
"funky". It seems that the entire barrel is painted inside and
out with a paint that kind of simulates parkerizing. It seems
like the exterior of the barrel wasn't very smoothly finished
before the paint was applied either. It has a very high rib
with a small brass mid-bead and an empty, hollow half circle
for a front bead to be glued into. With this setup, it actually
appears to have a black bead when sighting down the barrel
rib, so maybe the effect was intended.
Inside the barrel, the paint looks slightly rough and not as
smooth as it is on the exterior. Even though the paint is very
hard like epoxy, I imagine that it wouldn't take very long to
wear off. But why would they paint the inside at all?
The barrel is threaded for Mossy accu-choke tubes
and included a full choke that's also painted. When I removed
it, the barrel threads had a just a hint of rust which I
cleaned and oiled, but it made me wonder if the reason why
the barrel was painted was because the steel might not be
very corrosion resistant, especially without blue.
A Mossberg factory made trap barrel would have cost over $150
with a fixed choke, while this one only cost about 1/3 of that.
Does anyone know anything about this type of aftermarket
barrel, the company or how it might shoot? I personally really
prefer shooting with a high rib and being able to keep the bead
under the target.
I also think that it would be a fun barrel to use for
bird hunting or turkey shoots since it's 30 inches long
and has a nice wide rib. A hunter certainly wouldn't have
to worry very much about dinging it up or hurting it by
shooting steel through it either, and it might actually have
a better reach and sighting plane than a shorter field barrel.
But I still wonder about whether it will rust once the paint
is gone from the interior and about its shooting quality.

I'm still thinking about whether to buy an old 500 or to just
sell off this barrel. Any info. or comments about this barrel
and what I should do with it are appreciated.

 

[arcticap]

I just did a quick websearch of Simmons Gun Specialties Inc and came up with this:

Many of these recipes are from a unique recipe book featuring wild game, 'Ol Ern's Cookbook. They were collected over many years by my Uncle Ernie Simmons, the owner of Simmons Gun Specialties, Inc., home of the world famous ventilated rib he developed and produced for Winchester. Many of the recipes were submitted by sportsmen such as Roy E. Weatherby, Frank Pachmayr, Bob Allen, Jimmy Robinson, R.E. Hodgdon, Bob Brownell, Dan Bechtel, Bill Harper, and Ol' Ern, himself.

For more information, call Vickie Simmons-Beatty at (816) 361-4777.

They're also available at the Pahrump Valley Times office at 2160 E. Calvada Boulevard.

http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2004/04/30/sports/sportsman.html

 

[arcticap]

A response to my inquiry on another thread informed me that this looks to be a factory Mossberg barrel that has a Simmons rib installed on it.

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=248102

 

[Jeff Mulliken]

You are correct, this is a factory barrel with an aftermarket rib. Simmons is a well regarded maker of aftermarket ribs. In theory this barrel should be worth a lot more than a plain factory barrel.

BUT, there are two issues here.

1) High ribs like this are really all about trap shooting and almost no trap shooters choose a Mossberg as a dedicated trap gun.

2) Whoever put on the after market finish was as dumb as a bucket of rocks. It should not have the finish inside the barrel. The barrel should be lightly honed to get back to a bare metal finish.

That's why it was a $50 dollar barrel.....

You can get the barrel honed and buy a Mossberg, The receiver finish will not match the barrel so you'll be the only one on your block with a gun like it.

You can try to sell it and hope to get your money out of it...