Mossberg 500
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Shotgun Mossberg 590.jpg Image:Mossberg 500 2 barrels.png Image:Mossberg 500 Bantam.png The Mossberg 500 is a shotgun manufactured by O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc. Rather than a single model, the 500 is really a series of widely varying hammerless, pump action, repeaters, all of which share the same basic receiver and action, but differ in bore size, barrel length, choke options, and stock and forearm materials.
Contents |
Model 500 options
The name "Model 500" covers an entire family of pump shotguns designed to chamber 3" shells. The "standard" model holds five 2 3/4" shells in the magazine (four 3" shells) and one in the chamber. The Model 500 is available in 12 gauge, 20 gauge, and .410 bore, with the 12 gauge being the most popular.
Finishes
The standard finish for the Model 500 is an anodized aluminum alloy receiver, and a polished and blued barrel. Some models come with a matte black painted receiver, and a matte blued barrel. Steel receiver models are parkerized, with parkerized barrels. Mossberg also offers camouflage painted models, in a number of different patterns. Stocks are either wood or composite, with the composite stocks being matte black or camouflage to match the rest of the gun. A special model called the Mariner is available with the Marinecote finish, a silver colored finish that is highly corrosion resistant. Mariner models use the black composite stocks.
Model 500 vs. Model 590
The Model 590 uses a different magazine tube design. The Model 500 magazines are closed at the muzzle end, and the barrel is held in place by bolting into a threaded hole at the end of the magazine tube. Model 590 magazines are open at the end, and the barrels fit around the magazine tube and are held on by a nut at the end. The Model 500 magazine facilitates easy barrel changes, as the barrel bolt serves no function other than holding the barrel in place. The Model 590 magazine facilitates easy cleaning, as removing the nut allows removal of the magazine spring and follower. The Model 590a1 is a model 590 with an aluminum trigger guard and a heavier barrel, intended for military use under the most extreme conditions.
Bantam and Super Bantam models
The standard Model 500 uses a 14 inch length of pull (LOP) for the stock, which is suitable for adult shooters of average or greater size. The Bantam models use a 13 inch LOP stock, and a forend that sits further back than the standard model. The Super Bantam stock includes two recoil pads and a stock spacer. By using the short pad, the LOP can be reduced to 12 inches, and by using the spacer and longer pad, the LOP is increased to 13 inches. A number of different models are offered with Bantam and Super Bantam stocks, or they can be ordered as accessories and fitted to any Model 500.
Model 505
The new model 505 Youth shotgun, introduced in 2005, is similar to the Bantam but scaled down further. The 505 has a 12 inch pull buttstock (compared to a standard model's 14 inches, or a Bantam's 13 inches), a 20 inch barrel, and a four shot magazine tube. The 505 is available in 20 gauge and .410 bore. Parts are not interchangeable with other model 500 variants.
Model 535
The Model 535, new for 2005, is similar to the Model 500, but with a lengthened receiver that can fire 3-1/2" length shotshells, in addition to 2-3/4" and 3" length shotshells. The 535 is a less expensive alternative to the Mossberg 835 Ulti-Mag, but the 535 lacks the 835's overbored barrel. The non overbored barrel of the 535 does, however, allow the use of slugs, which cannot be used in the overbored barrel of the 835. Model 535 barrels are not interchangeable with model 500 or model 835 barrels, but 535 barrels are available in smoothbore and rifled in a variety of vent ribbed, barrel lengths and different sights. The 535 is, at present, offered only in sporting models, no riot or combat models are available.
Magazine capacity
The Model 500 comes in a variety of different receiver configurations, whose main difference is the magazine configuration. The basic Model 500 comes with a magazine tube capable of holding five 2 3/4 shells, which is called a six shot model (a full magazine plus a round in the chamber). The Model 500 is also available with an extended magazine tube that holds seven rounds, making an eight shot model. The Model 590 is available with five and eight shot magazines, sold as six and nine shot models respectively.
The variants with the extended magazine tubes use different barrels, as the barrel is held in place by attaching at the end of the magazine tube. The shortest, and in fact only barrel length available for the eight and nine shot models is 20 inches, which fits flush with the long magazine tube. The shortest barrel for civilian models of the six shot models is 18.5 inches, while military and police users can also get a 14 inch barrel (the 590 Compact), which is flush with the six shot model's magazine.
Model 500 variants
The Model 500 is available in many variants, for a wide variety of applications. The ease of changing barrels on the Model 500 means that a single shotgun may be equipped by the owner with a number of different barrels, each for a different purpose. As sold, the Model 500 is generally classed into two broad categories: field models and special purpose models.
Field models
Field models are the basic sporting models. They are available with a variety of barrel lengths and finishes, and may be set up for waterfowl hunting, upland game hunting, turkey hunting, or shooting slugs. Most smoothbore models come with interchangeable choke tubes and vent rib barrels, while the slug models come with rifle sights or scope bases, and may have smooth cylinder bore or rifled barrels.
Special purpose models
Special purpose models are intended for use for self defense, police, or military use. The Model 590 and the eight shot Model 500s are only sold as special purpose models. Special purpose models have short barrels, either 18.5 inches for the six shot models, or 20 inches for the eight and nine shot models. The Model 590 Compact, which is only available to law enforcement and military buyers, is also available with a 14 inch barrel, which is flush with the end of the six shot Model 590 magazine tube.
Special purpose models may be equipped with a standard shoulder stock, a "Speedfeed" stock that holds 4 additional rounds of ammunition, or a pistol grip stock. Special purpose models come with plain barrels (no vent rib) with bead sights or ghost ring sights.
Accessories and combinations
The Mossberg 500 has always been marketed as a multi-purpose firearm. Mossberg sells a wide variety of accessory stocks and barrels, allowing many configurations to be made (including, in the past, a bullpup configured model 500). Mossberg is also the first and only company to ever offer a double action only model. The model 590DA offers a longer, heavier trigger pull to reduce the chance of an unintentional discharge, and was targeted at the police market.
With the appropriate parts, the same Model 500 can be a field gun, a slug gun, defensive weapon for civilian, police, or military use, trap and skeet gun, or .50 caliber rifled muzzleloader.
Mossberg has also sold "combination" sets, with a single receiver and more than one barrel; common examples included a 28 inch field barrel packaged with an 18 1/2 inch cylinder bore barrel for defensive use, or a field barrel and a slug barrel, or a slug barrel and a .50 caliber muzzleloading rifle barrel.
A unique item offered by Mossberg for the Model 500 is a line launcher kit. It uses special blank cartridge to propel a shaft with an optional floating head and a light rope attached to it; a canister hung below the barrel to hold the line spool. A test of the Mossberg 500 with line launcher by the BoatUS Foundation showed an average range of over 330 feet with the floating head. Distances of 700 feet are claimed for the non-floating long distance head.
Maverick Arms subsidiary
Mossberg also markets a less expensive shotgun under the Maverick Arms name. The Maverick 88 uses the same stocks and barrels as the 12 gauge Model 500, but uses a trigger guard mounted safety rather than the Mossberg's ambidextrous receiver mounted safety. The Maverick 88 models are only available in blued finish, with synthetic stocks. Maverick Arms models are assembled in Texas, rather than in Mossberg's main facility in Connecticut.
Model numbers
Military use
Mossberg claims that the Model 500 is the only shotgun to pass the US Army's Mil-Spec 3443E test, "a brutal and unforgiving torture test with 3,000 rounds of full power 12 gauge buckshot". The updated 3443G specification requires a metal trigger guard, so only the Model 590A1 variants, which use metal trigger groups instead of the standard Model 500's plastic trigger groups, will fit the requirements. While many people consider the other pump shotguns to be superior (the Remington 870 is the dominant shotugn used by police in the United States) either their models failed to meet the 3443E specification or the manufacturers were unwilling to submit samples for acceptance testing.
While the Army and Marines officially switched to the semiautomatic M1014 Combat Shotgun in 1999, various branches of the US military are still acquiring pump shotguns. The Navy aquired several thousand Mossberg 590A1 shotguns in 2004, and the US Army placed an order in 2005 for 14,818 units at a price of just over US$316 per unit.
External links
- Mossberg corporate website.
- Maverick Arms corporate website, a subsidiary of Mossberg.
- BoatUS Foundation review of the Mossberg line launcher kit.
- Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide on Mossberg 590
- Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide on Mossberg 500
- US Department of Defense specification 3443, D through G, which covers procurement requirements for riot-type pump shotguns.
- US Naval Surface Warfare Center acquisition contract for 2,200 to 7,500 Mossberg model 590A1 shotguns, posted Aug. 31, 2004.
- Department of the Army Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Budget Estimates, see pages 278-9 for 2005 Mossberg shotgun aquisition information