Mossberg 590 What ecavtly do I have...

[mwtdvm]

I know this is a S&W site but let's face it you guys know everything worth knowing...

THe shotgun is a Mossberg 590 with their protective finish. It has a 12 ga rifled slug barrel that shoots 2 3/4 - 3" shells. Don'r have a tape measure but I suspect it is 22-24" long. I picked it up with a *** tasco scope for about 265 IIRC. The reason I bought it was for a "boat gun" for a good friend. I have only shot a couple of rounds thru it and it worked.

I would like to find a "mariner" 18 - 20" barrel but they seem to be nonexistent.

Failing at that I will recommend my friend find a gunsmith and have him chop the barrel and add a front sight and a ghost ring for the other end.

So my questions are:

Anybody seen one of these and when were they made..(mine appears AN,no box)
Are they reliable?
Should I have the barrel shortened before I give it to him? (Kind of tacky to give him a gun he can't really use as is..)
I how the rifling will disperse the buckshot earlier but is that really a problem?
Anything else I need to know?


Thanks in advance!

 

[jlrhiner]

My 590 has ghost ring sights and a speed-feed stock. The barrel and magazine tube are the same length. I know they came out with a 590a1 later, but the configuration escapes me. Their good guns, rugged and built to last. You price sounds good, so overall, good buy. If you want shorten it, remember the NFA rules.

 

[s&wchad]

Mossberg 500's and 590's are reliable guns. Rather than chop the existing barrel, see if you can find a shorter 590 barrel. You could also buy a used 500 barrel and install it on the gun. You would also have to install a model 500 magazine tube and spring, but used Model 500 barrels can often be found cheap.

 

[Andy Griffith]

I second what Moondawg said, except not all receivers and guns marked as 590's have the metal trigger guard, heavy walled barrels or metal safeties- Mossberg can and does make less expensive 590 models for anyone that wants to order them, in almost any configuration over the years. Heck, I almost bought one of the "double action" trigger models some time ago because it was such a good deal- I should have.

 

[Faulkner]

My standard 590 is the shotgun I carry in the rack of my patrol car. Parkerized finish with 20 inch barrel threaded for choke tubes, speedfeed stock with factory heat shield and factory ghost rings. I have fired hundreds of rounds through this one and it's been 100% touble free.

 

[jkc]

I concur with my stockmaker friend that the Mossberg 500 series stocks are the most punishing shotgun stock designs extant. The relatively new Federal Flyte-Control buckshot loads produce miraculously tight groups from cylinder bore barrels, so there's no ballistic-related worry about chopping a barrel to legal minimum length...

 

[mwtdvm]

Thanks ya'll

I appreciate all the responses.
So far the differences in this gun from what has been described as the "typical" 590 are:

1. It has a plastic trigger guard
2. A 24" rifled barrel
3. Cantilevered rail

I am sure it can be a deer killin' machine but for my friend's use, it needs a shorter barrel and appropriate sights.
I thought about a red dot but who has time to turn it on in an instant.
The C-mores advertise they will run for a long time on a set of batteries. So just leave it on. Others "wake up " when their cover is removed.

He will be living on the water in a "gated" community but there have been burglaries from the water side. Criminals are not always stupid. So I guess he can keep it at bedside and rack a round in if he hears something suspicious. The one thing he has done right is to have two large dogs that are not shy about making themselves known.


Thanks again