So I recently acquired this Mossberg 590A1 with the marinecote finish and figured I would do sort of a partial review. While trying to research this gun there was very limited information about the finish, and not very much talking about the actual gun in 18.5 inch barrel, hopefully this helps anyone with their decision to or not to buy this variant of the mossberg pump guns.
First of all I would like to talk about the marinecote finish. There is very little information about what the actual finish on the gun is, besides being silver coloured and a corrosion inhibitor. Some sources say that it is a nickle infused polymer, others say it is nickle plating, I even came across one source that stated it as "a nickle/Silicon combination" of some sort of paint/chemical reaction with the metal. It could be any of the above all I know is it looks damn fine
and it must have some sort of metal involved. I believe there is some kind of metal in the coating as any place there is friction on the coating it losses its mate finish and is shiny. I also believe this is why it gets a bad rap. Any time the gun is "scratched" or bumped with force the coating becomes shiny and looks like bare metal, it does not come off though. Even the internal parts (trigger, hammer ass., firing pin, extractors, ext... Everything!) are covered with the coating and it seems to be staying on all the moving parts after about 200 rounds, including the face of the hammer, and the face of the firing pin. The only thing that is not covered with the coating is the trigger guard, judging from the way it took oil and the texture I think that it is parkerized. I personally am very happy with the coating, it may not look as nice in a couple years after being used as a camp, hike, gopher, skeet, truck, quad, dirtbike, all around gun, but thats ok I bought it as a workhorse.
The only thing I am not a huge fan of looks wise is the polymer stock and forgrip, I would really like to swap it for some dark dark wood. That being said the polymer is every nice and doesn't feel cheap, its nice to handle and feels pretty good in the hands. It also fits me very well, the length of pull is perfect and it isnt a reach to the forgrip, for me. I have let a couple ladies handle the gun and the stock is definitely to long, kinda expected. It would most likely be to long for smaller men as well. The gun will likely stay as is as its going to be much more durable that way than wood.
Please note I have only handled regular 500 models at the gun counter, up till this point every shotgun I have ever owned has been a Winchester, love my Winchesters, havent handled any of the new ones though, my newest winchester I bought new 10 years ago.
That being said I will talk about the 590A1 portion of the setup. As you can see the gun is pretty plain Jane, no fancy stuff, mostly cause it doesn't interest me. I like the plain gold bead in the front, it fits most of my needs and I can still get a decent group with slugs, it does however seem to shoot a bit high, I think this is due to the thick walled barrel, not a big deal, adjusted my shooting style, fixed the problem.
This gun is pretty beefy, which I love, it does not feel like a small piece of junk in the hands, the other combat styled guns I handled seemed to be light and didnt feel like they had much to them. This gun is actually heavier than my full sized 1300 Winchester trap gun, the first comment I have gotten from everyone I have let handle it is "wow its actually pretty heavy". I am on the larger side size wise at 6'1" and pretty fit, so I dont mind the weight and dont find that it fatigues my arms shooting or carrying the gun, that being said I have not carried it all day long lol. I am notorious for getting overkill as far as durability and weight are concerned, if you are like that this gun is for you.
The bull barrel is a nice touch and does not make the gun front heavy, to me anyway, it does get pretty hot after 12-16 rounds of 00 buck in rapid succession, and takes a bit to cool. I like the look of the thicker barrel, as far as the function of it, you gotta be pretty hard on a shotgun as a civilian to actually require the heavy barrel in my opinion. As stated above the barrel gives the gun that weight that makes it feel like you are carrying a tank of a gun, and something about that weight just feels right in a shot 12ga like this gun. I am also a fan of the steel trigger guard, not because I think its better than plastic, but because I like the feel of steel. All the pins and the mechanism in the trigger guard are tight and have no play, and the fit of the assembly into the gun is very snug. Bellow is a few pictures of the barrel and the action. The Fit and finish of the gun is awesome.
Function of the gun, so far, has been spectacular, it has eaten everything I have fed it, including cheap Walmart shells. I was happy to find that at 25 yards it put all 9 00 buckshot pellets into a 10L jug, as well as punched the wad through the jug. It also put the majority of a winchester AA featherlite load through the front of the jug and from the look of it got the majority of the pellets on target. Slugs seem to also work quite well, but I haven't put that many of them through it yet. I shot around 30 clays with it and it doesn't shatter them like my trap gun but I didn't have a problem hitting the majority of the clays, except with the AA featherlite shells, I could not hit anything with those. I imagine they were losing to much energy and spreading out to much as the clays got farther out. I shot magpies with #7.5 shot winchester shells and same thing, didnt have trouble taking the magpies down, but they didnt fall instantly from the sky. In the end it works for everything I have tried it on, although not as good as if it had a longer barrel and a choke... But it is an 18.5 inch pump gun, not a gun with interchangeable chokes set up for birds and trap.
The action locks up tight and after about 30 or 40 rounds it smoothed out nicely. It is slightly stiffer on the first 1/4 of the pump back than the last 3/4 when you are cocking the hammer, if the hammer is cocked it cycles smooth for the full stroke forward and back. I have no complaints about the function of the action.
I like the safety location as well as the steel used for it (again, I like the feel of steel) The location allows me to shoot from both shoulders and still easily operate the safety, important to me as safety is of high priority. I know most people don't usually practice from both shoulders so this is a non issue unless you are left handed, but I find it much easier to use than a push bolt in front of the trigger like my Winchester 1300.
The slide release is also very easy to use with either the left or right hands.
The buttpad is quite nice and helps with the recoil when using heavier loads. I think the weight of the gun helps with the recoil as well. I did however notice that after the first day of shooting I was sporting a decent bruise on my shoulder. Nothing like what I get from my mosin though... and I definitely didn't notice it at the time, I specifically remember thinking "man this doesn't kick like I thought it would" I was also pretty pumped with how much I liked the gun so I probably wasnt thinking about it. The shoots I did after the first day I did not notice the recoil as painful.
The length of the gun makes it very maneuverable and easy to handle. I personally prefer this setup to the 20 inch 8+1 version. 6 shells are more than enough for me... each to their own though.
So above are the Positives, now I will list the negatives.
I actually had a hard time thinking of negatives but I did come up with a few. First off that GD warning stamped into the barrel drives me crazy! My Ruger guns all have the same thing, at least my vaquero they stamped it on the bottom of the barrel. On the opposite side of the barrel from the chamber size and choke specks there is a huge freaking "WARNING read manual before operation" stamp and I think it takes away from the smooth look, even on the bottom of the barrel would have made me happier but preferably not at all.
The second thing that I don't like is the movement in the forgrip, it isnt a lot of movement and I guess its pretty typical of mossberg but it is there. It does not rattle though.
The third thing, depending on how you look at it is the trigger pull. It is pretty heavy! This can be good or bad. Say you are nervous, stressed or your adrenaline is rushing, its a plus as you have to really pull the trigger. I personally dont have a problem with this, the trigger is still smooth and there is minimal travel. This heavy pull is a positive in many situations. For safety reasons, in a shotgun, especially a short combat style like this, I prefer the heavy trigger. Others may not like it.
The third and this is pretty dumb, but I am anal, the screws on top to attach optics are not drilled in the center of the low glare grooves cut into the top of the receiver. Not a big deal but its a little like having a crooked picture on the wall. Not a deal breaker though.
Thats pretty much it as far as complaints.
I will periodically update this as I shoot and use the gun more, feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer them. I can also take pictures if anyone has a specific part they would like to see.
Thanks for reading!
First of all I would like to talk about the marinecote finish. There is very little information about what the actual finish on the gun is, besides being silver coloured and a corrosion inhibitor. Some sources say that it is a nickle infused polymer, others say it is nickle plating, I even came across one source that stated it as "a nickle/Silicon combination" of some sort of paint/chemical reaction with the metal. It could be any of the above all I know is it looks damn fine
and it must have some sort of metal involved. I believe there is some kind of metal in the coating as any place there is friction on the coating it losses its mate finish and is shiny. I also believe this is why it gets a bad rap. Any time the gun is "scratched" or bumped with force the coating becomes shiny and looks like bare metal, it does not come off though. Even the internal parts (trigger, hammer ass., firing pin, extractors, ext... Everything!) are covered with the coating and it seems to be staying on all the moving parts after about 200 rounds, including the face of the hammer, and the face of the firing pin. The only thing that is not covered with the coating is the trigger guard, judging from the way it took oil and the texture I think that it is parkerized. I personally am very happy with the coating, it may not look as nice in a couple years after being used as a camp, hike, gopher, skeet, truck, quad, dirtbike, all around gun, but thats ok I bought it as a workhorse.
The only thing I am not a huge fan of looks wise is the polymer stock and forgrip, I would really like to swap it for some dark dark wood. That being said the polymer is every nice and doesn't feel cheap, its nice to handle and feels pretty good in the hands. It also fits me very well, the length of pull is perfect and it isnt a reach to the forgrip, for me. I have let a couple ladies handle the gun and the stock is definitely to long, kinda expected. It would most likely be to long for smaller men as well. The gun will likely stay as is as its going to be much more durable that way than wood.
Please note I have only handled regular 500 models at the gun counter, up till this point every shotgun I have ever owned has been a Winchester, love my Winchesters, havent handled any of the new ones though, my newest winchester I bought new 10 years ago.
That being said I will talk about the 590A1 portion of the setup. As you can see the gun is pretty plain Jane, no fancy stuff, mostly cause it doesn't interest me. I like the plain gold bead in the front, it fits most of my needs and I can still get a decent group with slugs, it does however seem to shoot a bit high, I think this is due to the thick walled barrel, not a big deal, adjusted my shooting style, fixed the problem.
This gun is pretty beefy, which I love, it does not feel like a small piece of junk in the hands, the other combat styled guns I handled seemed to be light and didnt feel like they had much to them. This gun is actually heavier than my full sized 1300 Winchester trap gun, the first comment I have gotten from everyone I have let handle it is "wow its actually pretty heavy". I am on the larger side size wise at 6'1" and pretty fit, so I dont mind the weight and dont find that it fatigues my arms shooting or carrying the gun, that being said I have not carried it all day long lol. I am notorious for getting overkill as far as durability and weight are concerned, if you are like that this gun is for you.
The bull barrel is a nice touch and does not make the gun front heavy, to me anyway, it does get pretty hot after 12-16 rounds of 00 buck in rapid succession, and takes a bit to cool. I like the look of the thicker barrel, as far as the function of it, you gotta be pretty hard on a shotgun as a civilian to actually require the heavy barrel in my opinion. As stated above the barrel gives the gun that weight that makes it feel like you are carrying a tank of a gun, and something about that weight just feels right in a shot 12ga like this gun. I am also a fan of the steel trigger guard, not because I think its better than plastic, but because I like the feel of steel. All the pins and the mechanism in the trigger guard are tight and have no play, and the fit of the assembly into the gun is very snug. Bellow is a few pictures of the barrel and the action. The Fit and finish of the gun is awesome.
Function of the gun, so far, has been spectacular, it has eaten everything I have fed it, including cheap Walmart shells. I was happy to find that at 25 yards it put all 9 00 buckshot pellets into a 10L jug, as well as punched the wad through the jug. It also put the majority of a winchester AA featherlite load through the front of the jug and from the look of it got the majority of the pellets on target. Slugs seem to also work quite well, but I haven't put that many of them through it yet. I shot around 30 clays with it and it doesn't shatter them like my trap gun but I didn't have a problem hitting the majority of the clays, except with the AA featherlite shells, I could not hit anything with those. I imagine they were losing to much energy and spreading out to much as the clays got farther out. I shot magpies with #7.5 shot winchester shells and same thing, didnt have trouble taking the magpies down, but they didnt fall instantly from the sky. In the end it works for everything I have tried it on, although not as good as if it had a longer barrel and a choke... But it is an 18.5 inch pump gun, not a gun with interchangeable chokes set up for birds and trap.
The action locks up tight and after about 30 or 40 rounds it smoothed out nicely. It is slightly stiffer on the first 1/4 of the pump back than the last 3/4 when you are cocking the hammer, if the hammer is cocked it cycles smooth for the full stroke forward and back. I have no complaints about the function of the action.
I like the safety location as well as the steel used for it (again, I like the feel of steel
) The location allows me to shoot from both shoulders and still easily operate the safety, important to me as safety is of high priority. I know most people don't usually practice from both shoulders so this is a non issue unless you are left handed, but I find it much easier to use than a push bolt in front of the trigger like my Winchester 1300. The slide release is also very easy to use with either the left or right hands.
The buttpad is quite nice and helps with the recoil when using heavier loads. I think the weight of the gun helps with the recoil as well. I did however notice that after the first day of shooting I was sporting a decent bruise on my shoulder. Nothing like what I get from my mosin though... and I definitely didn't notice it at the time, I specifically remember thinking "man this doesn't kick like I thought it would" I was also pretty pumped with how much I liked the gun so I probably wasnt thinking about it. The shoots I did after the first day I did not notice the recoil as painful.
The length of the gun makes it very maneuverable and easy to handle. I personally prefer this setup to the 20 inch 8+1 version. 6 shells are more than enough for me... each to their own though.
So above are the Positives, now I will list the negatives.
I actually had a hard time thinking of negatives but I did come up with a few. First off that GD warning stamped into the barrel drives me crazy! My Ruger guns all have the same thing, at least my vaquero they stamped it on the bottom of the barrel. On the opposite side of the barrel from the chamber size and choke specks there is a huge freaking "WARNING read manual before operation" stamp and I think it takes away from the smooth look, even on the bottom of the barrel would have made me happier but preferably not at all.
The second thing that I don't like is the movement in the forgrip, it isnt a lot of movement and I guess its pretty typical of mossberg but it is there. It does not rattle though.
The third thing, depending on how you look at it is the trigger pull. It is pretty heavy! This can be good or bad. Say you are nervous, stressed or your adrenaline is rushing, its a plus as you have to really pull the trigger. I personally dont have a problem with this, the trigger is still smooth and there is minimal travel. This heavy pull is a positive in many situations. For safety reasons, in a shotgun, especially a short combat style like this, I prefer the heavy trigger. Others may not like it.
The third and this is pretty dumb, but I am anal, the screws on top to attach optics are not drilled in the center of the low glare grooves cut into the top of the receiver. Not a big deal but its a little like having a crooked picture on the wall. Not a deal breaker though.
Thats pretty much it as far as complaints.
I will periodically update this as I shoot and use the gun more, feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer them. I can also take pictures if anyone has a specific part they would like to see.
Thanks for reading!
