Yes it did have rust, and I was going to ask to see another, but that was anticipated. I was told they all have some rust. Kind of a here it is, this is what you get comment. I was only helping a friend, and knew he wanted that particular gun, so I took it and spent the time to rid it of the rust. It also appeared that a refund was not an option, and I didn't want to get into an argument. It took some time and effort but I think I got all the rust. Time will tell I guess. Since I was going to fix the rust on the second one anyway, I offered to buy the first one if they would give me a decent discount, considering it was quite bad, and was going to take a lot of nit pick work. They didn't want to do that, and I am fine with that. I just hope it went back to Mossberg, and it doesn't get sold again unless made proper.