Has anybody actually seen a Mossberg 500/590 receiver fail?

[mr00jimbo]

I know that the 870's steel receiver gets highlighted as an advantage, but is it really? I know the lockup of the Mossberg is steel to steel so the receiver doesn't take stress.

I have heard people say they have seen them fail (including somebody claiming one had a receiver blow apart) and people claiming the action bars wear deep grooves into the softer receiver and can come apart and that this generally happens on high round count guns.

I don't know if there's any truth to that, but I concede it could entirely be possible.

Thoughts?

 

[supernova]

If, after tens of thousands of rounds, the gun was worn out a replacement is a drop in the bucket compared to your ammo expenses. I've never seen a worn out 500/590 and I've owned a bunch and keep a 14" A1 as my go to. I have, however, had just about every 870 I've owned slip the carrier dog and repeatedly pile drive shells into the bridge between mag and chamber. I just don't trust the 870 action when that same issue pops up on multiple guns. Ymmv.

 

[memaquay]

I've run three or four of them, in three different gauges, all solid guns. Nice looking for the price too.

 

[brybenn]

The only one ive seen destroyed was m buddies that he accidentally ran over with a truck.
My msossberg 535 ats has likely 30 thousand plus rounds thru it. The action bars and grooves do show signs of wear but nothing that would lead me to believe there could ever be an issue in 3 times the amount ive put thru it already. The bluing so to speak turns purple like a grackles head though

 

[870P]

Supposedly, the Mossberg receiver has an average service life of "only" 75K rounds vs 200K+ for the 870, however that's not really important as few shooters will ever get close to that.

However, where a steel receiver really has an advantage is in impact resistance.

A bad fall or knock to a concrete or metal edge, whether its a wall corner, door frame or step corner, can make enough of a dent as to put an aluminum receiver gun out of commission. I've talked to guys its happened to, most notably a SWAT guy who wrecked a Benelli M1 by accidently smacking it off a hard corner during a raid, which dented the ejection port area enough to permanently keep it from cycling.

 

[Greenhorse six]

Heard the stories, never seen one fail or known anybody in person who has had or seen one fail .
I don't know if this counts, but, i did have to replace the exstactors on a 590 , not a A1, that I bought new in 1994 , they were well worn, to the point that they wouldn't extract once the gun started getting dirty.

 

[brybenn]

The raceways are enlarged on mossbergs to help ease wear. When put thru the updated military tests they thickened the barrel and added a metal trigger guard. No updates to the receiver

 

[The Kurgan]

Has anybody ever seen a polymer trigger guard fail or a 500 barrel dent? I always prefer a little less weight in a home defence shotgun.

 

[Daver_II]

you will be perfectly fine with either.

I like the 870 for simplicity, and the mossberg for weight.

 

[Bull_it]

A friend of mine has over 15,000 rounds through his Maverick 88 which is a cheaper version of the 500. It's flawless. I doubt a 500 will have any issues.

 

[Greenhorse six]

Never seen it , but have heard of the front tabs on the trigger group shearing with very hard use , but that story is from long ago , in the before time , when we could have AK's and shoot them with full 30rd mags on Crown land ....
I do know that mossberg has redesigned the trigger pack to make those tabs stronger, because I couldn't get a newer trigger group assembly from a newer gun to fit in a older , it was made in 1992 , gun , the front tabs were redesigned, bigger , and better supported.

Has anybody ever seen a polymer trigger guard fail or a 500 barrel dent? I always prefer a little less weight in a home defence shotgun.

 

[NHunter]

A friend of mine has over 15,000 rounds through his Maverick 88 which is a cheaper version of the 500. It's flawless. I doubt a 500 will have any issues.

ahem....
15,000....
Fifteen Thousand....rounds - fired - by - one - person - through - one - pump shotgun....now that is 'strokin' it'....
not to mention loading the same shotgun 3000 times...repeatedly...

 

[buckhunter78]

Pfff. Mossburg can’t get run over by a truck. We had a problematic coyote. I hopped in passenger seat of a large farm tractor. The coyote seemed to know I was on to him, staying to far out for buckshot. Had a rifle and my Winchester 1200. I decided to go with the rifle. As we were coming to a stop for me to hop out and load I opened the door. While still slowly rolling I opened the door and the Winchester slid out. Butt stock hit the ground. Laid down perfect for the tractor to run the hole thing over lengthwise. I Laid the rifle in the grass and picked up my shotgun. The brother in-law told be the coyote was right behind me. With a quick look over my shotgun I grabbed around off the butt stock. Loaded and shot the prick. There is a reason that gun is called old reliable. Very fortunate we were working in a damp field. Ground was soft.

 

[NHunter]

Pfff. Mossburg can’t get run over by a truck. We had a problematic coyote. I hopped in passenger seat of a large farm tractor. The coyote seemed to know I was on to him, staying to far out for buckshot. Had a rifle and my Winchester 1200. I decided to go with the rifle. As we were coming to a stop for me to hop out and load I opened the door. While still slowly rolling I opened the door and the Winchester slid out. Butt stock hit the ground. Laid down perfect for the tractor to run the hole thing over lengthwise. I Laid the rifle in the grass and picked up my shotgun. The brother in-law told be the coyote was right behind me. With a quick look over my shotgun I grabbed around off the butt stock. Loaded and shot the prick. There is a reason that gun is called old reliable. Very fortunate we were working in a damp field. Ground was soft.

Great experience and thanks for sharing. Easier to believe than firing 1 5 , 0 0 0 rounds from a 12 gauge pump....imho.....

 

[The_Shmoo]

Great experience and thanks for sharing. Easier to believe than firing 1 5 , 0 0 0 rounds from a 12 gauge pump....imho.....

My 590A1 has reportedly had over 40,000 rounds through it from its previous owner, and judging by the state of the ejector and extractors when I bought the thing, I'm inclined to believe him.

 

[Boomer]

If you use a cross-bolt mounted sidesaddle on a Mossberg, you have to be careful not to over torque the bolt and pinch the receiver tight which ties up the gun, but the same applies to an 870, and an 870 uses 2 cross-bolts instead of one. A theory I've heard is that a cross-bolt attached sidesaddle will cause the pin hole in a 500/590 to slop out. I rather doubt it since the front of the sidesaddle is secured to a lengthened ejector screw and should be torqued solidly so no movement occurs, but perhaps I just haven't shot my 19 year old 590 enough to see it. Selecting a velcro attached sidesaddle, rather than a cross-bolt attached one, would off coarse alleviate either problem.

All mechanical devices wear out given enough time and use. The nice thing about a Mossberg is the parts that are most prone to wear or breakage can be replaced by the owner without need of a gunsmith and a machine shop. There are more 870s used around here than any others, but and many suffer from abuse by unsophisticated users. I often see low round count examples badly rusted, or with with broken ejectors and occasionally with loose shell stops, which I've had little luck attempting to re-stake.

 

[DT741]

Great experience and thanks for sharing. Easier to believe than firing 1 5 , 0 0 0 rounds from a 12 gauge pump....imho.....

Not a huge number when you give it enough time. I own only one shotgun (870) and shoot minimum 1000 rounds per year with it since I bought it new in 2007 and that’s just ammo that I personnally fired. The shotgun shot more than I did.

 

[Bull_it]

ahem....
15,000....
Fifteen Thousand....rounds - fired - by - one - person - through - one - pump shotgun....now that is 'strokin' it'....
not to mention loading the same shotgun 3000 times...repeatedly...

He's owned it for nearly 12 years, uses it for clay shooting and 3 gun. That's less than 1500 rounds per year. Maybe you only shoot a 25rd box in a weekend. He'll shoot 100 to 150 rounds per range trip.

Sounds like you need to shoot more.

 

[Brobee]

He's owned it for nearly 12 years, uses it for clay shooting and 3 gun. That's less than 1500 rounds per year. Maybe you only shoot a 25rd box in a weekend. He'll shoot 100 to 150 rounds per range trip.

Sounds like you need to shoot more.

+1 to this...

I shoot a lot of sporting clays and skeet - in the spring/summer/fall I go through a flat a week (250 rounds) for an annual round count somewhere between 5000 and 7000. I do this instead of taking holidays to exotic places or buying other expensive toys.

For the past 4 years I’ve been shooting as my primary clay gun a mossberg 590a1/500 hybrid I’ve put together with the receiver+trigger group of a 590a1 and the mag tube, vented rib barrel (threaded for invector style chokes, which I run pretty much exclusively mod or skeet), action bars, and furniture from a variety of 500 field guns.

I estimate the gun has somewhere between 20 to 30k rounds through it, mostly 3/4 and 7/8oz 1200fps, but probably 5% to 10% boomers too. I have had to replace a worn shell lifter (the pivot pins came loose), an ejector (worn), and a shell latch (worn). Everything else is still running pretty good and if I decide not to retire this year, it will be the gun I use to try for my fifth consecutive win at our local annual pump gun match held in feb.

My daughters have been using a 20ga 500 bantam (plastic trigger guard) field model as their preferred shotgun too. While they don’t shoot as much as I do, I bet this gun has about 10k rounds of Winchester AA low recoil low noise plus 250 federal black cloud #2s. This gun is pretty rattly, but still runs like a champ too, and I have not yet had to replace any parts.

All-in-all I like the 590/500 guns for their simplicity, ubiquity, affordability, availability, and finally the fact I don’t need any special tools to address issues with either the shell latch, interrupter, or ejector. Yes, I own a couple wingmaster and 870 police builds too, but my mossberg is the one I prefer and run the most.

At the range I take a lot of heat for my choice of this gun, especially from those who remember when I used a DT11, but I break almost as many...no, probably just as many clays with my beloved trash heap 590a1/500. I used to consider it a badge of honor, but recently It’s grown a bit tiresome and has me considering clay retirement for a Brobee-style exploration of the 30-30 lever gun, plus a 9410 for skeet if I can find one!!

Cheers,

Brobee

 

[mosinmaster]

+1 to this...

I shoot a lot of sporting clays and skeet - in the spring/summer/fall I go through a flat a week (250 rounds) for an annual round count somewhere between 5000 and 7000. I do this instead of taking holidays to exotic places or buying other expensive toys.

For the past 4 years I’ve been shooting as my primary clay gun a mossberg 590a1/500 hybrid I’ve put together with the receiver+trigger group of a 590a1 and the mag tube, vented rib barrel (threaded for invector style chokes, which I run pretty much exclusively mod or skeet), action bars, and furniture from a variety of 500 field guns.

I estimate the gun has somewhere between 20 to 30k rounds through it, mostly 3/4 and 7/8oz 1200fps, but probably 5% to 10% boomers too. I have had to replace a worn shell lifter (the pivot pins came loose), an ejector (worn), and a shell latch (worn). Everything else is still running pretty good and if I decide not to retire this year, it will be the gun I use to try for my fifth consecutive win at our local annual pump gun match held in feb.

My daughters have been using a 20ga 500 bantam (plastic trigger guard) field model as their preferred shotgun too. While they don’t shoot as much as I do, I bet this gun has about 10k rounds of Winchester AA low recoil low noise plus 250 federal black cloud #2s. This gun is pretty rattly, but still runs like a champ too, and I have not yet had to replace any parts.

All-in-all I like the 590/500 guns for their simplicity, ubiquity, affordability, availability, and finally the fact I don’t need any special tools to address issues with either the shell latch, interrupter, or ejector. Yes, I own a couple wingmaster and 870 police builds too, but my mossberg is the one I prefer and run the most.

At the range I take a lot of heat for my choice of this gun, especially from those who remember when I used a DT11, but I break almost as many...no, probably just as many clays with my beloved trash heap 590a1/500. I used to consider it a badge of honor, but recently It’s grown a bit tiresome and has me considering clay retirement for a Brobee-style exploration of the 30-30 lever gun, plus a 9410 for skeet if I can find one!!

Cheers,

Brobee

I read that hearing the voice-over from your Youtube vids, was awesome lol.