I'd read the reviews, pro and con, and I was looking for a open sight "cool" rifle to use to teach my little nephew how to shoot. As he's not big at 8 yrs. old, I wanted something with an adjustable length of pull so he'd get his sight picture and still allow an adult to shoot the thing without doing any mods. That left me with the Smith & Wesson "assault" rifle look-a-like which is restricted (another piece of bureaucratic nonsense) or the Mossberg. Not wanting the paper hassles, especially here in Untario, I elected for the Mossberg. I got a nice deal off one of our fellow CGNers. Here are my observations about the rifle.
I fed it all kinds of old, new, standard velocity, hyper velocity, and various manufactured ammo. It performed like a trooper! I had a few fail-to-eject with the truncated cone Yellow Jacket ammo, but it digested everything I fed it without a hiccup. Mind you, by the time I ran the Yellow Jacket ammo through the thing, it was getting pretty fouled, so that may be a factor. I love it! My buddies loved it and I have no intention of over-dressing it with tac lights, laser sights, or any of that other nonsense. If anything, I may remove the two picatinny rails on the sides of the foregrip and just leave the bottom one intact. I'll see how it feels and looks without them. If I have one complaint, it's the fact that I have to remove the sights to strip it down for a thorough cleaning. Of course, this means re-zeroing the rifle everytime you do a complete cleaning. I imagine that it would an even bigger pain in the butt if I had a scope mounted on it, and I wonder how well the integral upper rail holds up with optics anyway.
As I said when I started this thread, that rifle had gotten a fair number of bad reviews, but I have absolutely no complaint with it. As an aside, I found a shoulder strap for a carry-on bag in the trash. It's got nice chromed snap hooks, a rubber shoulder pad and it's black and adjustable for length. It looks like it was made for the rifle and it cost me nada! Something to bear in mind guys (and girls). Have a happy Thanksgiving and thanks for looking.
I fed it all kinds of old, new, standard velocity, hyper velocity, and various manufactured ammo. It performed like a trooper! I had a few fail-to-eject with the truncated cone Yellow Jacket ammo, but it digested everything I fed it without a hiccup. Mind you, by the time I ran the Yellow Jacket ammo through the thing, it was getting pretty fouled, so that may be a factor. I love it! My buddies loved it and I have no intention of over-dressing it with tac lights, laser sights, or any of that other nonsense. If anything, I may remove the two picatinny rails on the sides of the foregrip and just leave the bottom one intact. I'll see how it feels and looks without them. If I have one complaint, it's the fact that I have to remove the sights to strip it down for a thorough cleaning. Of course, this means re-zeroing the rifle everytime you do a complete cleaning. I imagine that it would an even bigger pain in the butt if I had a scope mounted on it, and I wonder how well the integral upper rail holds up with optics anyway.
As I said when I started this thread, that rifle had gotten a fair number of bad reviews, but I have absolutely no complaint with it. As an aside, I found a shoulder strap for a carry-on bag in the trash. It's got nice chromed snap hooks, a rubber shoulder pad and it's black and adjustable for length. It looks like it was made for the rifle and it cost me nada! Something to bear in mind guys (and girls). Have a happy Thanksgiving and thanks for looking.
