mossy 500 tube disasembly... need help

Beer_drinker

Beer_drinker

CGN frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
20   0   0
Location
Qc
I noticed a lot of small white beads coming from my 500's tube magazine when shells are spat out of it, does anyone know how to take appart the tube? I'm guessing the top end has a threaded cap but I would rather not wrap a pair of vise grips around only to find out it doesn't twist...
 
You take the cap off, remove the barrel, and pull the plug at the front end of the tube. Not hard to do. If you need vice grips to get the barrel cap off then you or someone else over tightened it to an extreme.
 
Winchested said:
You take the cap off, remove the barrel, and pull the plug at the front end of the tube. Not hard to do. If you need vice grips to get the barrel cap off then you or someone else over tightened it to an extreme.
Click to expand...


THis is your answer ^^^ If you like, your magazine tube is threaded into the recevier so you can unscew it as well and really clean it.

TDC
 
Winchested said:
You take the cap off, remove the barrel, and pull the plug at the front end of the tube. Not hard to do. If you need vice grips to get the barrel cap off then you or someone else over tightened it to an extreme.
Click to expand...


This is the plug you're talking about, correct? If so, it looks to be stamped in, i've tried removing it and it aint budging!

mmmmmmmmmm003.jpg
 
TDC said:
THis is your answer ^^^ If you like, your magazine tube is threaded into the recevier so you can unscew it as well and really clean it.

TDC
Click to expand...


I tried unscrewing the tube from the receiver, I managed to unscrew the stock while using it as leverage lol! that tube must be glued or just pressed in tightly, I guess i'll have to wait until I have access to a table vise before I can clean this thing up.
 
Well, I take back my comment about how to take it apart, I just went and took a look at mine and same kind of deal and I could not unscrew the mag tube from the receiver either and I was even using super sticky gripping stuff etc. My 835 on the other hand has a normal plug in the top of the tube that is stamped steal and just presses in/ pulls out.

I would say that the whole tube needs to be unscrewed etc to have access to the follower and the spring. I need to put a plug in mine to limit it to 2 shells in the tube for hunting. The limit plug was a homemade 1/4" dowel cut to length that is noisy and rattles around like crazy.

I will try and search for take down instructions on this,
Mine was a hand me down 20g Moss 500 that was my moms from the mid 80's.
 
Here, found this quoted from a different forum site.

You have to unscrew the whole mag tube to get access to the inside of it, and I found out that the cheap 1/4" dowel in the tube is designed to be there.


Success ... finally ... using a combination of the hints received here.

First I clamped the very end of the tube (i.e. the solid end, as Slopemeno suggested) in a vise with two blocks of wood. Turning the receiver also turned the tube, and the only way I could see to stop this was to put a lot of the tube within the blocks. Well, I was a little afraid I might crush the thin wall section, so I went to plan B.

I put the receiver in the vise (between the blocks), and then used a good amount of electrical tape to cover the tube end. Then I added vise grips and tried to turn. Wrench still slipped, and in order to stop this, I figured I was going to gouge the tube from overly tight vise grip jaws (even with the tape). On to plan C.

I stopped by Lowe's on the way home today and picked up a strap wrench "kit" (2 wrenches, one small and one large, $16). Leaving the receiver in the vise (with wood blocks), I tried to turn the tube with the large strap wrench on the tube end. It slipped, so I degreased the tube end and tried again. It slipped, so I added some hockey tape (cloth tape) and tried yet again. It was now holding, but it seemed like I had a lot of torque on the tube at this point. Also tried impacting tube with plastic mallet in try to break it loose ... no dice.

Plan D ... or whatever ... I'm losing track. I got out the propane torch. I was leery of this, since it's really easy to overheat aluminum threads, causing them to gall - and then I would have a serious problem. So I figured I would go through multiple iterations of "heat and try", while only heating the steel tube itself. Well, about 3 seconds of heat on the tube and presto, it came out ... just like I knew what I was doing (which, of course, was obviously far from the truth).

It looks like I got better than my fair allotment of thread sealer on the tube threads. And I agree, this is not a good design. The inside of the tube is ugly and the spring is rusty, even though I tried to clean the tube out every time after the gun was out in the rain ... which has happened multiple times over the last 20+ years.

So after I clean it up and replace the spring, I'm thinking that maybe I won't Lock-tite it during reassembly. I don't see how the tube can move during use, and as long as you don't put a wrench on the barrel nut when tightening, it should break loose before the tube unthreads from the receiver. If that doesn't pan out, I can always Lock-tite the tube later. But at this point, I like the idea of being able to unscrew the tube easily for cleaning.

Thanks for everyone's help on this one.

dogfood

P.S. - robc - Yep, that cap part is called a follower - I guess because it "follows" the rounds as they get pulled from the magazine. It's typically called a follower regardless of whether it is in a fixed or detachable magazine ... shotgun, rifle or pistol ... and regardless of shape/size.
Click to expand...
 
Good find, it looks like im gona have to run out and buy some propane.

Thanks for the help.


Check out the crap thats stored in my tube, I think something laid eggs in it, really hard eggs lol.... It sprays out everytime a shell is unloaded.

white004.jpg
 
that looks like the stuff in some cheepo shells that they put in with the shot. Not too sure why its in there but sometimes it comes out of a poorly crimped hull
 
Maybe someone put styro in the mag tube to replace the dowel or something. The mag tube on on my 70's 500 Mossy was tight also, and I ended up with scratches on it. Try using a peice of leather with resin (or something else grippy) to hold it in the vice, and then turn the whole gun to bust it loose. Soak it in WD-40 for a while first, maybe it will help. Heat will help for sure, but careful not to cook the finish. You'll get it somehow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom