Picked up a Mossberg 590A1 Retrograde

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cedargrove

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I’ve been doing a lot of research on pump actions, and was considering a few different Mossbergs, among other brands, but not really thinking Retrograde.

The walnut looked better in person than I expected, and the A1s aren’t widely available, so I grabbed it and am very happy with it so far. I got the 20” with heat shield, ghost ring, and bayonet attachment. I’ve also ordered the 590A1 14” barrel to mix things up, and I’ll pick up a black Magpul stock, and/or possibly a raptor/pistol grip for some variety.

I’ve cycled snap caps through it a few hundred times and am anxious to get to the range. In the meantime I’ve fully disassembled it. Hopefully I can reassemble to working condition.

Unfortunately when I was removing the trigger I broke of a small piece of the walnut stock - around 5mm x 10mm. Not too happy about that. I’ve read that it’s sometimes a tight fit where the trigger assembly meets the stock, but wasn’t really expecting to damage the stock. I’ve glued it back, and it looks near perfect, but not perfectly smooth to the touch. I’ll probably give that area a light sand and re-stain it to avoid it catching the next time I disassemble.

Anyway, looking forward to shooting this beast.
 
So, I've shot Wingmasters (Remington 870) exclusively for decades. I find them fast, light, easy to point which makes for a great bird gun. Hell, it's a Wingmaster, what's more to say?

One of my Wingmasters is set up with an 18" slug barrel with rifle sights a-la riot gun, and I love it. It possesses all of the attributes above in a very handy size. However, it does knock me around a bit when shooting slugs or heavy buck. 25 shells and you'll know all about it the next day.

I also bought a Mossberg 590A1 Retro a few weeks ago and took it out last weekend, and all I can say is wow! Wow! I haven't shot a Mossberg 12 ga since my Dad's 195K...the bolt action 12 ga, with adjustable choke on the end of the barrel. When my Dad first handed me the thing he says, "never trust a shotgun safety". Well, Dad certainly wasn't talking about the 590A1!?

I found the controls to be an improvement over the 870, I trust the safety on the 590A1 and find the action release to be in a more intuitive spot. Full disclosure, I'm a RH shooter, lefties may find the action release to be in the way?
I find the additional weight of the barrel, and the really nice recoil pad takes a significant amount of recoil out of the shotgun making follow-up shots nearly effortless. I was struggling with accuracy, but that is just a matter of learning the ghost ring and blade. A "my" problem, rather than the gun or sights.

Shame about chipping your stock...the guys here have told me to either grease or oil the Parkerizing in order to "season" it, something I didn't know and I trust you find the info helpful.

Overall, I'll still be using my Wingmasters, but this Mossberg has a special place in my heart.
 
Painkillers said:
So, I've shot Wingmasters (Remington 870) exclusively for decades. I find them fast, light, easy to point which makes for a great bird gun. Hell, it's a Wingmaster, what's more to say?

One of my Wingmasters is set up with an 18" slug barrel with rifle sights a-la riot gun, and I love it. It possesses all of the attributes above in a very handy size. However, it does knock me around a bit when shooting slugs or heavy buck. 25 shells and you'll know all about it the next day.

I also bought a Mossberg 590A1 Retro a few weeks ago and took it out last weekend, and all I can say is wow! Wow! I haven't shot a Mossberg 12 ga since my Dad's 195K...the bolt action 12 ga, with adjustable choke on the end of the barrel. When my Dad first handed me the thing he says, "never trust a shotgun safety". Well, Dad certainly wasn't talking about the 590A1!?

I found the controls to be an improvement over the 870, I trust the safety on the 590A1 and find the action release to be in a more intuitive spot. Full disclosure, I'm a RH shooter, lefties may find the action release to be in the way?
I find the additional weight of the barrel, and the really nice recoil pad takes a significant amount of recoil out of the shotgun making follow-up shots nearly effortless. I was struggling with accuracy, but that is just a matter of learning the ghost ring and blade. A "my" problem, rather than the gun or sights.

Shame about chipping your stock...the guys here have told me to either grease or oil the Parkerizing in order to "season" it, something I didn't know and I trust you find the info helpful.

Overall, I'll still be using my Wingmasters, but this Mossberg has a special place in my heart.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments, and glad to read the support for the 590. I will definitely look into greasing the Parkerizing. I guess similar to seasoning a cast iron frying pan.

I’ve already accepted the chipped stock. It’s barely noticeable after my repair, and it’s in the least noticeable spot. I used a walnut to help stain the edges, and it looks good now. It was bound to get dinged eventually, so better I’m the one to do it.
 
Congrats on the new shotgun!

I remember being told that a parkerized finish is designed to hold oil (from sand/bead blasting prior to parkerizing?) and form a bit of a protective layer. Makes sense for guns designed for the military/police though in all honesty, I've never really researched it. My experience with parkerized finishes supports this, if wiped down after usage reliably...it can be subjected to a fair amount of neglect before the the metal gets compromised. Anecdotal, I hadn't planned to neglect the gun but was in the middle of nowhere and it went a week of constant use/sweaty hands and came out of it 100% fine.

I've been shooting Remington shotguns close to 38 years and tried a Mossberg pump shotgun for the first time maybe 10 years ago now. Up until that point I perceived the aluminum receivers to be a negative/less robust than a steel one from an 870 for example. Now that I have allot of time behind a Mossberg, I like them at least as much, and find them far nicer to carry long distances due TO that weight reduction.

The 870 might be easier to strip (mostly due to familiarity I guess?) but I actually reach for the Mossberg more. I had a 410ga Mossberg Shockwave in my hands a few weeks ago and spite of having NO need for a gun like that...almost bought it anyway. Still considering it=cool factor is there. :)
 
I ordered the Magpul stock to replace the walnut, primarily because the walnut is too long for my son, and not adjustable. However I have two complaints about the Magpul; 1) the attachment bolt location is poorly designed - the Allen key is tough to fit, chews the stock a bit, and only gets 1/8th turns at best, and 2) the stock presses on the trigger assembly so much that I can’t even remove the pin without loosening the stock to relieve some pressure. I will probably shave some of this area off but not sure if it will affect the fit.

I also ordered the Magpul forend to match, as I didn’t want a black stock and walnut forend. I knew I’d have to remove the heat shield to install the Magpul, but it turns out this is only possible on the model with the bead sight, and not the ghost ring which I have. Mossberg recommends not removing the heat shield on the ghost ring barrel, as it involves deforming the heat shield. Guess I should have researched this a little more first.

Otherwise the Magpul stock and forend seem well made, better than I expected, but they don’t seem to work well for my particular model.

Anyone have any suggestions for fixes or alternatives?
 
I was able to shave off a bit of the Magpul stock where it meets the trigger assembly and it solved the problem. I can now freely remove my trigger.

As for attaching the Magpul stock, I found that using a slightly smaller 6mm Allen key to do the light work and then switching to a 1/4” to tighten it made the job much easier.
 
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