It’s an American staple for home defense and hunting; when you think “shotgun” you’re probably seeing a Mossberg 500 in your mind. Is all the hype overrated? Or is this gun a defining device in shooting history? Let’s take an in-depth look at my review of the Mossberg 500. Most of what I can say for accuracy is that with most shotgun loads, this gun will certainly hit in the area you’re pointing at. Keep in mind that shotgun accuracy is mostly dependent on your ammo type. Slugs will hit where you’re aiming on the dot if you have some decent sights. Buckshot stays in about a basketball-sized cone usually out to around fifteen-to-twenty yards, and birdshot will pepper anything in a five-foot diameter. As far as the Mossberg 500 goes, I haven’t had any issues with pellets or bbs flying way off course. You get exactly what you’re expecting out of this shotgun; easy to aim, easy to hit. The worst sound is hearing a click when you’re expecting a bang, but luckily, this well-crafted firearm doesn’t typically suffer from malfunctions. There is one exception though: user error. The Mossberg 500 was my first shotgun, and I caused it to jam more times than I’d like to admit. I’d say I short stroked the pump about six times since I had it, all within the first month of owning it. For those unfamiliar, a short stroke is when you go to rack the pump and fail to get the full range of motion causing a failure to actuate the mechanisms for loading. This problem is easily remedied by one thing: Practice! Practice! Practice! Being familiar and training with your firearm is as important as drinking water and eating. If you have a good grip on the operation of this weapon, I don’t reckon it’ll fail on you any time soon. I have a single gripe with this firearm. If you have shorter arms, be prepared to be wildly fatigued after holding and operating this shotgun for more than a few minutes.

My girlfriend had to put a lot of effort to even get the pump all the way back up to the front, so she left the range rather disappointed in the experience. I was able to fix this a little bit, I just swapped out the stock for a Magpul shotgun stock, which felt like it took about an inch off the overall length.  [full article]