Why do some people think that Mossburg 500 shotguns are crap?

Question

I had someone tell me that I should get a Remington 870 instead of a Mossburg 500 because he said that Mossburg's are pieces of crap. I want to find others opinions on that statement. Thanks!!!

Answer 1

A lack of firearm knowledge, nothing wrong with a Mosburg shotgun.

Answer 2

I have a Mossburg 500 series 20 gauge. It cost two hundred bucks new from Wal-Mart and I love busting it out when my friends with their Remington 870's come around. If you're a good shot then you are a good shot. For the money you can't beat it. The Remington 870 has been around for so long and has such a good name and reputation that MANY people love it. The 870 is a great gun, no other shotgun has outsold it. But that being said, Mossburg is a fine gun in it's own right. But if you can afford it get the 870, more accessories have been made for it than all other shotguns combined. But Mossburg is still a good gun.

Answer 3

Despite what anyone says here,the facts can't be ignored unless done so by choice. Fact..The Remington 870 and 870 Express were developed and manufactured 11 years BEFORE the Mossberg was even conceived. Fact: The Mossberg was a Remington "clone" designed by Mossberg to try and take a market share away from Remington's already established 870 series. Fact: They are both good guns for the price. Fact : The Remington 870 and 870 Express are better made and are of higher quality, but that does not knock Mossberg out of the running as a less expensive alternative. The Maverick 88 being the next in line.The rest is a matter of what you prefer and what you can afford..BOTH will do the job. Nothing else matters......

Answer 4

I have a Mossburg 500 chambered for 20 ga. and I like it just fine. It is a less expensive gun than many out there but it works just fine and I have no complaints in many years of shooting it. It is less expensive so you will not get the fancy walnut stocks of the more expensive guns. Mossburg uses hardwood for their stocks but not necessarily walnut. They save money by using less attractive wood and just staining it to look like walnut. The wood to metal fit is not what you would find on an expensive gun but it is acceptable. Overall, the Remington 870 is a more expensive gun than the Mossburg and may be a little bit better made but the Mossburg is still quite serviceable. Different people have different preferences and saying a Mossburg is a piece of junk is like saying a Ford is a piece of junk. No, it is not a Rolls Royce but it is quite serviceable even without the heated seats and leather interior.

Answer 5

I think, as someone has already said, it is in large part "Ford/Chevy". There are significant cosmetic differences as well, that some folks are going to interpret as differences in quality when that can't truly be logically inferred.

For the record, the US Military and thousands of police departments use each.

I have been a Mossberg, especially Mossberg 500, fan for a long, long time. There was a time - I don't have hard numbers, but I believe it was from the mid 1970's to early 1980's - when Mossberg quality was down from what it had historically been, and from what it is now. "Innovations" like only one bar between the slide and the lockwork, lower grades of wood, even some use of plastics in standard stocks made for several years of truly crap guns... Most of those issues, interestingly, were not with the 500, but with the lower-price Maverick guns - which look just like 500s, but cost less for a variety of reasons. Fortunately, most of those guns haven't survived. The plastic stocks were replaced, the single bar actions were so unreliable that I believe they were eventually replaced by Mossberg for the folks who still had them.

The only thing I've found you can't do with a 500 that you can do with an 870 is extend the magazine, due to how the barrels attach. Every time I've shopped accessories, barrels, etc., 99% of what I see is made for both systems (by someone), and in many cases aftermarket accessories specifically for 870s are more expensive than for 500s.

There's nothing wrong with a Mossberg 500.....

Answer 6

They have never owned a 500. I bought a 500 years ago and it is currently a rust bucket, but it still feeds smooth.

Money is not a issue when I buy guns and my first pick of a shotgun is the mossberg 500.

Dont take my word for it. The 500 is the ONLY shotgun to ever meet military spec. The 500 saltwater series "stainless" is the shotgun of choice for the coast guard.

Its a flawless shotgun, anyone who says different owns a 870 and has never handled a 500

Answer 7

If someone suggests a Remington over a Mossberg, ask him to list the reasons why and see what he has to say? It's not only hilarious to hear them start to sputter, it's pathetic.

I love this quote from the unnamed pos below:

"Fact..The Remington 870 and 870 Express were developed and manufactured BEFORE the Mossberg was even conceived. Fact: The Mossberg was a Remington "clone" designed by Mossberg to try and take a market share away from Remington's already established 870 series. "

The "fact" is that the Remington 870 is the rip off product based directly on the Browning designed Winchester Model 12 and other Browning designs that followed. It was designed and marketed with ONE sole selling point and that was "if you can't afford a Winchester, this Remington is a cheap knockoff alternative". It started its life as a cheaper knockoff in other words.

The Mossberg 500 wasn't based on the Remington, it was based on the same Winchester that the Remington was. It corrected all the flaws that Remington refused to address, namely the safety, the single extractor, the repairability etc.

More recently, the Remington 870 Express was designed and marketed with one more sole selling point...."it's an even cheaper knockoff so it can compete with the Mossberg 500 more evenly".

The Remington started life as a cheaper knockof trying to take market share away from better guns....and it still continues to be even today. It isn't marketed as "the best shotgun there is and we'll always keep it at that"....it's marketed as "the cheapest we can get it until we find something else we can cut costs on".

As to the unnamed poster below, he wouldn't know a "fact" if it walked up and urinated on his leg. What he doesn't plagiarize directly from other posters, he freely makes up on the spot.

Answer 8

As far as what shotgun you should buy i think thats your choice and not someone elses opinion. At my local gunshop they say that both the Remington 870 and the Mossbergs are good sellers. Shooters I guess have their own opinions as to what they want to shoot. I'm sure that new shooters would stick with what their dad shoots.
I bought my Remington 870 12 ga ten years ago and still no malfunctions. For a shotgun that was considered a "Poor Man's Shotgun" it sure worked better than their fancy guns (People that told me that saying).
I have looked at the Mossbergs recently but I'm just more comfortable with the Remington 870. I'm completely sure that there are people that are used to Mossbergs would say that same thing when they looked at a Remington.

Answer 9

because they have never owned a mossburg 500 while the 870 is a very good gun the Mossburg is every bit as good I own the 500 Mariner stainless and leave it in the tool box of my truck that's not the best way to keep a gun because of all the other crap in there to damage the gun but it never fails I pull the trigger it fires. I also own the 835 ulti-mag for turkey my opinion best turkey gun ever

Answer 10

Mossberg's are utility guns, yes,
They don't have the fit and finish of a Remington, no,
And they have those anodized aluminium recievers that are too shiny and don't look like bluing,
And they have plastic trigger guards on the late-model guns...
...But there ain't a damn thing wrong with any of that.
Mossbergs are affordable and reliable.
Their simple construction and utility grade finishes make them ideal hunting guns. Utility guns cannot be "ruined" by a scratched finish... The finish was nothing fancy to begin with.
That anodized reciever cannot rust like an 870's can. And in the 20 years they've made them out of plastic, I've never seen a broken trigger guard.
I HAVE seen these guns make shots that would make any Benelli or Remington owner envious. Shooting is about 20% gun and about 80% skill anyway. Due to local economic conditions, Mossbergs outnumber more expensive guns about two to one in my part of the country, and the deer and the ducks and the geese fear them, and rightly so.
When your stuck-up friend's 870 falls over in the mud some cold morning, Smile, and tell him, "You shoulda bought a MOSSBERG..."

Answer 11

Anyone that says that is ignorant and uninformed. Police departments across the country buy M500's in quantity, as well as the military. They are very serviceable shotguns meant to be utility shotguns. Because they are not fancy, nor is a lot of time spent of finishing for beauty's sake, does not make them a piece of crap. Because a lot of time is not spent making them pretty, they can be sold at very competitive prices, making them attractive to homeowners for protection as well as the military and police departments. All products need to be judged in context. Remington 870 shotguns are indeed fine shotguns, but they also market a very M500 like shotgun, the 870 Express, which is very plain, as well as the fanciest Wingmasters.