[Mr. Snuffalupagus]

Ok..

so I decided to buy myself a shotgun, picked up a Mossy 590 with the 20" Tube and 8+1 round magazine.

while I was at the shop on a total Impulse I took a look at the Stevens 350 with Ghostring sights they had there. these are a Chinese 95% copy of the Ithaca Model 37 sold by savage/stevens with savage providing the warranty. they are pretty "affordable"
they wanted 250 for it (remember folks I live on an Island - betcha you can find one on the mainland cheaper)

this gun has a 18" barrel, Not bad GR rifle sights, and a 5 +1 capacity Mag.
bottom feed/eject (good for my southpaw wife...)

what caught my attention is it fit my hand and shouldered really well.
it felt really "handy" and the pump action was pretty smooth.
the trigger is pretty heavy - but for a HD type gun, this isn't a bad thing. it's all steel so it weighs as much as my new 590 with 2" more barrel and 4" of extra Mag tube. it has a pretty heavy duty Matte black finish, with black plastic furniture.

anyway - I bought the damn thing with the intention of using it as my Bedroom gun, provided it runs good.

 

[Leadpoison]

everything i read on the 350 when i was researching the different short barrelled shotguns says you need to take it apart & clean it really well, then relube before shooting. lots of jams etc when shooting with the factory packing grease still inside. i was leaning towards the rock island m-5 (mossy 500 copy) or the 590 but ended up trading another shotgun for a 500 with the 20" barrel & 8+1 mag tube. only thing i want to do is shorten the stock a bit. l.o.p. is a tad long for me & i know the mrs. couldn't shoulder it as is.

 

[Mr. Snuffalupagus]

everything i read on the 350 when i was researching the different short barrelled shotguns says you need to take it apart & clean it really well, then relube before shooting. lots of jams etc when shooting with the factory packing grease still inside. i was leaning towards the rock island m-5 (mossy 500 copy) or the 590 but ended up trading another shotgun for a 500 with the 20" barrel & 8+1 mag tube. only thing i want to do is shorten the stock a bit. l.o.p. is a tad long for me & i know the mrs. couldn't shoulder it as is.

You know I agree on the LOP on the Mossbergs - I'm a pretty good sized guy (6'0") and I find my 590 to be a tad long for me too - it doesn't feel as "handy" as I think a shotgun should... I may have to change up the stock as well - kinda didn't want to have to mod it (gun modding becomes an obsession... just look at my Minis )

I had to do a takedown regardless of the factory preservative applied.
you see the envelope of desiccant in the box with the gun split open in transit - and someone racked and pulled the trigger on it in the shop before putting it back in the box for stock I think. ( I bought the one "in the back" - not the floor model on the shelf)

there were crushed silica gel BBs in the trigger group - jamming it up so tight the trigger wouldn't pull. stupid me - I didn't try the trigger on the boxed one in the shop before I signed for.
there is a trick to disassembling this shotgun - since the Manual does not advocate a full take down of it - there are no instructions on how to do it.
the trick is you gotta remove the butt stock first - then you can pull out the slide bar screws and the single take down screw in the receiver. - and slide the trigger group out the back of the receiver. (since I've never stripped an Ithaca 37 I donno if it's the same or not.)

took half a can of brake cleaner to blast all the silica grit out of the trigger group and action. lubed everything back up, re assembled and everything feels slick as snot - I think it'll run well

 

[Leadpoison]

You know I agree on the LOP on the Mossbergs - I'm a pretty good sized guy (6'0") and I find my 590 to be a tad long for me too - it doesn't feel as "handy" as I think a shotgun should... I may have to change up the stock as well - kinda didn't want to have to mod it (gun modding becomes an obsession... just look at my Minis )

I had to do a takedown regardless of the factory preservative applied.
you see the envelope of desiccant in the box with the gun split open in transit - and someone racked and pulled the trigger on it in the shop before putting it back in the box for stock I think. ( I bought the one "in the back" - not the floor model on the shelf)

there were crushed silica gel BBs in the trigger group - jamming it up so tight the trigger wouldn't pull. stupid me - I didn't try the trigger on the boxed one in the shop before I signed for.
there is a trick to disassembling this shotgun - since the Manual does not advocate a full take down of it - there are no instructions on how to do it.
the trick is you gotta remove the butt stock first - then you can pull out the slide bar screws and the single take down screw in the receiver. - and slide the trigger group out the back of the receiver. (since I've never stripped an Ithaca 37 I donno if it's the same or not.)

took half a can of brake cleaner to blast all the silica grit out of the trigger group and action. lubed everything back up, re assembled and everything feels slick as snot - I think it'll run well

i think i'll look around & see if i can find one of the "youth" stocks for the 500. from what i can tell, they are about 1"-1.5" shorter than the standard stock which would be about right for me. only complaint with the current one is when shouldering the weapon quickly, i hang it up under my armpit... that would be an easy changeover without getting into "modding" mode.

 

[Mr. Snuffalupagus]

I decided to say screw it and give into the urge....

I'm going to a Knoxx recoil reducing M4 style stock for the Mossy.

wouldn't mind a heat shield... but I hear it's tough with GR sights to mount one.