At the absolute halfway point between the best of the best and the worse of the best, we casually trip over the Mossberg 500, pump action. Such subtle differences in all these models/manufacturers make this a grueling task because all these guns are excellent.
The Mossberg 500 shares many of the same features and attributes of its cousins from different manufacturers This series has a diverse array of barrel and finish options as well as sighting options, but we will focus on the “all purpose” for this review. Chambered for up to 3” shells in 12 gauge, 20 gauge and .410 bore (.410 uses the 2.5” shells).
What’s interesting about the Mossberg 500 shotgun is the fact that, while many different manufacturers have replaceable barrels available for different kinds of shooting (field, turkey, waterfowl, slug, etc.), very few offer anything remotely similar to the Mossberg “LPA Trigger system”. Standing for “Lightning Pump Action,” this is a user-adjustable poundage adjustment with zero creep before the break. Now this is a rarity in the shotgun world and makes a huge difference in the ball game. As mentioned, the other companies can tell you all they want about which barrel is for what kind of shooting, but not many can stand behind the fact that there is an adjustable trigger to back that up and truly change the style of shooting that you can do with but a twist of a screwdriver – that’s pretty remarkable.
We like the idea of hitting the trap field one day and really yanking on that gun to watch the clays explode and then dial it back a little to a much lighter trigger to pop off that gobbler at twenty yards. Wouldn’t you? This is a great gun and we would look for this to be studied and duplicated in the near future.
Also out of the box is an included gun lock and a ten-year warranty.