|
Shotgun Chronicles Part II
From point and shoot to aimed fire
By Joe D'Alessandro
|
|
|
|
Summer is winding down and the temperature in our part of the woods is dropping rapidly. November and deer season are not far off, so I am trying to finish prepping the Mossberg and give myself a little range time with the finished product. Part I concluded with the Mossberg Ulti-Mag 835 sporting a 24" rifles slug barrel with adjustable sights and an extended magazine that added three rounds of magazine capacity. It's overall length was reduced to 44¼" with weight held at 7½ lbs. In the world of lever action carbines, that is probably a tad long and heavy, but in the world of magnum length action shotguns, it is almost tiny.
Tack driver, not tacky driver...
The Mossberg's synthetic stock no doubt contributed to the modest cost of the firearm. However, the molded in tab for a swivel mount is fragile, cheese grater sharp checkering is rough on the hands and the shallow radius sweep of the pistol grip makes for shotgun point and shoot but provided little hand support for aimed fire. Fortunately, There are lots of inexpensive aftermarket solutions to improve the stock situation.
|
 |
|
The long and short of replacement stock selection...
A little caution needs to be exercised in selecting replacement products. For the most part, butt stocks that fit the popular Model 500 will fit the Model 835. This interchangeability does not carry through to the forearm. The Model 835 is a magnum gun and has a longer length action and Mossberg 500 series and it utilizes two different action slide tube lengths. Early guns have a 7¾" tube, newer guns a 6¾" tube. Subsequently, replacement stocks made for this gun may include, or require the purchase of, a special action tube nut to adapt the forend to the shorter action slide tube. The easiest thing to do is pull the barrel, a five minute task, and measure the as shown below. With the action tube nut in place the assembly may measure a bit longer than 6¾", but not by much.
|
 |
| My gun has a short action slide tube, so the selection was Brownells #408-000-059, $69.95, Hogue Overmolded Model 500/835 stock and forend and #408-000-069, $9.99 forend adapter nut. Stock enhancements over the factory stock are a slightly higher comb, a good resilient recoil pad, a tighter pistol grip radius and a stippled soft overmolded treatment at the grip area. A steel sling swivel stud replaces the molded in mount. The forearm is overmolded with a little bit more of a rounded cross section and the stippling is comfortable in use. So the improvements are both functional and aesthetic... and inexpensive. |
 |
|
While we are here - double check the gun, magazine and chamber, to ensure it is empty before handling a firearm. To some degree, disassembly and assembly are covered by the Mossberg Owner's Manual, pages 7 - 10 however, the manual is a little minimal on text and illustration.
When is it a forend and when is it a forearm?
|
 |
The photo detail and parts ID are inserted for reference. Sometimes it helps to know where parts were before gravity rearranged them. In any event, our forend story unfolds with the gun's slide pulled all the way back, then advanced forward until the bolt face is about halfway forward in the ejection port. Then the magazine cap and barrel are removed. |
 |
The safety is left in the on position during this process so it will not physically interfere with disassembly/assembly of the elevator. The butt stock was removed while working on the forend installation to make the gun easier to handle on the bench and to prevent the overmolded stock from grabbing the aft edge of the trigger assembly and preventing its removal. Ask me how I know... |
| With the gun laying belly up on the bench to keep parts from falling out of place during disassembly, a light tap with a 3/16" punch is all that is required to remove the single pin that retains the trigger assembly in the receiver, see arrow. The released trigger assembly is rotated aft end first out of position for removal. |
 |
| In a gun with more than a few miles on its odometer, there is a tendency for these parts to fall out of their respective channels when the trigger assembly is removed. There is only one way for them to go back in. The interrupter is pinned to the receiver and only the right side of the receiver (receiver right side up) has a pin hole and the end hooks curve in on both. If they didn't fall out on their own, now would be a good time to remove them. |
 |
| The slide is moved, about three quarters stroke, until the bolt slide tabs line up in the cutouts in the side of the receiver. The bolt slide lifts straight up and out with virtually no resistance. The elevator is raised slightly, then the bolt is then pushed forward and out of the barrel opening of the receiver. |
 |
| The front of the elevator... Gees, I am old enough to remember when they had elevator operators in department stores. Gees, I'm old enough to remember department stores. Where was I? Oh yeah. The front of the elevator is raised and the elevator legs are pinched together to pull its locating pins out of the sides of the receiver. If the safety had been left in the "Off" position it will get in the way and make clearing the pins difficult. With the elevator out of the way, the forend is freed and can be pulled forward and out of the receiver. |
 |
| This gets us to a gutted receiver, more or less, and the new slide with adapter ready to be installed. Reassembly is just the reverse sequence of disassembly with no particular problem spots to deal with. Patience helps a lot. As an example, when inserting the new slide assembly, the arms on the action slide tube assembly will want to wander off in different directions. Then when you begin to feed the arms into the receiver, the right side will bump first in the receiver channel and it will have to be guided. As soon as the arms move another quarter inch, the left side will be the hang up. A little finger pressure and patience, the reassembly task will be easy... except for this - |
 |
The original action slide tube assembly needs to be carried over to the new forend. The original action tube nut, near right, is replaced with the Hogue adapter nut. Unfortunately, the action tube nut is recessed into the front of the forend, hanging on to the action tube for dear life.
Brownells carries a forend wrench 080-777-004, $50.99 for Mossberg 12 gauge applications. Unfortunately, because shotgun projects are rare, and because I am always looking to find excuses to fabricate parts and tools on the shop equipment, I decided I would make my own wrench.
|
 |
|
In a pinch, I am not adverse to making tools from other tools, as long as they are very inexpensive tools. In this case, a discount store three dollar combination square was the organ donor. I laid the rule across the action tube nut, marked the span, plus enough relief to clear the surrounding forend material, then milled out a notch. Yes, I could have used a hacksaw and file, but it wouldn't have been as much fun. The tempered scale was left full length as the excess extension made for a nifty handle with lots of mechanical advantage, and I was able to put the rule back into the square and place both back on active duty.
Butt stock or but, stock?
A large common screw driver can be used to pull the stock bolt, but if it is stubborn, a ratchet wrench, extension bar and 1/2" shallow socket makes removal an easy task. The white plastic insert, bottom right, needs to be carried over to the new stock - it holds the shape of the stock so it won't compress inward under the recoil pad. The factory bolt passes through a thick steel washer and a lock washer.
|
 |
| As Mossberg has used a couple of different length bolts. The new stock comes with a thin washer that can be substituted for the thick washer if enough thread doesn't protrude. The stock bolt should be tightened, but not to the extent it interfere with trigger assembly removal. Ask me how I know that happens. |
 |
|
The finished product should end up looking a bit like the installed stock above; great nonslip grip surface and much better radius for aimed fire. Then there is the higher comb for a more natural sighting position and an improved, resilient recoil pad and a real swivel stud.
Conclusion
After getting the gun back together I spent a little time at the range with some 3" 1 oz. and 1 3/8 oz. slug loads. The new stock geometry and recoil pad did a much better job of recoil management than the original stock that seemed to dampen little. It was also a lot easier on the hands and it upgraded the appearance of the Mossberg.
|
 |
| The stock took the gun one step closer to where it needed to be for hunting season, leaving just a few more things to wrap. The extended magazine could use better support. There is just something about that much of a free floating projection, cantilever design or not. A good shoot and carry sling is a necessity and the current receiver scope mount has outlived its usefulness. A faster sighting system for hunting some very densely wooded area may be essential. Last and final leg of the project. Next time. |