Shotguns in modern military combat

[SCCY Marshal]

I got rid of the stock magazine spring in my 590A1 and replaced it with one of the Brownell's cut-to-length springs and found I couldn't get it to hold eight rounds anymore. Now it's a reliable 7+1 gun.

They aren't really reliable 8+1 guns, anyway. Long-crimped shells might barely fit 8 or "just" 7 in the tube as they come.

[Paul Blackburn]

Maybe Vangcomp or Aridus can make a stronger magazine tube?

[DDTSGM]

Maybe Vangcomp or Aridus can make a stronger magazine tube?

Doubt that there would be enough demand.

We had four or five 500 Mariners, a couple 590's and a 590A1 in our training shotgun stable. The 500's were for poo, 590's were okay. Had to replace mag springs in all of them. These were training shotguns, we did drop/discard transition training with the shotgun, so our shotguns hit the ground more than most shotguns probably do, never had problems with magazine tube integrity that I recall.

[gato naranja]

Surprised to hear the 590 had problems, but I bet some Wolff magazine springs would've fixed that and a Vang Comp stainless magazine follower.

I can tell he likes 870s but I've just had so many QC issues with ones from the past 20 years that I just can't trust them.

They both have had their share of issues. I will go out on a limb and say that out here in the Land o' Laughable Shotguns, there are more late-model Mossbergs with problems than anything simply because a crapload of them get sold to the booboisie.

[TCinVA]

I have had quite a few NIB Mossberg 590 pump guns show up to class with serious issues. One poor soul went hard in the paint on shotguns for home defense when the social unrest kicked up and he came to class with a 930 and a 590. The 930 had to be mortared 3 times in the first 10 rounds and then locked up so hard I couldn't even mortar it.

His 590 made it to about 20 before the action locked up so hard the pump couldn't be manipulated anymore. The stamped steel parts seem like a great idea as long as they are stamped correctly and get properly cleaned up...which, unfortunately, doesn't always seem to be the case.

I have seen relatively few new production 870's show up...obviously, given the timing...but the ones I've seen have been functioning well.

[TCinVA]

Maybe Vangcomp or Aridus can make a stronger magazine tube?

The diameter is set essentially by the threading in the receiver. You could put a more robust magazine tube on the gun, but that would require replacing the forend and associated parts as well. And as already stated, the number of people who even understand that there is a potential issue there is so infinitesimally small as to ensure you'd never make your investment back in sales.

[LHS]

I've seen plenty of issues with both 500/590s and 870s over the years. They seem to go in cycles of OK/bad/OK QC.

Couple years back, I remember seeing someone bring a brand-new (literally first rounds fired) 590 Retro to a shotgun match. Every time he ran the action, it would spit a round out of the loading port onto the ground, and feed another into the chamber.

I can't count how many FG-era 870s I've seen with chambers so rough that they had to be mortared every couple rounds, even with good ammo (they didn't run at all with cheap crap).

Anything that's been in production that long, under so many differing regimes, er, 'leadership teams', is going to have an era of lemons.

[Greg Bell]

I know this is a loaded question, but has anyone seen if the new production 870s are still junk? My 870 is a surplus 870 police that I have SBS'd and it is awesome. I shoot so much cheep crap though it I once jammed the safety up with the plastic powder from the shells. I have a Ben M4 also but I really love my pump actions. Despite owning piles of modern rifles I still keep the 870 handy for GP issues.

[Paul Blackburn]

The diameter is set essentially by the threading in the receiver. You could put a more robust magazine tube on the gun, but that would require replacing the forend and associated parts as well. And as already stated, the number of people who even understand that there is a potential issue there is so infinitesimally small as to ensure you'd never make your investment back in sales.

Maybe just a harder grade of steel tubing?

[LHS]

I know this is a loaded question, but has anyone seen if the new production 870s are still junk? My 870 is a surplus 870 police that I have SBS'd and it is awesome. I shoot so much cheep crap though it I once jammed the safety up with the plastic powder from the shells. I have a Ben M4 also but I really love my pump actions. Despite owning piles of modern rifles I still keep the 870 handy for GP issues.

They seem to be better than most of the FG-era stuff, from the limited number I've seen come through.