How to modify a Mossberg

Hi ALL:

Last Saturday I went with some friends who shoot skeets..Last time I did skeet shooting when I was in boy scouths..Any ways, I enjoyed it so much and my score was around 6 out of 10..I was shooting my friends CZ O/U..Now here is my question:

I want to get in this clay shooting again but I don't want to buy a new dedicated shotgun. I have a mooseberg 500 (pump action) with a 20 in barrel and 6+1 ma. The problem is that
1. it has a pistol stock
2. the 20 in barrel is not threaded and doesn't receive chokes

Any recommendations on websites or other refrences on how to modfy the stock and the barrel to change this mooseberg to a decent clay gun. My budget will be around $200..Do I really have to change to a longer barrel or would the 20 in be sufficient.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and tips.

Sounds like you need a barrel and stock. For that money I'd buy another shotgun.
I have a Mossberg 835 that I use for shooting skeet. It's about all I can use it for being it's built as a turkey gun and is way too long for a HD gun.

It's funny because I went looking to change it around and make it into a HD gun but the 835 is next to impossible to find parts for if HD is your goal so I was looking at getting a 500.

I understand you wanting to shoot clays. It sure is a lot of fun!

If you keep an eye on Ebay and Gunbroker, you'll see a lot of cheap stocks to choose from. The price of a new barrel is going to make you want to just buy a new shotgun though. But if you keep looking, you might get lucky.

Around my neck-o-the-woods, I could find 5 different used-but-slightly-beat-up Mossbergs in the used gun racks or pawnshops that would sell for $200 or less. Some would have the screw-in chokes, but most would be the older fixed-choke models.

Shop around, and if you have the money and are truly ready to buy, if you see one marked $250 or less, offer them $200 and see if they bite.

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Originally Posted by jimmy

Hi ALL:...I want to get in this clay shooting again but I don't want to buy a new dedicated shotgun. I have a mooseberg 500 (pump action) with a 20 in barrel and 6+1 ma. The problem is that
1. it has a pistol stock
2. the 20 in barrel is not threaded and doesn't receive chokes

Any recommendations on websites or other refrences on how to modfy the stock and the barrel to change this mooseberg to a decent clay gun. My budget will be around $200..Do I really have to change to a longer barrel or would the 20 in be sufficient.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and tips.

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With a pistol stock and a 20" bbl, looks like you need to get another shotgun. If you decide to do so, I recommend for skeet a 28" modified choke bbl. Get another Mossberg 500 (as long as you're not going to get serious into this skeet thing) and you have interchangeable parts. I've only shot skeet once or twice, but at one time was a serious trap shooter. Lot's of great fun disintegrating those clay birds.:mrgreen:

Thanks to all for the input...After a thorough search on the internet for a butt stock and a barrel, the least expensive price for both was around $170 for the barrel and around $35 for the stock..So I decided to look locally for a used gun.. I checked at the first shop that is close to my work, and to my surprise, the owner had a 28" barrel with 3 chokes that no body was interested in and he wanted to sell it for a discount..I got it for $100..I then ordered the stock online and I just got it today..As I am writing this reply, my mooseberg now has a butt stock and a 28" in barrel with a bead sight and ventilated rib..It looks so cool..Tomorrow Saturday I am going to shoot some clay birds...Here I come..

My strategy is to switch the barrels after I come from the shootout and clean the barrel. By the way, it is so easy to swithch barrels, one mag screw and that's all what it takes.

Great deal on the barrel! :smt023

Sounds like you're ready to rock!

Well..Here is my clay shooting report..I went to the clay shooting club armed with my mooseberg 500 with the new 28" barrel with a modified choke..The club I went to have trap shooting. They offer 25 clay birds in 5 stations (5 clay birds at each station), and the rule is that one is allowed only one shot in the rifle when the shooter is ready to call for a "pull"..So thank god I didn't get over excited and bought a semi auto shotgun because I wouldn't be able to put more than one shot in it..So the mooseberg pump action with the new longer choked barrel was just fine..Now the gun performed really above and beyond expectations..Given my very very limited skills, I got about 10 or 12 clays out of 25..I wasn't focused on counting, the guy who was pulling the clay birds for me told me so. In general I was not aiming at the clays I was point my gun at them as they fly out of the trap..I had a friend with me and he shot a round after me with my gun..We both went for a second round and it was so much fun..It is a different experience but very satisfying..probably i will keep doing this every once in a while, it is very affordable, the ammo costs around $6 for 25 rds and the club charges $4 for a full serviced pull of 25 clays..So basically it is $10 per a round of 25 clays..

After I came in, the 28 in barrel was cleaned and the 20 in barrel was on the gun again for home defense..That mooseberg is really something..I love it how versatile it is.

Sounds great Jimmy!

I started shooting trap with a borrowed 20ga single Ithica getting around 15-20 last year. This year I bought new for $375 a 12ga H&R Excel Auto 5, 28" barrel, using an improved modified choke and get around 17-21 the last three sessions. Ammo makes a big difference as well. I have a rib rail clip-on magnetic green fiber optic tube sight that helps alot. The H&R auto has been flawless but I have to pick up the spent shells now until I install a shell catcher. Enjoy!

Update: 5/21/09 Last few sessions of trap shooting I have been getting 22-23 regularly. This H&R Excel Auto5 has not missed a beat, what a great shotgun!

I smell the beginnings of an addiction... You know they make really nice Italian trap/skeet guns for around $5000-6000...

:smt033

JW