Why I'm here.

I grew up in a somewhat liberal, extremely pacifist household in the equally liberal Washington state. I had some good friends who introduced me to the errors of my upbringing. Guns (any weapons really) were a forbidden topic in my house, so when I was first introduced to shooting sports I fell in love- kind of a forbidden fruit thing I think. My mother still wonders where she went so wrong.
Because of my upbringing, and my poverty in college, I am not your average gun guy. Most “gun people” buy a gun and it stays in the family, passed on through generations when the owner goes to their heavenly reward. I, on the other hand, go through guns like they were work pants. I get bored, or I look too close, or I shoot them till I don’t like them anymore. Over the past five years I have bought, shot, and sold or traded More than 50 firearms. Along the way I have learned TONS, established opinions, and had a great time. Now some will ask, “Why” ? It all comes down to a deal I made with my incredibly beautiful, and patient wife. When we were first engaged we talked about lots of important things in great detail, and one of those was firearms. She knew I liked guns and enjoyed shooting (though at the time neither of us had any idea how big this would become). She was worried about having hundreds of guns strewn everywhere around the house. We set a four gun limit at any given time. Over the years that deal has been revisited and modified, but the rule made me sell a gun before I could get a new one. It also has led me to play with a ton of platforms and a ton of accessories. This review blog is based on the experience gathered along the way. I have also figured out how to self-fund my gun addiction. In our house “gun money” is a separate entity, though I have on occasion used it to spoil my wife. “Gun money” is money made from a gun sale that is used for buying another gun or ammo. (Gun money also magically accumulates when I let my wife pick our sons names). Guns have become a real investment to mee, they hold their value very well. I have made a lot of additional “gun money” along the way. My addiction started with a $550 initial investment and has grown to around $15,000 in guns, and around $8000 in ammo (though little of that is left) in the course of five years.

» »


The Mossberg 500.  (12 gauge)

My best friend and his family are amazing people, we met in first grade, and have been inseparable ever since. They were avid outdoorsmen and took me camping, fishing, biking, and hiking a lot. We also went shot gun shooting a bit, and at age 19 I got tired of tired of borrowing guns. It was time for me to buy one of my own. So I went to Big 5 sporting goods (it was a small town, and that was the only gun seller for many miles) and got a Mossberg 500 with two interchangeable barrels; an 18.5 inch and a 24 inch, for $206+tax. Aside from almost getting kicked out of the house because of it, she (the shotgun) was perfect in my eyes. we shot her every Saturday morning for three summers. Round count when I inevitably sent her packing was around 9000 shells. I would love to say she ran 100% but she didn’t. I will say 99% of the very few failures were me short stroking the gun (a short stroke is when you don’t pump the gun all the way forward before you pull the trigger when cycling. It will lock up the gun and requires a rod to knock the spent shell out of the chamber.)
The thing that sold me on the Mossberg over the many alternatives was its history and its ease of disassembly, I also liked having two barrels for it, and it was very easy to change them. I had read an article somewhere about cut down Mossberg pump shot guns being used in the Vietnam War, mostly for jungle warfare and usually loaded with buck shot or flachet rounds. I don’t know how they did over there but if a gun was good enough for the military to use in the jungles of Vietnam, during the rainy season, it was good enough for me. Also the price was good, and I gave into peer pressure somewhat.
The gun was great but I eventually sold it when I started shooting 3 gun competitions and its 5+1 capacity was extremely limiting, when most other guys were running 9 shot guns. Also this was one of only two guns I didn’t buy with money from a previous sale.

THE GOOD:
Mossberg makes a great shotgun
I loved having multiple barrels.
I fed mine thousands of shells with few issues
THE BAD:
A pistol grip on a shotgun is a great way to smash yourself in the face, if you try to use the sights to aim, and makes it almost imposable to hit targets if held in such a way as to not hurt. It is a bad idea don’t waste the money.
The mag capacity is a huge limiter on this gun, they make a persuader model that holds more.
Not being able to extend the mag tube sucked.


FINAL THOUGHTS: Pump shotguns are NOT GOOD FOR HOME DEFENCE! In a high stress situation it is way too easy to fumble a reload or short stroke the gun (witch locks it up) and contrary to popular, yet uneducated belief it is very easy to miss with a shotgun. The typical shot spread is one inch per yard most rooms in my house are maybe three yards across. Also recoil can have an effect. If you train enough and work at it sure it can work, but there are far better home defense options available.



Labels:
Next
Newer Post
Previous
This is the last post.