From the 24HourCampfire:

Registered: 07/18/05
Posts: 7
Loc: BFE, Kentucky

Anyone have any experience with the 50 cal black powder barrel that screws onto a Mossberg 500? I think its kind of a neat idea and was mulling over springing for one but would like to hear some opinions, if anyone has one of these barrels.


#1647469 - 1 second ago Re: Mossberg 500 BP barrel? [Re: auk1124]
shaman
Campfire Guide
Loc: Neave, KY


I bought one for Mooseboy for his birthday this year. Yesterday I went out for the first time to shoot it. He was supposed to be along, but his Mom came up with VIP tickets to the WEBN Fireworks and he decided to stay with her (That's okay, I traded her for the weekend of ML Season)

"I miss my ex-wife, but my aim is improving."

Anyhow. . .

The ML barrel for the 500 was my first foray into shooting 209 and 777. Sure enough, there was a huge crud ring after the first shot, and I spent the next hour trying to get it out.

. . .well actually I spent the next hour trying to get the bronze brush out of the barrel that got stuck in the crud ring and a good part of the hour was spent eating breakfast and letting some 3-n-1 oil sink in through the touch hole to help get it out.

Y'all are right. It REALLY discolors the bolt face. However, this was a $125 shotgun that got re-purposed. The rest of the year, it'll sit in my Dad's closet wearing a riot barrel. I had originally slated this one for a Krylon makeover as a turkey gun. A discolored bolt face is not one of my worries.

At 100 grains of loose 777 it performed well. I was just checking for function, so I didn't fire it at 100 yard targets. At 25 yards, it was putting them in the same hole. Around here, that is good enough to climb into the treestand. The kick was about the same as my 30-06 bolt gun and the recoil was a lot more like a centerfire rifle than a shotgun or a smokepole. For $100, I was impressed. My guess is Moose will pass this off to Angus and eventually get a traditional caplock. It does make a boy's nice first ML.

As to the profile setting off the warden: From the sound of all the semi-auto muzzleloaders going off around me on Opening Day here in Bracken County, KY, I can assume our Wildlife officer has bigger fish to fry.

I've been shooting a 54 TC Hawken since 1984-- most of that time I was shooting patched roundball. So my vision of this thing is a bit skewed. Since this was my first inline, my first 209, my first. . .

. . . anyhow here are my observations (gripes):

1) The ramrod is a proprietary arrangement. Due to a special fitting, necessary to screw into the thingus that supports it. You'll have to go back to Mossberg to get a new one. It's also plastic. That may be a breakthrough 21st century miracle or just cheap stuff. I'll let you know when it breaks.

2) Additionally, the fitting on the ramrod causes a very tight fit that makes you use a small 270-sized patch when cleaning. I am used to using large shotgun patches on my smokepoles and this honked me off. However, I had old pillow ticking available, and i just kept paring it down until I found the right size.

3) The 209 primer is hard to seat with big fat fingers-- that's probably a near-universal gripe with inlines. I bought Moose a little stick that allows you to precisely place a 209 right in the hole. However, I realized there is no quick reloading on this puppy. This is a modern inline, not the same animal that Daniel Day Lewis was carrying in "Last of the Mohicans." I still think I want to learn to reload my Hawken on the run, but I'm scared I'll kill myself trying. At my age, even running is getting to be problematic.

4)Clean-up of the barrel was about the same as my Hawken-- certainly no worse. Everything on the inside of the Mossy's receiver was cruddy, but about as bad as a full day of dove hunting.


What's my overall impression: for a $100 add-on to an existing Mossy 500, I'd say go for it. This is not for a purist. But then, I'm not a purist. I get to hunt ML two days a year. The rest of the time I'm hunting with a bow or slug gun or centerfire rifle. I doubt Mooseboy will be putting down the M1 Garand for this or any other front-stuffer soon.

I've faced thunderstorms with my TC Hawken and still gotten positive ignition, but I've also had fizzles after a long day of fog and drizzle. Once Moose and Angus have had their turn, it may come back to Dad as his rainy-day barrel.
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