Mossberg 500 Shotgun Home Defense Setup

I've had this Mossberg 500 Mariner 12 gauge shotgun for close to 20 years. It's pretty much a dedicated home defense gun, although I did use it in one or two action matches over 10 years ago. Recently, I've done a few mods to make it more useful for me.

Closeup of the fiber optic front sight and left side of the accessory rail, which is symmetrical:

Closeup of the tail switch of the Inforce weapon light, with the lockout flipped up to prevent accidental activation:

HPG stock cuff:

When choosing these modifications, I kept Greg Ellifritz's comments in these posts in mind:

• https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/shotguns-for-home-protection
• https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/home-defense-shotgun-questions-answered

So, after a couple different configurations over the years, I think I've settled on my final set up:

• Magpul SGA stock, set to my length of pull using spacers. Five extra rounds are kept in a Hill People Gear stock cuff. I also added a QD sling swivel stud to the stock.
• A Hi Viz clamp on fiber optic front sight, which much more visible and taller than the factory bead. This corrected the high point of impact with the factory bead.
• Defender Tactical Mini-Pro Lifer and Cartridge Arrestor System, so I can shoot 1.75" mini shells.
• CVLIFE 1.25" quickly adjustable rifle sling.
• CDM Gear ROC-12 accessory rail.
• Inforce WML 400 lumen weapon light mounted so I can activate it using my right thumb (I'm left handed).

I've been wanting to try out 1.75" mini shells due to their reduced recoil and because you can load more in the tube magazine. Mossberg shotguns are easily modified to run with the mini shells with adapters from either Op Sol or Defender Tactical.

Even if I keep the gun loaded with Federal 2.75" 00 Flitecontrol for now, the mini shell adaptor gives me the ability to use reduced recoil loads when I'm older. With 2.75" shells the Mossberg's capacity is 6 +1, but with mini shells it's 9 + 1.

Since I no longer have any small children in the house, the gun is kept in a closet "cruiser ready," i.e., full magazine, empty chamber, bolt locked forward.

Set up this way, the Mossberg will handle any home defense situation I can reasonably think of in my suburban location.

New Stock for my Mossberg 500

Like millions of other Americans, I keep a 12 gauge shotgun for home defense. In my case, it's a Mossberg 500 Mariner. It's basically a regular 18.5" barreled Mossberg 500 but with an electroless nickel finish on the metal and it came with black plastic furniture.

Several years ago I replaced the too-long factory stock with a Hogue youth-sized stock, giving it a 12" length of pull. Even though I'm only about 5'5" tall that was too short to shoot comfortably, so I added a Kick-Eze slip-on recoil pad to add another inch or so. That wasn't ideal because it just didn't feel solid.

So, last week I replaced the Hogue with a Magpul SGA, which is adjustable via adding or removing spacers. I set it up for a 13.5" LOP.

The pistol grip section is more vertical than either the factory or Hogue stock, but it's comfortable for me. I was initially concerned that the comb was a bit too high but after shooting the gun with the new stock, it's not.

Last weekend I was camping on private property where I had the chance to shoot it with a couple different loads. First were a few Herter's buck and ball (a single .650 ball plus six No.1 buckshot) from Cabela's. Second were some Remington 00 buck that I bought years ago at Walmart.

Both were high-brass 1300 FPS 2.75" loads, and of course they kick quite a bit. The Magpul's recoil pad made them bearable for a few rounds.

At home, the Mossberg is kept ready with Federal reduced recoil 00 buck featuring Flite Control wads. They are a lot more pleasant to shoot and will be plenty effective in the unfortunate event I ever need to use it.

No doubt someone reading this will wonder why I'm using a shotgun for home defense in 2022 instead of a pistol caliber carbine or an AR-15. Shotguns remain highly effective defensive arms to this day. Greg Ellefretz has a recent post that mirrors my thoughts on the matter.

You'll note from the picture that my shotgun lacks a light, red dot, laser, sling, or curb feelers. IMO, home defense shotguns should be kept as slick as possible. It's been awhile but I've shot in multigun matches and my shotgun with a simple bead was always at least as fast as guns with ghost rings or optics. (Read Ellefretz's article on why I don't have a sling or light on it. I might add a light, but in the house a sling has too much potential for getting caught on something, IMO.)

Yes, it kicks a lot and doesn't carry a lot of ammo. But the Mossberg is light, handy, reliable, fast on target, and the terminal ballistics are basically unmatched at the range I would need it at.  I live in white bread suburbia, not a war zone.

As Ellefretz notes, it's extremely uncommon for someone defending his home with a shotgun to need to reload in a fight. That said, I had an elastic butt cuff with 5 spare rounds on it on the stock. I am replacing that with an Esstac 4-round card. That will allow me to grab the shotgun have nine rounds of GTFO in/on the gun.

One thing I found interesting during the early days of the pandemic was that aside from all the military-style rifles and handguns that sold out, so did fighting shotguns. Americans get combat shotguns more than most other people.

As an aside, when I got the Mossberg I sometimes ran into sticky extraction. I did some online searching and found that I wasn't the only Mossberg Mariner owner to experience this. I resolved the issue by polishing the chamber with some Flitz metal polish on a cleaning patch wrapped around a 12 gauge bore brush, chucked in an electric drill. Since then the function has been flawless.

Edit 3/25/22:

After some more consideration and seeing how it felt, I removed one of the stock spacers, so LOP is now at 13". This enables me to more easily tuck it into my shoulder and will also be helpful if I need to use it while wearing more than a T-shirt.

Mossberg 500 Super Bantam Shotgun

My 13 year old daughter wants to come hunting with me this year and needed a suitable shotgun. Today, we went to the local Dick's Sporting Goods and picked up this 20 gauge Mossberg 500 Super Bantam for ~$325 + PA's 6% sales tax.

I actually had her try out the Mossberg 510 youth model in .410 bore but she's already outgrown it. That's good because the 20 gauge will throw significantly more shot and 20 gauge slugs are adequate for deer.

Both the stock and forearm are synthetic. The stock is currently setup with a 12" length of pull but it included a spacer to increase it to 13". If she needs a longer LOP it will accept adult-sized stocks. The stock has a good, thick recoil pad on it.

The 22" barrel is threaded for choke tubes. It came with the modified tube in place. Using the included wrench, I swapped that out for improved cylinder. It also comes with a full choke tube. The barrel is topped with a white bead up front and a brass middle bead.

At 5.25 lbs. unloaded it won't be hard for her to carry afield. Heck, that weighs less than her school bag on most days. The stock has a place to attach a sling swivel but the gun didn't come with a stud for the front. So, I found one on eBay and it should hopefully be here by the end of the week. It will thread into an existing hole on the barrel mounting screw. I also ordered an inexpensive sling with swivels and an Outers cleaning kit.

The magazine came plugged so that the only way to load it was singly through the ejection port. The manual states that once your new shooter learns gun safety you can shorten the plug (a dowel) to 9", to allow up to two shells in the magazine. I did so, since my kid is not new to shooting. (Frankly, if they aren't safe to handle a manually operated gun with 3 shells in it, they aren't safe to handle a single shot.)

The unplugged magazine capacity is six 2-3/4" shells. I have some Federal 20 gauge #3 buckshot with which I'll pattern it. It would make a nice home defense shotgun.

Aside from hunting, this will be a good shotgun to introduce my daughter to trap and sporting clays.

Of note, Mossberg has a similar gun in their economy-oriented Maverick line. However, spending more money on the 500 was worth it to us because the Maverick uses a right-handed cross-bolt safety instead of the Mossberg's ambidextrous tang safety. I'm a lefty and my kid is left-eye dominant, and hence shoots portside.

I'll post a follow up after we get the chance to shoot it.