Weaponry Mossberg 590 Mariner 20" 8+1 12-Gauge Shotgun (NIB)

[Arnox]

Price and Quantity

1 x $600 (Before taxes, shipping, and FFL transfer fees) (Item on sale for $100 off)

Rating

5.00 star(s)

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(NIB = New In Box)

Spoiler: Specifications

Caliber: 12-Gauge
Chamber Length: 2 3/4" and 3" Shotshells
Capacity: 8+1 2 3/4" Shotshells (May be more or less depending on shell length)
Magazine: Clean-Out Tube Magazine
Barrel Length: 20"
Length of Pull (LoP): 13.87" Non-Adjustable
Barrel Material: Carbon Steel
Barrel Threaded: No
Barrel Rifled: No
Receiver Material: Aluminum
Trigger Guard Material: Synthetic
Trigger Material: Metal
Trigger Pull Weight: ~8.5 Pounds
Extractors: Dual
Overall Finish: Matte Marinecote
Grip: Standard Sporting Stock
Grip Material: Synthetic
Weight: 7.0 Pounds (3.17 Kilograms) Unloaded
Action: Pump
Safety: Top-Mounted
Hand: Ambidextrous
Overall Length: 41"
Front Sights: Removable Brass Bead
Rear Sights: Receiver Drilled and Tapped, No Rear Sights Included
Sling Mount Points: On Magazine Tube Cap and Stock
State Compliance: Compliant with California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington Laws
Extras: Included Pistol Grip Stock
Slamfire Capable: No
Bayonet Lug: No
Action Rails: Dual
Shell Elevator: Skeletonized
Barrel: Standard Non-A1 Variant with Fixed Cylinder Bore
Fore-End: Injection-Molded Corn Cob
Fore-End Material: Synthetic
SKU: 50299
UPC: 015813502993

I've been wanting a shotgun for a long time, and finally, I saw a chance to make my wish come true here. But I didn't want just any shotgun. For my first shotgun, it had to be one of the best you could buy. I think there's two guns everyone should have at a minimum. One is a pump-action shotgun, and the other, a semi-automatic pistol. And those two weapons need to be the most reliable you can get because those two are your absolute backups. What you can rely on in just almost any dangerous scenario imaginable. In fact, the only things that you can't really use a shotgun for is long-range sniping, tanks, APCs, and aircraft. And even with aircraft, it better not be an unarmored helicopter, because if so, someone in the air is about to have a very, very bad time.

Why a pump-action though... ? There's a lot of very affordable semi-auto shotguns on the market, isn't there?

Yes. But they also come with a fair few caveats. For one, reliability. If the shell fits in the barrel and doesn't damage the barrel when firing, then a pump shotgun works. For thousands and thousands and thousands of rounds, it will work. Another thing is that you can easily switch shell types in a hurry. And there's many fun kinds of shotgun shells to pick from. More on that later though. Another thing is state compliance. While everyone's getting their jimmies rustled about anything semi-automatic, and "high capacity" magazines, the humble pump-action shotgun is happily completely ignored and has gone ignored for decades. Which, if you think about it, is actually quite ridiculous considering the sheer devastation a shotgun can bring down vs a standard AR15, but whatever. Gun laws were and are never based on logic in the first place, and I'll take what I can get. Oh, also, fun fact. Shotgun pellets (and slugs through an unrifled barrel I'm sure) cannot be traced by law enforcement.

So, why this pump shotgun in particular then? Let's start with the most obvious thing about it. The finish. This particular 590 is coated in a proprietary finish that is a trade secret of Mossberg. It's designed to completely resist any and all weather conditions including major amounts of salty ocean water. Some say the weapon is nickel-plated, and others say it's just Cerakoted, but I personally think they're both wrong and think the finish it's some kind of mixture. Especially considering how many people I've seen talk about how they've beaten this gun up and tossed it onto boats and trucks, and after years and lots of abuse, it still doesn't show any rust whatsoever. And then there's the fact that Mossberg's Linda Powell just flat out stated in 2021 on this site that Marinecote is separate from Cerakote. This random site in a Mossberg promotion of an older weekly gun special on January 2019 also says the shotgun is coated with a kind of Teflon and nickel blend, but the writers also don't look very professional here, so take that with a grain of sea salt.
While we're discussing the finish though, I should probably add and archive here that a particularly old well-established Mossberg parts reseller, Havlin Sales and Service, also stated this in 2013 for the record.

590 marine cote made since 1988. Your serial number dates to 1989
First finishes were high polished and looked like stainless. By 1992, they had dulled it down to a satin finish, still silver, and today the finish is almost a dull matte gray - the users didn't want the glare off the high polish finish so Mossberg adjusted.

None made with stainless, but that first finish looks that way and confuses many

All this does bring up an interesting question though. Why don't we see more shotguns made of stainless steel? Well, I found this explanation made in 2020 by Heym SR20:

There have been plenty of attempts, including the likes of the Valmet, then Tikka and now Marochi 512 over and under shotgun system. But the problem with stainless is that it is more brittle and stiffer than chrome moly. This is no problem in a rifle barrel where your barrel wall is severall mm thick, but in a shotgun you barrel walls need to be a lot thinner for balance and weight purposes and here it is much more difficult to make a barrel has the toughness and springyness of chrome moly steel and able able to withstand every day use. Also a rifle barrel is usually just a tube that is then threaded to fit the action and it is not a complex structure with lots of bits and pieces added to it.

The way that shotgun barrels are manufactured with ribs etc being joined on also poses a real challenge. Mostly barrels and ribs are soldered / brazed together and you cannot solder / braze stainless very well. The alternatives are either high strength epoxies or welding - both of which have their challenges. I suppose you could machine the barrels from a solid billet of stainless - like the Longthorne Gun, but they have the patent covering this.

For semi Autos / pumps - well here the use alloy / polymers / ceramic coatings and chrome linings to achieve the same result at much less cost.

Alright. Enough about the damn finish. Let's move on. Now, if one knows Mossberg shotguns even just a little, they'll know that they offer a famous 590 model called the 590A1. Has all the features of the 590 plus an all-metal trigger guard and safety. Honestly, I don't think those additions really warrant much attention at all BUT... The A1 variant has one other feature that really sets it apart, and that is the heavy-walled barrel. Specifically, the barrel gradually tapers to a thickness that is basically 1 millimeter thicker than the standard Mossberg 500/590 barrel at the end.

This provides (allegedly) longer barrel life and more impact resistance. My take on this? I think it's overkill and uselessly adds a lot of extra weight to an already weighty firearm. I did a search online through both Google and Brave to see if ANYONE has actually managed to dent a 500/590 barrel. Couldn't find a single case. Not one instance. And may I remind you, the 500/590/590A1 series of shotguns are some of the most popular shotguns ever made with millions sold. Now, I DID find blown-up barrels, but that's something entirely different. Specifically, that's caused by a direct barrel obstruction, and that will blow up any shotgun barrel. So yeah, buy a regular 590, I say, and save yourself the weight and money.

Speaking of weight, this thing really is a massive cunt. Seven pounds. Unloaded. And again, this is the non-A1 variant too. The weight does have two hidden benefits though. For one, it helps with recoil (and with certain shotgun shells, that counts for a lot), and another, it makes the shotgun a surprisingly effective battering weapon. Get someone with the classic butt-stroke here and they're not likely to get up for a while, if ever. Also makes a very convenient makeshift hammer to break windows or smash doors. Honestly, this whole gun just screams destruction in so many of its aspects.

Let's talk about the magazine tube now. A lot of states have a hunting restriction on the magazine capacity of a shotgun and it can only be 2+1 usually. You don't have to worry about this though as you can just unscrew the tube cap and insert an appropriately sized dowel into the magazine tube, You can also get a mini-clip so your shotgun can cycle mini-shells. And what's especially nice about the loading port of Mossberg shotguns is that they don't have that obnoxious plastic spring-loaded loading gate in the way that the Remington 870s do. Nothing to snag your hands on if they're gloved and the shell won't slide back out under the loading gate if the shell isn't fully pressed into the tube.

The safety is a top-side tang safety with good solid actuation, albeit a bit stiff, which is great for a lot of reasons, but I have to say, I think tang safeties like the one on the trigger guard with the Remington 870 shotguns are superior as they're both ambidextrous and you can easily use them with pistol grip style stocks. All the same though, it's a trade-off.

There is perhaps one other problem with this shotgun though and that is the long and kinda stiff stock. It just really doesn't feel good. I honestly don't know why they don't have youth sporting stocks as default instead of these long-ass stocks, but here we are. Oh well. At least it feels pretty damn sturdy. Adds to its effectiveness as a battering ram.

*whew* I think that's everything. If I think of anything else, I'll update the thread. But in summary, this is definitely one of the best shotguns you can buy. You may want to accessorize a little bit with it once you get it, but the foundation is very solid. Also, I love how Mossberg offers a 10-year warranty but Remington offers... No warranty. Yep. No. Warranty. Fuck, Remington. Even after getting acquired so many damn times, you still just suck so much now. What happened to you?