Just about every shooter owns, has owned or will someday own a Mossberg Model 500 shotgun. Like a Winchester Model 94 or a Ruger 10/22, the old Mossy is just one of those guns that endures forever while newer designs come and go. It’s always been a snap to swap Mossberg 500 barrels, and now it’s literally a snap to swap out just about everything else. The Mossberg FLEX 500 is the most modular shotgun system ever made. It’s the Stoner 63 of pump-action shotguns. Is that cool or what? . . .

The Basics

A few months ago, Mossberg sent me a basic FLEX 500 shotgun, then sent me all the pieces and parts you see here. No single shooter would ever need or particularly want all of these modular components, but Mossberg wanted to demonstrate the mind-blowing versatility of their new 500. Whether you want a riot gun, a goose gun or a slug gun, the FLEX has you covered.

The Venerable 500

If you’re not already familiar with the Mossberg Model 500, it’s time to get you acquainted. The venerable ‘Mossy’ is a pump-action shotgun that feeds from a 5-round tubular magazine. Its barrels are easily removed by unscrewing a captive knurled screw from the end of the magazine tube. Unlike the Remington Model 870, the Mossberg’s magazine capacity cannot be increased by installing an extended mag tube without also replacing the barrel.

The alloy receiver is not a stressed component. Instead of locking to the receiver, the bolt of the Mossberg Model 500 uses a single locking lug that cams upwards into a matching hole in the barrel extension. A sliding safety is positioned on the rear hump of the receiver, and a bolt-release button protrudes slightly from the left rear of the trigger guard. The action is operated by twin action bars that prevent the torsion and binding which plagued some earlier pump shotgun designs.

The FLEX 500 is the newest variant of this 52 year-old design. It uses rugged and simple quick-release fittings to swap out buttstocks, fore-ends and recoil pads. This allows the shooter to use a single receiver as the core component for many different shotguns.

In this video, the Mossberg 500 FLEX transforms without tools from a short-barreled tactical shotgun to a ported, long-barrel waterfowl gun with interchangeable choke tubes in just over one minute. And that minute includes about 20 seconds of me fumbling with the fore-end. I’d done it dozens of times before, but I must have gotten camera-shy; apparently I wasn’t ready for my close-up.

Now that I’ve given y’all a refresher course on the Mossberg 500, let’s dive into what’s new about the FLEX 500: the quick-detachable pieces-parts.

Buttstocks/Recoil Pads

Instead of a long screw that runs inside the buttstock (which is so 1961), FLEX 500 buttstocks attach to a sturdy quick-detach stock lug at the rear of the receiver. To detach the stock, make sure the gun is empty and open. Then just pull up the locking pin behind the tang, rotate it 90 degrees, and pull the stock off of the lug. Attaching a new stock is the same process in reverse: put the stock on the lug, rotate the locking pin, and push it down into place. As the videos show, it takes only seconds.

When I saw the FLEX system at the SHOT Show, I dismissed it as a flimsy gimmick that would wobble itself loose if you even looked at it cross-wise. I could not have been more wrong: all four of our Mossberg’s buttstocks fit very snugly, with absolutely no play or wobble, and I sometimes had to give the joint a couple of thumps with my palm to knock it loose. Even after about 300 rounds they’re still as tight as they were the day I picked them up from my FFL months ago.

Straight buttstocks are offered in short, medium and long sizes, and several different sizes of FLEX recoil pads snap into them. Push two buttons at the toe of the buttstock and the recoil pad falls off; slap a new one into place and you’re back in action.

Mixing and matching buttstocks and recoil pads lets you make this gun comfortable for anyone from a petite 5’0″ teenager to a 6’3″ Marine. I’m 6’0″ myself, and I was most comfortable with the longest stock and the thinnest recoil pad.

A collapsible M4-style pistol grip buttstock is also available. It’s solidly built and adjusts from 11″ to 14.25″ length of pull, but I wasn’t impressed by its shooting ergonomics. M4 buttstocks were designed for the straight-line recoil axis of an AR-15 and their geometry doesn’t adapt well to the dropping buttstocks of conventional shotguns. They do work pretty well on shotguns with elevated front and rear sights, but the 500 isn’t one of those.

The M4 buttstock has one ergonomic advantage: your thumb can’t smash you in the nose if you forget to keep it up on the tang safety as shown here. This advantage, sadly, is perfectly counterbalanced by corresponding disadvantages: 1) I couldn’t reach the safety at all without taking my hand from the pistol grip; and 2) the dropping M4-style extension tube repeatedly smashed me in the cheek, sometimes even with light loads. All in all, I’d have to Just Say No to the M4 buttstock on a shotgun like this.

And while you’re at it, say no to the ‘Cruiser’ pistol grip also. As Massad Ayoob sagely notes, stockless shotguns have all the disadvantages of a long gun (bulk, weight, too easy to grapple) and all the disadvantages of a pistol (unstable firing position, low hit probability, useless in hand-to-hand combat) with almost none of the advantages of either. The FLEX Cruiser-grip is very sturdy and not too painful to shoot (with light loads) but the best thing about it is that it’s very easy to replace it with a properly functional buttstock.

Fore-Ends

 

The 500 FLEX can swap fore-ends quicker than Greg Biffle’s NASCAR pit crew can swap tires. Mossberg sells three different fore-end styles. A basic black polymer unit comes with the gun, but you can upgrade to a Realtree Advantage camo pattern for $30 or a railed ‘tactical’ style for $35. Contrary to my initial preference, I strongly recommend the railed fore-end upgrade if your 500 FLEX will see any defensive duty.

I was a huge un-believer in railed fore-ends on pump shotguns, ever since I cheese-gratered my left hand shooting Iain Harrison’s loaner at last year’s Midnight 3-Gun Invitational. Despite this, I really like the FLEX 500 railed fore-end. The polymer rail sections are nicely de-horned so they can’t trash your hand or saw through your gear. Another cool feature is that the sides of the fore-end include recessed Velcro panels for remote pressure switches for lasers or weapon lights. When you’re not using any pressure switches, the Velcro panels have soft rubberized covers that provide a better grip than the plain fore-end.

Barrels

The FLEX 500 uses any standard Mossberg 500 barrel, so your choices are basically endless. Our tester came with an 18.5″ cylinder-bore barrel with a breaching muzzle and a fiber front bead.This barrel grouped well with 2.75″ Royal 00 Buck, delivering slightly better the expected pellet dispersion of one inch per yard of distance. We didn’t test with a wide range of buckshot, since even low-priced buckshot is $.75 a round, and every gun patterns differently anyway. This barrel was also happy with the mixed bag of slugs we fired through it. Even with its fairly crude fiber-optic front bead, we kept all our shots on our 3/4 scale steel silhouette at 60 yards firing offhand.

Our tester also came with a 28″ ported vent-rib barrel with dual beads and interchangeable Accu-Set choke tubes. I brought a few friends to help shoot the Mossberg, and we dusted an entire box of clay pigeons (singles and doubles) from hand throwers. Being able to adjust the length of pull to each shooter was a huge plus; we all shot to the limit of our ability without having to fight the gun.

 

Our FLEX kit came with a rather short two-point sling and the front sling stud unscrews so you can swap it from barrel to barrel. The screw-in stud doesn’t have a captive lock-washer or many extra threads. It’s not inconcievable that it could wiggle loose under recoil or unscrew itself if your sling gets all twisted up. It’s a very minor complaint, but sling studs should be captured in the barrel tightening nut so they can serve as true ‘swivels’ and never get lost.

Ergonomics

Perhaps my fondness is born of long familiarity, but I’ve always found the slide release and safety controls of the Mossberg to be safer and more user-friendly than those of the rival Remington 870. There’s no way your finger can slip onto the trigger and cause an AD while you’re manipulating a Mossberg safety, and you don’t have to displace your strong hand as far to activate the slide release.

When it comes to the fit of this shotgun to the shooter, almost every dimension of this stock can be configured the way you want it except the drop and cast of the stock. The trigger pull is exceptionally smooth and light for a shotgun, and better than most big-box store bolt-action rifles. Mossberg has been building these twin action-bar receivers since my dad was a teenager, and today’s 500s have a very smooth (if not terribly short) pump action.

The FLEX 500 has lightweight polymer furniture, an alloy receiver and a 5-round magazine tube so it’s no heavyweight platform to begin with. This makes it a breeze to carry, but with a short breaching barrel it will punish you with heavy buckshot or slug loads. Recoil was substantially heavier with the 500 than with the 930 Tactical that I recently tested. When we attached the 28″ ribbed barrel, the added mass (and the porting) made recoil a lot more manageable.

Although the FLEX 500’s stock can be configured to fit smaller shooters, this is not the best gun for a small-framed teenager who’s just learning to shoot. Anything but the lightest target loads kick vigorously with the short barrel.

Trigger

Mossberg equips some shotguns with their LPA or ‘Lightning Pump Action’ trigger. Resembling a Savage ‘Accu-Trigger’, the LPA features a skeletonized inner trigger which releases the sear and fires the gun, mounted within a wider outer trigger that is adjustable for pull weight. The turn of a single screw will dial in any trigger pull between 3 pounds and 7 pounds and ours came preset for just four pounds. This might seem awfully light for a utility shotgun, but let me tell you it’s really easy to get used to a short, sweet trigger pull with no grit and only a little overtravel. Even shotguns benefit from good triggers, more than you’d expect.

My only issue with the LPA trigger turns out to be a purely hypothetical one: if you somehow manage to pull the outer trigger without pulling the skeletonized inner trigger, there’s a distinct ‘click’ inside the lockwork and the gun will not fire until you manually press the slide release and work the slide. If it happened in a high-stress situation you would have a jammed gun in your hands, so I don’t like it.

However, this never actually happened through all the 300+ rounds we fired. Total noobs and veteran shooters used the FLEX 500 to shoot clay pigeons and 3-gun stages and pumpkins for many hours over several shooting days. We never had a single problem with the trigger, so I’ll put aside this concern unless or until it becomes an actual problem.

Fit And Finish

It doesn’t have the deep bone-charcoal bluing of a prewar Winchester Model 21 (and what does?) but the FLEX 500 is really well put together for a utility-grade shotgun. Although it shares almost 100% parts commonality with my own 1970s-era Mossberg 500, they don’t even feel like the same model of shotgun in your hands. There’s no shake, rattle or roll in the new action, and the metal finishes are a deep phosphated black instead of a thin blue or anodized finish.

The magazine tube is cemented into place, which will make it a chore if you want to slap a Model 590 barrel and magazine tube onto your 500 FLEX receiver. If this be your plan, Mossberg also sells a FLEX 590 and you should just buy it up-front. If you need to reduce the magazine capacity for waterfowl season, it’s really simple: you just slip a short, thin wooden dowel into the little hole at the end of the mag tube and call it good. The gun comes with just such a dowel, which I immediately removed and promptly lost. Canada geese may taste better than bowling pins and steel targets, but it’s not waterfowl season yet.

The cemented mag tube will complicate your life when the time comes to replace the magazine spring. My experience is that the springs last about five years if you leave a shotgun loaded to one short of its magazine capacity. A lot of Mossberg 500s see double duty as hunting and defensive arms (the Flex is particularly suited for this) and I’ve had to replace the magazine springs of every one of the three pump shotguns I’ve owned. This is a very simple DIY repair job, but that blob of cement would make it a real PITA which would probably need a gunsmith’s attention if you don’t want to screw up the metal finish with acetone.

Reliability

My friends, several of their kids and I shot the ever-lovin’ crap out of this gun. Total round count: over 300 rounds of birdshot, 40 rounds of buckshot and more than a dozen slugs. Total malfunctions: none. I’m happy to keep testing it if you’ll send me more ammo, but I don’t think there’s too much left to prove. This shotgun is battle-proven and battle-ready.

CONCLUSION

The Mossberg 500 is a familiar and proven platform. So why did Mossberg fix something that certainly isn’t broken? Well, it’s not so much a repair as an improvement: the already-versatile 500 is now even more adaptable and versatile than before. If you’ve got a young and growing shooter in your family, being able to quickly switch out buttstocks and recoil pads for a proper fit is by itself worth the slightly higher price of a 500 FLEX compared to a regular Mossberg 500. And if you’re on a budget and your goose gun spends most of the year as your home defense shotgun, the easily-configured buttstocks and fore-ends make a lot of sense for just a little extra money.

I’ve already got a Mossberg 500 and I’ve already got a dedicated defensive shotgun, but the improved fit and finish of this new 500 is so dramatic that I’m strongly considering purchasing one for myself and passing down the old Mossy to a family member. Yeah, I like it.

SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Pump-Action Shotgun, twin action bars.
Caliber: 12-guage, fires 2.75″ and 3″ shells.
Barrel: 18.5″ cylinder-bore with breaching muzzle and fiber-optic front bead (tested), 28″ ported vent-rib barrel with dual brass beads and interchangeable Accu-Set choke tubes. Many other barrels available.
Magazine: Tubular underbarrel magazine, 5+1 round capacity.
Trigger: Lightning Pump Action trigger, adjustable from 3.0 to 7.0 pounds. 4 pounds as tested.
Stock: Polymer stock and fore-end, with numerous configurations and lengths of pull available.
Finish: Matte black phosphate finish.
Weight: 7.5 pounds in hunting configuration. Varies depending on hardware and barrel length.
MSRP: $661 (usually less via Brownells)
Origin: USA
Manufacturer’s Website: http://www.mossberg.com/products/shotguns/mossberg-flex/flex-500-all-purpose

RATINGS (Out Of Five Stars)

Reliability (gun): * * * * * (FLEX system): * * * * *
The Mossberg 500 is already legendary, and ours was no disgrace to its ancestors. No misfeeds, duds, ejection hangups or short-strokes in more than 300 rounds fired. The FLEX system proved to be completely dependable as well. Every component locked in place and stayed there, no matter what we did to it.

Ergonomics * * * * 1/2
The 500 has good user controls to begin with, but the FLEX 500 has big improvements over my old 500. It’s got an awesome trigger, and you can instantly configure the stock to your proper length of pull. You’ll really notice a proper fit in your 3-gun or sporting clays scores.

Aesthetics: * * *
Not much to lust after in a solid utility-grade shotgun, but any gun that works this well looks just fine in my book.

Customize This: * * * * *
Mossberg 500s were already among the most customizable guns on the planet, and now they’re even more so. Anything and everything is adjustable or instantly replaceable.

Overall Rating: * * * * *
Quite possibly One (Pump) Shotgun To Rule Them All. Anyone looking for a multipurpose utility-grade shotgun should look here first.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

49 COMMENTS

  2. I don’t mind having 2 separate weapons to make up for what the flex costs. I loved my 500 but It was never perfect for me.

  4. Wishing there were more suppliers for these nifty add-ons for my Ithaca Model 87 DSPS. Hard to find good tacticool stuff for those in my experience, though I haven’t looked terribly hard either.

    I’ve adhered to owning few guns and using them well rather than a safe full of stuff I never use, and since I already own a 20-gage O/U and a 12-gage pump I’ve considered myself sufficiently armed in the scatter-gun category. But this Mossy might have me changing my tune, the modularity is a huge selling point for me. Same reason why my next handgun purchase will probably be the Sig Sauer P250 2some.

  5. If you’re going for one gun does it all, this might be the answer. Personally I prefer a safe full of tools to chose from. Amongst other guns I have a 500 with the 28 inch vented rib barrel and the 18 and 1/2 inch barrel. That’s all the versatility that particular gun needs.

    I prefer the mossberg safety to the remingtons. And quality seems to be better on mossbergs since remington went to freedom group.

  6. “Just about every shooter owns, has owned or will someday own a Mossberg Model 500 shotgun. ” – Um, I don’t nor will I – thanks tho.

  7. It would be nice to have some barrel options for the 7+1 magazines without having to change magazines.

  8. Just one quibble with the article. The barrel swap is no easier than my Remington 1100. I think most shotguns easily swap barrels. Other than that it’s a cool system.

  9. I like the modular concept from an engineering point of view, but in a practical sense, how much more would it cost to buy a completely separate gun rather than a new stock, new foregrip, new barrel, etc? If the difference isn’t huge, then I would rather have two guns for the price of two than have one and a half guns for the price of one and three quarters.

    • Good point- in retrospect I would have been better off buying a straight 870 express 18.5″ bbl for HD, and something like the newer SPS like this:

      http://www.remington.com/en/products/firearms/shotguns/model-870/model-870-sps-super-mag-turkey-predator.aspx

      But they didnt have them at the time, so it would have taken some fiddling to get close to that. BTW- DONT settle for a cheap Truglo or similar red-dot, even one marketed for shotgun – mine lasted about 10 rounds of magnum at the range before breaking inside.

      I should note its a big hassle to take the 870 apart and reconfigure,
      (and dont forget the magtube plug to stay 3 round total hunting legal…!)

      but if you were doing a lot of hunting on weekends and wanted to be as ready with whatever you practiced HD wise, during week, it could get old.

      • oops no edit function (?) I meant NOT a big hassle to take apart. A screw, the barrel nut, pop the barrell off and new one on, etc.

  10. I have always liked the controls and ergonomics of the Mossberg 500 and 590 series of shotguns. However, the thing that has kept me from buying one as a do-it-all shotgun is the inability to change the magazine length without some smith work. While this package looks pretty awesome, they still haven’t resolved that limited capacity problem. Until then, I will stick with my 870 Express Magnum.

  11. It was a toss up for me between a Rem 870 or a Moss 500. Academy just happened to have a Mossy 500 with railed pump and ATI grip/collapsible stock for a decent price. I came, I saw, I purchased.

  12. While we’ve got all you shotgunners here, what is the point of “drillings” shotguns?

    Does one barrel fire a slug or something?

    • Drillings are actually an answer to the European style of hunting. Usually 2 shotgun barrels and a rifle barrel. In Europe hunts can and are combined. You might be hunting grouse and pig at the same time.

      So, it’s a combo gun.

  13. Great review. Both proven and reliable. Tested both 6-7 years ago and just felt the 870 was a little tighter vs the Mossy felt “rattle-y”. Liked the extra capacity for the 870, too, and at that time you could get a deal with two barrels, although I did not- paid something like $325 or so.

    Friend gave me the Wingmaster barrel, which I still haven’t used but am told works good for ducks and turkey,

    and I bot a rifled barrel with front and rear iron sights, later to try on for deer/pig – good to 100 yds, on target, but not so often to get that close in open western fields here.

    so I am considering to buy a cantilevered rifled barrel for mounting a Nikon Slughunter (DONT buy the saddle mounts- dont seem to hold a good zero for me well and the difference between the mount on receiver and slight movement in the barrell is part of it), for a bit more.

    I read forums where claims that with good ammo like Hornady SST you can reach out to 150 even 175…we’ll have to see.

    Tried the Blackhawk Knoxx recoil reducting stock and just could not get used to keeping face off the cheek weld, and getting slapped by it- and didnt really notice that much difference, but then I am a big guy and dont notice it much anyway (until 3″ magnum slug… then you NOTICE…:) And the bulky-er fore-end didnt add much in grip, just more stuff sticking out… so I went back to the original.

    Concur with the pistol grip caution above- The Knoxx had that built in, but the grip was not much use to me either, but again, I would guess would help with smaller person or smaller hands.

    So, back to straight stock, 18.5″ barrel, bead sight- cant go screw it up and a bit of practice and you can be pretty effective for HD for around the house and yard, and a little bit of practice,

    If I had to shop today I would take a close look at the FLEX, tho. Get more vs all I have added on, for less, and you get a chance to try what works for you, or other family members, for an all-around weapon. Did not realize the Mossy had the bayonet mount- too cool.

  14. the flex only got 3 stars under the aesthetics category for just being a pump action utility shotgun! not much to lust after? i get goosebumps when I’m around pump action shottys. i would give it 5 for looks.

  15. I’ve had an M500 since before it was cool. Seriously, my Maverick 99 by Mossberg was simply the cheapest thing on the market 15 years ago when I bought it.

    It’s still cheap, but it’s a 20″ cylinder bore 8 shot pump 12 gauge that has proved reliable and rugged for a decade and a half.

    The barrel, 8 shot tube and black synthetic furniture were factory for about $200 back in the day. I wanted a ‘tactical’ shot gun for not much money that would replace my worn and ageing Franchi SPAS12, and the 99 fit that bill.

    A couple of years later a friend turned up with an M590 for only about $100 more and I wanted one so bad I could cry. A decade later my cheap M88 still puts shells down range reliably and as accurately as you could expect from such a barrel. The lack of a heat shield, bayonet lug and other largely aesthetic features, so important then, now in no way impair the brutal efficiency of the M88/M500, they only make it lighter.

    Speaking of lighter, it is shockingly light and as a result the recoil with serious loads is prohibitive. The gun was known as the ‘security’ gun, and it shows it’s intent: to be carried much and shot very little.

    Still, an experienced user can focus a 5 second tube dump of 8- 3″ 00 on a torso target with devastating effect, out to the weapons 75 yard effective range. Your teeth will rattle and if you’re sneaking up on 40 like me your neck and back may hurt for a while, but it is still able to assert itself as the queen of the battlefield within it’s range when you’re willing to under go the punishment it dishes out on the ‘friendly end’.

    My copy is pitted on the outside of the barrel, scared and scratched, abused and often maligned. It has spent years in the trunks of cars, silently rusting, but when it’s deployed it still sends shells down range with the same aplomb as it ever did, and the effect is still just as devastating.

    It will never be the 10 shot semi/pump light recoiling SPAS it replaced, but then again, you could have 10 M88s for the price of a SPAS, and you’d never be outgunned.

    • Ya, not to brag, but got to take a tactical shotgun class with some guys with pretty nice tacticool shottys, and found myself getting as fast-as or more-than all but a couple – and mostly younger guys- and I am just a newb OFWG,

      so, when you are practicing drills that involve a lot of manipulation, malfunctions, getting down on a knee, shoot and peel drills, you notice that simpler and lighter starts to make a difference.

      The ex-SEAL instructor listed 4 things in order of priority on shotgun:
      1. accuracy
      2. speed
      3. manipulation (and all the extra stuff can take practice to keep track of…)
      4. tactics

      • ya on the recoil- 4 hours and 200 rds of target load later, and you’re a little dazed. BUT SO MUCH FUN!!!
        Dont ask about the ibuprofin…

  16. My 500 has plastic by the trigger guard on the receiver. I can’t decide if that’s good or bad. Does the FLEX have that?

    • It’s plastic, but it’s not the shiny, soft plastic of 1970s Mossbergs. It’s a super-tough material that you can drive a truck over, just like the trigger guard on a new Ruger 10/.22. It’s not as haptically pleasing as cold metal, but it’s lighter and plenty strong enough for the job.

      If this were a reproduction Winchester Model 12 or Ithaca Featherlight I’d scream my head off about a plastic trigger guard, but this is a modestly-priced utility shotgun. If you really want aluminum, the part costs about $95 from Brownell’s. That’s about the price of an extra barrel, though…

      • Glocks are plastic. People gladly pony up 600 bucks for a Glock. Put a plastic trigger guard on a 200 dollar shotgun and people get picky. Go figure.

  18. Just bought this mossberg and haven’t shot it yet, I like the idea of one gun to doing two different tasks, but only because I’m into prepping. When SHTF I might not be able to carry all my stuff, 500 in one hand and my sicom in another, shiiiiiiit. Have a good day and keep alert!

  20. Many years ago I bought a hum-drum Maverick 88, which is nothing more than a low end Mossy 500. After an 18 1/2″ barrel swap, heat shield, buttstock with pistol grip and attaching a red dot, my cheap custom defense gun still costs less than this FLEX.

  21. My relatives all the time say that I am wasting my time here
    at net, except I know I am getting knowledge
    daily by reading such pleasant articles or reviews.

  22. I see that a major complaint with the Moss 500 is the magazine capacity. Most shooting activities require me to put a plug in the magazine anywhay. Short of the zombie apocalypse, when/where do we need more shells in the tube?

  23. I picked my 500 flex up from academy today. $339 with the 28 inch. I love it. I have been taking it apart and putting it back together all day. When taking the fore grip off the pin that holds the fore grip retainer pin released the spring. If that makes sense… Easy fix

  24. Oh yeah…
    I got my assembly time down to 21 seconds. I could do it faster but don’t want to scratch it up.

  25. I bought a mossberg flex the but stock was lose side to side up and down I brought it back the next day and they exchange it for a regular 500 all purposes. Every other flex 500 they had the but stock was lose o the choke tube I was barely able to get out. Maybe it was old stock the store had and mossberg fixed a problem with the stock on latter models. I still want a flex if I could find out y. I just didn’t want to wait 6 weak for mossberg to fix it.

    • How loose is loose? I got one about a month ago(on sale for $249) and it only wiggles a bit. Depending on how much yours moved, it does look like they’ve fixed the problem.

      • I no they fixed it the one I got was on clearance. I looked at a new one it had no wiggle at all I couldn’t get the stock off the one I had fell off when I pull the stock pen

      • I just got a 500 Flex Turkey/Defense combo. When I first opened it up, the stock didn’t seem to budge at all. After playing with it for a couple days and removing/installing the stock a couple times, the stock seems to have just a bit of wiggle. Reviews I read all said there was no play whatsoever, so I’m a little disappointed…don’t know if it’s a QC issue or it’s meant to feel like this. I haven’t been able to fire the gun yet, I’m concerned it will only get worse. I noticed the included pistol grip has metal on the mating surfaces as opposed to what looks like only plastic on the full stock. The pistol grip does not seem to wiggle as much. I wonder if this is the issue. Mossberg said they used zinc/zinc for the surfaces but I see no zinc on the stock, just painted plastic. Does the attaching end of your stock have metal or is it just plastic?

        I may try to just fabricate some sort of gasket/shim to make it tighter, or maybe a new stock with metal on the spline will fix the problem.

        • Nevermind; just re-examined the stock and there is indeed metal on the mating surface. Maybe teflon tape around the spline could tighten it up.

  26. That’s what we’re right here for, so recover from to the iTunes and obtain it.
    Apple can be providing free consumer guides for the iPhone, the iPad,
    and iOS 5.1 should you did not improve.

  27. Good review. Mossberg 500 Flex is very good shotgun but I don’t agree that your finger can slip from Remingtin 870 safety onto the trigger and cause an accidental discharge. I’ve never heard about something like that!

  28. Bought a Flex 20ga. pistol grip and found that it is so dang easy to maneuver and shoot so many rounds at the range. All the nonsense on the internet that you cannot shoot them well is hog wash with the 20ga. Since then, I have added other options as I went along. A tactical stock, a hunting stock, and slug barrel etc. Man this shotgun rocks. I also added a enhanced larger safety and a larger slide release for fast action as I did not like the small one that came with the gun.
    What is so nice is, if you do not like a particular size stock, or someone else in the family, son perhaps there is no need to buy a full gun. Just get a low cost stock butt.

Comments are closed.