Back together..cleaned and lubed per MIL-3443-G..it really wasn't THAT dirty..but I used bore solvent and a brush and scrubbed the hell out of it..gave cartridge stop a lil tweak..(really probably didn't do much) it does seem to fit better in the track..I DID find a plastic shaving on the table when I was cleaning it..maybe from the fore-end though.. the only shot I got after field stripping..stop bar didn't seem that out of whack..but gave it a lil bend to see..
Call me crazy..but I have the urge to practice breaking it down and reassembling in the dark.. (only slightly kidding..this is my first Mossberg, and once I studied it well, it went back together fairly easily.) My service shotguns I used on watch were all checked out of the armory, and thus were maintained by the Gunner's Mates, I didn't get to mess with them except carry on watch. Though I can say the Gunner's mates were a proud bunch, and you
knew your .45 and M-12 or M-500 were very well loved.
So, a plastic shot cup/wad..is that what is causing my barrel fouling? I do usually shoot 100 or so 00 buck at the range when I go..so maybe the plastic is melting against barrel from being heated up? What might work best for that? I've heard of putting cleaning rod on a drill..what's best..I only had Hoppe's #9 solvent..maybe not aggressive enough?
Won't be able to hit the range to live fire test for a couple of days..but even if it's getting hot enough to melt the plastic, the ventilated hand guard works VERY well if you flip it on its back to reload fast..or when dumping a mag tube's worth..even after a couple of 25 rd boxes, hand guard is like a cup of old coffee..