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Not a good start for my patriot or my first mossberg customer service experience

joshdosmil

Copper BB
Picked up my patriot today and took it home to give it a good cleaning and new bases, unfortunately when beginning the process one of the screws to the included 2 piece bases striped immediately. I'm not sure if it was just a weak screw, or if it was installed too tight by mossberg or if it was cross threaded from the factory but I was pretty excited to un-box my new firearm at 6:10 and then by 6:14 I was disappointed. I then contacted customer service providing pictures and a description of my dilemma and got a generic response back saying " provide proof of purchase and address and we will send you out a replacement screw" So it seems like they didn't even bother to read past the subject line of my email or look at the provided picture. The issue was a screw in a cheap garbage 2 piece base is stuck in the receiver of my brand new gun and they want to ship me a replacement screw? Again I'm not sure exactly what the problem was because the other 3 screws removed easily and were only "two finger tight".

Anyone else have any similar experience? Or maybe a good customer service story to help restore some confidence?
 
Sorry to hear about your dilemma Josh. I have only one Mossberg and have had no issues with it, knock on wood. Oh, welcome to the forum as well.
 
Thanks, Well I'll update this thread as info is gathered. I wanted to see what Mossberg said before I just extracted the screw myself, the gun itself looks pretty good on the outside but there are a couple things that I hate about it, number 1 is that the front action screw hole is shallow and damages the barrel threads and number 2 is the polymer magwell block, this is just strange to me and I would much rather have a pillar bed rather than the action resting on that plastic block. I would normally bed any rifle I get but because of that plastic insert I don't see how it would be done or even if it was if it would even be effective bedding such a small area. I do like the full recoil attached to the barrel rather than the keyed lug built into the stock like some of the other entry level rifles but I have to say the internals of the patriot have me scratching my head a little having worked on many different rifles in the past including nearly every entry level model from major manufacturers the polymer block and shallow front action thread of the patriot just seem bad to me.
 
I hope all works out. I had excellent results from my Patriot, theres a thread somewhere on here. I did have to contact customer service for a new magazine. It was an easy experience with them, perhaps simply you received a computer response after hours to email. Id surely give the CS number a ring today bet they fix ya up, but sounds like youve got it remedied on your own. I also wasnt excited aboutbthe front action attachment, however i had no issues and shot very well(.243). Good luck keep us posted
 
I ordered a wood stock soon as I got home with mine new. Got it and one screw was to short. Called Mossberg and a new screw was sent out right away. The plastic trigger guard broke where the front guard screw goes in. Called them and a new one was sent right out. The new one broke in the same place. Had a 660 Remington years ago with the plastic trigger guard and it also broke. Bolting down the action through it, I think it needs to be steel. I bought a inch pound torque wrench just for this rifle. Have checked into a steel trigger guard but haven't been able to find one. Even with the broken trigger guard the rifle shoot's great! I don't know if I like the bedding or not. I to have always re-bedded new rifle's but not sure how to do this one. The up side it without bedding and good re-loads this rifle shoot's 1/2" group's @ 100 yds with 70gr SMK's! Hard to ask for much more! Another point to consider is I paid $299 brand new with the plastic stock and did fire it before my wood stock got here. Shot very well with Fed factory ammo, don't recall the bullet weight. I liked it so well I actually bought a second Partiot in 308 just to shoot cast bullet's with. Planning on a Patriot Reserve, that I certainly don't need, next!

I got a Rem mod 7 in 223 when they first came out. Thing wouldn't shoot group's but rather 3" pattern's. Contacted Remington and was told it was withing their spec's and they did nothing. That was a huge disappointment and I am a Remington fan. I didn't try to contact Mossberg through the mail of e-mail, I called them. No complaint with them on customer service. If I were you I'd have removed the screw to look at it before contacting them and then it would have been a phone call. I'm sure there are other thing's that might go wrong like the front guard screw. Mine does the same thing, hit's the threads but then the rifle shoot's very well. what's to complain about?
 
I ended up removing the screw myself instead of sending in the whole gun, threads weren't damaged just an unbelievably soft screw. Took it out, did some barrel break in/ cleanings on the property and hit the 100yd range. It shoots alright but is much pickier with ammo than either of my other 2 creedmoor rifles. I ended up taking it as a backup gun on a hunt in WV, over the week long hunt it was outside a total of maybe 8 hours and barrel nut started to rust. It wasn't in direct precipitation or cased up unless it was in transport and it still started to surface rust. I have had lots of guns including post 07 "Rustington" rifles and never was the onset of rust this rapid. Every deer rifle I have owned has been on at least one of these WV trips since I do them once sometimes twice a year but this was the first that has rusted. Now it was only surface rust and was cleaned up as soon as I unpacked but still that is pretty sad, no wonder they started making a cerakote version of the patriot, people in rainy climates or people that do hunts longer than a couple of days would have to have that it is either that or remove the barreled action for cleaning every day or two which for me is unacceptable in a hunting rifle. The trigger worked okay, but wouldn't safely adjust to the advertised weight, was more than a pound heavier than the advertised lightest weight (2 lbs). All in all not a bad hunting rifle, depending on ammo, I got consistent sub moa groups out of 2 of 5 brands with the Hornady Black 140 gr BTHP being the best ammo and the Sig Elite HT being a not so close second, these two brands were also the longest COAL so I'm thinking anything with a bullet that sits closer to the lands will shoot alright out of this gun. The only other gripe I have about this gun (aside from the durability & heavier than advertised trigger) is the bolt throw, witch isn't terrible as 70 degrees is pretty standard but with a large eye-box scope you can almost make the bolt touch the scope, like a couple sheets of paper from touching. This makes me have to hold the bolt a little unnaturally when cycling rounds so my hand doesn't contact my scope when cycling. Again it works but I haven't had this trouble before this gun/scope. It should be noted that this scope has the largest eye piece of any that I own. For those that are curious the scope is a Vortex Viper HS 6-24x50 on Warne Low Steel Rings.

I only shoot 3 shot groups to simulate a hunting situation, fist shot and two follow ups that you usually won't be lucky enough to get. The barrel is allowed to cool after each 3 shot group so each group of brand ammo gets that first cold bore shot and two follow ups. Both of my test guns (patriot and compass) were shot on the same day using the same targets (1 inch label dots over printed targets), using the same lead sled, same boxes of ammo, and a single shooter (myself).

Best groups from the mossberg were great, this 140 BTHP and the Sig ammo was consistently .75"ish where most other ammo struggled to 1.0" - 1.25" with any consistency.
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The 129 gr SST wasn't terrible, but hovered around 1 inch or a little less the whole time
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Best cheap ammo was the Winchester deer season XP which hovered around an inch, a few groups a little under a few groups a little over, it was a little more consistent than the american whitetail ammo which had a handful of MOA groups
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But this rifle proved a little delicate in the real world hunting field test. It isn't like the whole thing turned to rust but surface rust all the way around the barrel nut and some on the outside of the barrel was very surprising. If you hunt with one of these I suggest you remove it from the stock and get some oil on the under side of this rifle because the bottom of the barrel nut was worse than this. Again, this is with no direct precipitation, just moisture in the air that caused this reaction.
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Picture of the mossberg wearing the Viper next to the TC
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I might do a full write up and comparison with the other cheap 6.5 that I got around the same time (TC Compass) which I actually used as my main rifle on this hunt, I had it out in all conditions with absolutely 0 signs of rust, this rifle also shot every single box of factory ammo MOA or better, this rifle is ugly and the trigger is bad but it flat out shoots not to mention it was only 250 bucks after the rebate came back.

TC Groups Preview: Top Left and Center groups were the Deer Season XP, the Top/Bottom Right groups were the 140 Hornady BTHP, and the Bottom Left group was the TC with Deer Season XP using an older 3-9x40 redfield scope. All groups were under an inch center to center with the two 140 BTHP being 0.33 and 0.35 respectively. This rifle might have had 5 groups out of 20 with all different ammo that were over an inch and not by much over the entire day of shooting.
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And I got some more ammo in to put through these rifles, I'm pretty optimistic about some of these. Got 6.5cm Flavors in 120, 125, 127, 129, 140, & 143 Grain
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Also, if anyone is interested the hunt was a success, if you don't want to see deer pictures stop scrolling now. Nothing huge but its all food anyways.


















Tagged out, First one was the biggest 4 point I've ever seen. (fooled me running a doe, looked pretty nice trotting though the woods)
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Second buck tag was an 8
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Their customer support leaves a lot to be desired.

I own 8 Mossbergs and never had a problem. . Until I bought my 9th.

I bought a Patriot in .338 that won’t hit the broad side of a barn from the inside shooting out.

I went back & forth with customer support via email & phone calls. I eventually sent it in for them to check out only to find out how disappointing their customer service is.

They never told me how many rounds they fired; but eventually they were able to get 3 rounds within 1.5” of each other AT 50 YARDS so they sent it back to me saying it was fine.
 
Generally speaking, a wipe down with an oiled rag stops surface rust. Bad screw. First time it ever happened? Not that uncommon. Customer service all I can say is when I needed it they were right there for me, no complaint. Gun not shooting well for a non handloader? Well you should have been around back in the 70's and tried some of that factory ammo! Accuracy? A rifle shooting factory ammo into around an inch is better than most hunter's can shoot. I would suggest you don't get another Mossberb. But I would!
 
Their customer support leaves a lot to be desired.

I own 8 Mossbergs and never had a problem. . Until I bought my 9th.

I bought a Patriot in .338 that won’t hit the broad side of a barn from the inside shooting out.

I went back & forth with customer support via email & phone calls. I eventually sent it in for them to check out only to find out how disappointing their customer service is.

They never told me how many rounds they fired; but eventually they were able to get 3 rounds within 1.5” of each other AT 50 YARDS so they sent it back to me saying it was fine.
Stinks hearing about customer service issues, my experience with Mossy service has been quite good, But maybe i was just lucky. I personally like the Patriot platform for value level rifle lots of little nice stuff for the money, that said it has someone weaknesses that I believe could be exacerbated by hefty calibers. I have zero clue what issues you or they found yet ?? But the receiver mounting has some noted lets say challenges. I assume you and they have remedied obvious most common things as optic itself rings and mounts of course.
.338 can be challenging in bargain firearms, not to mention she aint cheap to try varied ammo and do extensive firing. I hope you find the answer, my next stop is in the receiver fit and mounting dept.
 
Stinks hearing about customer service issues, my experience with Mossy service has been quite good, But maybe i was just lucky. I personally like the Patriot platform for value level rifle lots of little nice stuff for the money, that said it has someone weaknesses that I believe could be exacerbated by hefty calibers. I have zero clue what issues you or they found yet ?? But the receiver mounting has some noted lets say challenges. I assume you and they have remedied obvious most common things as optic itself rings and mounts of course.
.338 can be challenging in bargain firearms, not to mention she aint cheap to try varied ammo and do extensive firing. I hope you find the answer, my next stop is in the receiver fit and mounting dept.

It’s not the scope/base/rings; I tried a few different of each and so did customer support.

I put a brake on it hoping to change the barrel frequency; but to no avail.

I tried 6 different loads with 4 different bullet weights.

The best it will do is 3.25 MOA.

I never expected it to be a tack driver; I have a few of those. I just bought as a lightweight bear rifle.

I’m considering a different stock and bedding it. . . Any thoughts??

By the way; the brake tamed it quite nicely.
 
Boyds makes patriot La stocks. But I think id have to work on original first, remedy any issues and get it shooting, if it just won't....id be hesitant to spend more $$$$.
An average lookin bargain gun that dont shoot very well is almost tolerable (many old muzzleloaders were 3 to 6 moa and killed well) that said a pretty and expensive gun that's shoots poorly is sad and simply irritating. Just curious , You mentioned bear gun are you in brown/grizz country ??
 
Boyds makes patriot La stocks. But I think id have to work on original first, remedy any issues and get it shooting, if it just won't....id be hesitant to spend more $$$$.
An average lookin bargain gun that dont shoot very well is almost tolerable (many old muzzleloaders were 3 to 6 moa and killed well) that said a pretty and expensive gun that's shoots poorly is sad and simply irritating. Just curious , You mentioned bear gun are you in brown/grizz country ??

No; just black bear. I was fortunate enough to take a 450+ pounder a few years ago, but most of them are much smaller around here.

As far as the stock goes; it doesn’t look like there is much I can do with this cheap synthetic one. I’m having difficulty keeping consistent torque on the action screws as it is, they constantly vibrate loose; even with loctite. I’m sure this is at least part of the reason it scatters them around.

However, you are correct; I’d hate to put money into a stock just to find out it still only shoots 3+ MOA.

You’d think Mossberg could’ve worked this issue out when they had it sent back to them.

I got a good deal on a Howa to replace it; so it’s more of just an annoying challenge now.
 
No; just black bear. I was fortunate enough to take a 450+ pounder a few years ago, but most of them are much smaller around here.

As far as the stock goes; it doesn’t look like there is much I can do with this cheap synthetic one. I’m having difficulty keeping consistent torque on the action screws as it is, they constantly vibrate loose; even with loctite. I’m sure this is at least part of the reason it scatters them around.

However, you are correct; I’d hate to put money into a stock just to find out it still only shoots 3+ MOA.

You’d think Mossberg could’ve worked this issue out when they had it sent back to them.

I got a good deal on a Howa to replace it; so it’s more of just an annoying challenge now.
There ya go, yes youd be suprised what you can do with original actually clean all the receiver contact areas, especially up front that rectangle channel the receiver lug slides down inside , you want to then rough it like dremel grooves in areas of contact you create mechanical bonding points and,surface for Devon flexane 80 putty, then bed as typical done. You can also maybe do some block filling in forarm of,stock maybe even add a length of graphite fishing rod to,stiffen up a bit. Its work but fun work and maybe just maybe it gives ya some help accuracy dept, it wont hurt where your sitting. Anyhow , those are ramblings of a nutty old guy up on hill in the woods..Screenshot_2019-05-23-10-26-24.png
 
In fairness, I'd cut my losses with it and get another gun. I've been down that road with other guns and sink as much money into it as the gun is worth just trying to polish a turd. You just end up with a kinda shiny turd.

I'm not wanting to tarnish your opinion of Mossberg, which I think most of us agree they've made a lot of good stuff, but if it's not working right, even after checking everything that can be checked, then it's probably not going to do any better than it is now no matter what you do to it.

I had a Remington 7400 about 20 years ago now that the cold bore shot was near dead on, but after 2 or 3 shots after that, would walk all the way off the black at 75 yards. Needless to say, I have been there too.

But that doesn't mean you can't still hang out here with us guys no matter what rifle you get. We're gun guys too.

As for the black bear, congratulations. I'm glad you got him. That's a pretty decent size bear even for around here and we're covered up with them. Biggest one I know of locally is a 600 pounder.
 
In fairness, I'd cut my losses with it and get another gun. I've been down that road with other guns and sink as much money into it as the gun is worth just trying to polish a turd. You just end up with a kinda shiny turd.

I'm not wanting to tarnish your opinion of Mossberg, which I think most of us agree they've made a lot of good stuff, but if it's not working right, even after checking everything that can be checked, then it's probably not going to do any better than it is now no matter what you do to it.

I had a Remington 7400 about 20 years ago now that the cold bore shot was near dead on, but after 2 or 3 shots after that, would walk all the way off the black at 75 yards. Needless to say, I have been there too.

But that doesn't mean you can't still hang out here with us guys no matter what rifle you get. We're gun guys too.

As for the black bear, congratulations. I'm glad you got him. That's a pretty decent size bear even for around here and we're covered up with them. Biggest one I know of locally is a 600 pounder.

You’re right about polishing a turd. I’m a little disappointed Mossberg didn’t stick a new barrel on it just for their reputation’s sake.

I remember 25 years ago; I had a similar problem with a Remington 700 in 243. I bought it for my son to use for whitetail but it literally couldn’t hit a pie plate at 100 yards. I sent it back & they couldn’t get it to hit anything either. Their response was pretty much “tough luck” and never did anything for it.

I have replaced this .338 with a Howa; but am still hoping I can get this one to shoot.

My other Mossbergs shoot pretty good for what they are. I don’t buy them expecting them to be tack drivers. I have custom rifles for that; but I’m not sure I could trust this one to hit a bear at 300 yards. . Lol

Thanks for your input.
 
I don't mind giving honest opinions. Even if it might not be what anyone wants to hear.

I don't usually get a shot at much more than 75 yards where I live. I have pushed it out farther a few times, but those are pretty rare shots to say the least.
 
In fairness, I'd cut my losses with it and get another gun. I've been down that road with other guns and sink as much money into it as the gun is worth just trying to polish a turd. You just end up with a kinda shiny turd.

I'm not wanting to tarnish your opinion of Mossberg, which I think most of us agree they've made a lot of good stuff, but if it's not working right, even after checking everything that can be checked, then it's probably not going to do any better than it is now no matter what you do to it.

I had a Remington 7400 about 20 years ago now that the cold bore shot was near dead on, but after 2 or 3 shots after that, would walk all the way off the black at 75 yards. Needless to say, I have been there too.

But that doesn't mean you can't still hang out here with us guys no matter what rifle you get. We're gun guys too.

As for the black bear, congratulations. I'm glad you got him. That's a pretty decent size bear even for around here and we're covered up with them. Biggest one I know of locally is a 600 pounder.
@John A. I am calling a big fat B.s. !!!!! You sir are a turd polishing master, you love a challenge and have zero quit in your DNA, peddle that malarkey elsewhere:oldman:
I say from heart with love and respect
 
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