Hello from northern Texas!

so i inherited my grandfather's Mossberg 500A, he used it to turkey hunt. it's an original model 500A from the early 1960's, single action arm, jeweled bolt, fancy wood stock, no serial number, the whole 9 yards. i came here to gain as much info about it as i could, as well as other things. it's in pristine condition, very little character on the wood. the forearm is the horizontal slat type, instead of the checker type forearm. i thought it was a newer model looking at it, it looked so nice. once i took off the aftermarket hunter's tape my grandfather put on it. need to clean up the wood because the original finish is still there and pristine. i WAS going to add aftermarket stock and all that, but seeing what it really is, i didn't want to anymore.

standard about me:

military 7 years, joined when i was 18, Abrams tank crewmember. 35 years old.

Hello and welcome to the forum

that one is very close to mine, but mine has a ribbed barrel. i will get pics soon.

EDIT: this site is going to have to get used to. doesn't give me any indication they are uploaded, lol. also, as in one of the pictures, my barrel has a P in two circles, anyone have any idea what that means? it's not a C-lect choke barrel, it's an Accu-choke barrel. dad never said what my grandpa did to the shotgun, but he must have re-barreled it past 1978 since that's when accu-choke was introduced apparently.

Welcome from the socialist republic of New York. Beautiful shotgun you have there. It’s so nice when heirlooms like that are kept in the family.

If you give us a pic of the writing on the other side of the barrel we might be able to cipher what they mean. It is very possible that is a "newer" barrel--is that an extended choke in the end? Hard to tell from the pic. It is very likely your 500 came with a non-ribbed barrel way back when. I think the ATF started requiring serial numbers after 1968 if that helps to date it.

As the ad old mossy posted shows, to change the choke you would have to change the entire barrel to one with a different restriction. I like how if you bought a 3" magnum barrel they also gave you weights for the stock... Fast forward a couple/few decades, if G-pa could now install a newer barrel with removeable chokes, that would be the way to go. If you looked in G-pa's safe, you might find the original barrel.

I have personally cut down over a half-dozen choked non-rib barrels to "home defense" size over the years. The guns they came from were not anything special or valuable and your gun seems to be one of those. That isn't a BAD thing because it is still 100% valuable as a tool for hunting, shooting or protection. If you wanted to put new stocks/barrel on it to better suit your needs, you could do so without worrying about lowering the value because you can always reinstall the old parts.

Welcome Aboard!

HUGE welcome from north Alabama. I'd love to drink a cup of coffee with you and handle that shotgun, and listen to your stories about it. What a treasure.

the barrel on the other side says the standard MOSSBERG logo, chambered in 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells, 28 inch accu-choke. the Mossberg lettering is the newer kind, rather than the straight down G in that ad, and on the underside of my shotgun. i also haven't seen the replacement barrel for it. probably long gone some long time ago. and no, no serial number anywhere. my grandpa also put hunter's tape all over it, i removed it when i was in my early 20's to the original wood stock. the varnish is still in nice shape. cleaned up with goo gone and old english very nicely.

Welcome aboard from IN, Nice 500!

Welcome to Mossberg Owners from E TN!

Welcome to the forum!

Regards

Welcome to the forum