Re: I'll show you mine if you show me yours!
Rossignol said:
Again, I agree. My long time understanding has always been that with the 590 barrel and mag tube, it was a 590. Those are the most and easiest distinguishing features at a glance.
Not exactly. I've posted this in one of the other 500/590/590A1 threads, but it can be hard to tie OFM down on some models.
In general, yes the mag tube cleanout tends to be a 590. HOWEVER, there are many variations of the 500 that are roll marked 500, contracted as a 500, and called a 500 that will have the mag tube cleanout assembly. To further complicate things, they will have a heavy barrel and metal trigger guard. The .mil and the factory still call them 500s though. Some will have odd barrel lengths like 17" and some will have other odd features.
Some of the shotguns like the Tactical Cruisers will be called 500s, but they will have the mag tube cleanout. The recievers are rollmarked "500."
All of this said, OFM has put out more than few shotguns that as near as I can tell were oddballs. I don't know if it was leftover parts, surplus of one receiver being used for another, limited special runs for distributors, or whatever. The engraved flag shotgun is likely one of those. OFM will also release .mil contract overruns from time to time, and those will have whatever features the requestor wanted, but may be called something different than what you would think it would be.
The best way to tell is to see if it has 590 or 590A1 on the left side of the receiver and if it says 500 or 590 forward of the loading port.