New 930 SPX Blackwater

[WolfPlayer]

I'll update this post as things progress. First, huge thanks to this forum. I generally do all my own gunsmithing and this forum gave me the basics regarding this particular firearm and it's potential issues.

Brand new the firearm had the following obvious issues ...
1) Front site completely loose and would have fallen out if I hadn't inspected it. After adding some blue locktite to the little bolt and tightening with an .050 Allen wrench, it's all good.
2) Rear site loose at both the attachment point and windage adjusters. Little bit of red locktite to the attachment bolt and just some tightening of the windage adjusters and all good.
3) Dirty everywhere. I did a full disassembly, thorough cleaning, and reassembly with my normal lube preference. Bolt moves a lot nicer now.
4) Piston rings weren't aligned appropriately. I staggered them as indicated here on this board.
5) The shell carrier was bent over to the non-ejection side so much that it was just about touching the receiver and scratching it. I disassembled the trigger assembly, removed the carrier, and slowly bent the connection points by hand to get that carrier aligned more toward the center. Moves GREAT now.
6) My trigger assembly, similar to many others, doesn't fit completely tight in the receiver. You can grab my trigger guard and shake the assembly. Definitely not use to something being that loose ... But, everything seems to function check fine. I did not do the epoxy mod. That said, I'm thinking about it because of the non-smoothness of the safety.
7) Trigger pins not installed according to recommendations. One pin was correct and the other was wrong. Installed pins so that the three grooves in the pin are on the right side (ejection port side) where the clips on the trigger assembly sleeves are.

Everything looks good and I anticipate taking it out tomorrow. One really nice benefit that I wasn't expecting was to get the JM Pro handguard. I was expecting the normal SPX handguard but I definitely have the JM Pro handguard.

If you guys have any other recommendations before actually taking it out and sending some high brass heavy loads through it, please let me know.

 

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

Welcome aboard.

Looks like you've got it covered. We're certainly lookin forward to your range report...

 

[old mossy]

Welcome to the forum from NY.

 

[ocinsomniac]

Brand new the firearm had the following obvious issues ...
1) Front site completely loose and would have fallen out if I hadn't inspected it. After adding some blue locktite to the little bolt and tightening with an .050 Allen wrench, it's all good.
2) Rear site loose at both the attachment point and windage adjusters. Little bit of red locktite to the attachment bolt and just some tightening of the windage adjusters and all good.
3) Dirty everywhere. I did a full disassembly, thorough cleaning, and reassembly with my normal lube preference. Bolt moves a lot nicer now.
4) Piston rings weren't aligned appropriately. I staggered them as indicated here on this board.
7) Trigger pins not installed according to recommendations. One pin was correct and the other was wrong. Installed pins so that the three grooves in the pin are on the right side (ejection port side) where the clips on the trigger assembly sleeves are.

Welcome WolfPlayer - our Blackwaters must have been from the same run, date on my box says "Nov XX, 2013". I had all the same issues you listed above, plus my little split ring inside the gasport became dislodged the first time I disassembled my gun. Went back in with no problem. It's amazing how they let these guns out of the factory with such sloppy final inspection.

My Blackie is now in for warranty service at Maverick Arms. My retaining clip that attaches to the trigger pin came out with the pin itself........found the pin but couldn't find the retaining clip. Mossberg CS would not send me a replacement retaining clip, said I had to send the unit in. They do not want us messing with the trigger assembly, even for a simple procedure as fastening an external clip to a pin. Told them I'd also like to have them fix my sloppy front XS sight. Even after I tightened the set screw all the way and Loctited it, it still had some lateral play - seemed like the dovetail slot was a little too wide.

You're gonna love shooting it - break it in good with some heavy loads like 00 or slugs, keep the gas piston and mag tube clean, and you shouldn't have any problem having her digest the lighter/birdshot loads. Can't wait to get mine back and on to the range.

BOL with your new Blackie, you'll find some useful info on this forum

OC

 

[WolfPlayer]

Range report: I'm lucky enough to shoot on private property so I was able to shoot so many types of loads through it. 3" Slugs, 2-3/4 00 buck, 3" 00 Buck, 2-3/4" 4 shot, 3" 4 shot, and a whole bunch of Federal Valu-Pack 8-shot. I sent about 150 rounds total through it. It ran really well. I only had the following issues:

1) Sometimes the 3" shells didn't want to go into the magazine tube. If I didn't have the angle perfect then they would get hung up / jammed with about 3/4" more to go ... Brass casing edge tight on the elevator with most of the shell in the magazine. Seems like it did this when I had the angle too steep on the insertion of the shell.
2) I had two occasions where I pulled the trigger and nothing happened. It was a fresh shell. I reloaded it and it shot fine. This only happened on a rapid fire drill.
3) Even though I loc-tited both the front and rear sites BOTH came loose. Grrrr.

I did a full cleaning afterwards and man do the piston rings and mag tube get super dirty. The carbon was so caked on the mag tube that I had to use a scraper (gently) to get it off. Reminded me of cleaning an AR15 bolt.

Overall, I'm happy with it. That said, if I could do it all over again I would buy a JM Pro. I think the JM Pro would be more versatile. I can't shoot clays with this thing because the rear XS sight is just too much to track the birds. Granted, I didn't buy this to shoot clays, lol. But, there is something to be said about something that is more versatile. Also, given the angle placed on the trigger finger by using the pistol grip, the trigger finger rides on the bottom of the trigger guard enough such that after 150 rounds I was leaking blood on to the trigger guard.

So, where does that leave me? Pretty sure that I am going to purchase another barrel for this and a different rail for the top. Why a different rail? I think the stock SPX rail and site are a better choice for a versatile firearm. With the stock SPX (non-Blackwater) rail you could remove the site from the picatinny rail and lay the barrel's bead or fiber site down the middle. To convert back to a fighting shotgun simply swap barrels and put the site back on the rail. The Blackwater XS sites is nice ... But it's essentially part of the rail. The rear sight's bolt actually holds the rear of the rail down and you really have to loctite that lot if you don't want it to come loose while shooting.

 

[WolfPlayer]

Well, it's been almost a year and I decided not to buy another barrel. Instead, I bought a JM Pro (in addition to the Blackwater). Out of the box, I did a full detail cleaning like I did with the SPX. It had a lot of the same issues. The biggest issue was the bolt carrier assembly (BCA) where one of the rails was literally like a file. I sent an email to Joe at Maverick Arms and he totally took care of me. He went above and beyond the call of duty. I ended up with a replacement bolt carrier assembly and a new piston (I wanted to buy a replacement piston for my range bag but was rewarded with one alongside my replacement BCA for my troubles). The trigger stop was also not adjusted at all. I adjusted the trigger stop appropriately and wow what a difference compared to the SPX.

On my private range the gun ran perfect ... Except that it could only load 5 rounds in the mag tube. I thought that this would be related to the follower getting hung up on the Nordic extended tube where it meets the stock tube but that interface was perfect. Long story short: it was the stock spring. The stock spring had enough of a kink in it in the middle that the spring twisted and bound up when putting the extended tube on. I did some research and ordered up a couple of Wolff springs. I ordered the 8+1 Mossberg 590 spring (17905) and a Wolff XP 45" spring (65167). There are a few posts on the net with guys using the 590 spring with success. It seems to fit and feed rounds fine. If you want to buy something to drop in then this spring might do it for you. That said, I don't like it because it has very tapered ends that are small enough that you can see the spring through the hole in the Nordic end cap. the tapered end actually kinda sits partially in the hole. The 65167 generic spring is the answer. I cut off 9" exactly. With the 65167 spring in this configuration it would feed everything that I threw at it as fast as I could pull the trigger. I used everything from 1600fps slugs to regular cheap birdshot. I'll probably order a couple more of these springs and try taking off even less just to see how the shotgun handles higher mag tube spring pressures.

When I replaced the spring I also put on a cheap UTC picatinny rail made for the Mossberg 500 that I purchased through Amazon for less than $10. This rail is a perfect fit. The only "issue" is that the 930 needs shorter bolts for the front two positions. This is easily fixed by simply slowly taking a little off the bolts with a bench grinder until you get the length appropriate. They give you 6 bolts in the package so if you make a mistake you have spare bolts. For $10, this can't be beat. Given that I am going to take this deer hunting, I put a cheap Bushnell TRS-25 on top and sighted it in. Was pulling 1" groups at 25 yards without even trying.

The Blackwater is still running good too. I actually tried to put the Wolff 17905 spring in the Blackwater but it didn't work that well. It would cause the follower to get hung up on the Choate extension tube for one reason or another. I'll probably buy a generic Wolff spring and cut it down appropriately. I like using the Wolff springs because they are shorter than the stock springs and therefore aid in assembly.

I know that a lot of people have issues with the 930 but both of mine are running great. Part of it is the luck of the draw but part of it is also taking the time to clean it appropriately, inspect it, and fix what you find wrong.