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Why does Mossberg get no respect?

I have strong opinions about certain companies. Some positive. Some negative. But all deserved from my experience.

I had a Rem 7400 in 30-06. Pretty good gun really. But carry it through the woods with sweaty hands and look in the safe a week later, and you'll see a brown rusty receiver where your handprint was.

That's not bashing, but it happened to me.

Bill Ruger helped the klintons push the assault weapon ban through because he didn't favor mere civilians owning magazines with more than 10 round capacity. And is exactly why Ruger Mini 14 mags costed as much as they did. He's dead now, and the company has tried to right some of the "wrongs" of the old man, but gun guys don't forget when you screw them.

A lot of people bash Hesse to no end. Some deserved, and I believe much not. Truth is, I bought one of their (Vulcan) MP5 versions and you'd think the world came to a full sudden stop. I had an intermittent feeding issue, sent the gun back under warranty, they fixed it and returned it the same day. But to hear a lot of the HK fanboys talk, I was scum of the earth for buying it.

Hi point replaced a rusty pistol after it sat underwater for close to a week during hurricane Katrina. Covered it all under warranty.

The only Mossberg that I own is a 500-A. Safety doesn't work because the tab is broken off. I contacted customer service, they wanted me to spend a fortune mailing the entire gun to them on my dime, when reality was all I really needed to mail was the trigger group that would've costed maybe $10 fully insured. Needless to say, the gun is still walking around without a working safety because I'm not going to spend $40 on round trip shipping for a $3 part.

Owned a Taurus pt 9mm handgun that had light strikes routinely. Hadn't owned it a week. called their customer service and provided them the serial number, and they said it was no longer under warranty due to the age of it. Forget that the paperwork in the box said it had a limited lifetime warranty because springs were considered a wear part and were not covered under their warranty.

Bought a Bushnell holosight. It was about a $225 optic. Bushnell marketed the holosight, though they were made my Eotech. Started draining the batteries even when turned off. Called Bushnell and they said they no longer sold or serviced them. It was 4 days out of warranty. It collects dust in a box now.

Bought a pair of tasco trail cameras. Had it about 4 months and it started taking out of focus photos suddenly. Called tasco, got a return authorization number and had a brand new trail camera of the next higher grade model in the mountains two weeks later.

Customer service can make or break a company. Above are just some of my positive and negative experiences with some of them.
 
I find it ironic that many guns that get ba=shed the most on many forums have the best warranties and customer service. High Point handguns are probably the best example of this. The few people I know that have owned then and had to have work done says their CS is excellent.

I had a Kel-Tek pistol that needed a part and I had it to my door in 2 days.

I bought a used TC contender and after a couple trips to the range the scope broke. TC (which by then had been was now S&W) no longer made them so they told me to pick another scope from their collection and they would send it to me. I ended up with a nice rifle scope.

I bought a Rem 11-87 that had a part break in the trigger group the first time I used it and left me without a gun on a hunting trip. I took it to the closest certified repair center and they fixed it right up. Actually it took a week or two but that was due to backlog at the gunsmith, not due to holdup with Remington. The repair center was Williams Gun Sight and it was fall going into deer season which is their busiest time of the year for tune ups and scope mounts, etc.

I have said time and time again, anything can and will break at some point, ow the company handles it says a lot. I will often buy a "inferior" or less expensive product if I know the warranty is better.

From what I can tell OFM CS has been spotty, but from my observation they will end up making it right, unfortunately you have to keep on them sometimes. I have yet to require service on my Mossbergs.
 
Just bought 2 new Patriots from Sportsmanguide....one is a 7mm Mag and the other a 300 win Mag....no elk or bear where i'm from but bought them as I always wanted those two calibers....in the process of installing Witt muzzle-breaks on them...I know I'll need the breaks...
 
I think it's just a matter of brand preference. When you think Mossberg, you don't immediately think rifle like you do when you think of Savage or T/C.
I think, if Mossberg sticks with the Patriot, as they should, this thing is awesome, they can build it up to stand toe to toe with any other sub $500 rifle on the market in the consumers eye.
 
Its not only in the US....

On a UK forum someone asked for suggestions for a mid range .223 rifles for target shooting and I suggested a MVP LR

One of the responses was:
"If it's anything like the quality of the Mossberg sporting rifles that I've seen save your money and buy something better. It certainly won't be hard to find something better than the Mossberg."

A couple of people did defend them as "agricultural... but does shoot surprisingly well.."
 
I have a Patriot in 22-250. I also have an old 42M (b) and a 46M (b).
When I bought my Patriot I figured it would be the same quality as my pair of old .22's. I was a little disappointed. Mainly in the fitment of the bolt. There is a lot of play when the bolt is opened and slid back. On my old 42 and 46, this isn't the case. Those actions are tight, no play at all. And those two rifles were built in the 1940s.
Now having said that, I am completely satisfied with my Patriot. She has to be the best Coyote rifle I have ever owned. I have a friend who has a model 700 that he let me shoot, and I wanted one. However, I wasn't going to pay a thousand dollars to shoot coyotes. And the only wooden stock available was a laminate. No thanks.
So now, when we hunt he brings his 700 and I bring my Patriot. And I get just as many as he does.
 
I'm way late to this party but I feel compelled to add my 2 cents. I'm ordering a patriot .308 solely based on the experiences I've had with the shotgun line, but I have to be bluntly honest, I debated long and hard because of the experience I had with a 715T/Plinkster I owned. To say that I was stunned and appalled by the 715's qc is an understatement, as I almost shipped it back to Mossberg in pieces. Given that I don't have money to burn, I took it down to my local gun store and sold it for about 60% less than what I paid for it. Between the magazine problems, the shoddy design, horrific qc and flat out rip off on the cost of OEM accessories, I almost passed up on the patriot. I sincerely hope this rifle restores my faith in Mossberg, because this is the last time I'm going to take a chance.
 
I'm way late to this party but I feel compelled to add my 2 cents. I'm ordering a patriot .308 solely based on the experiences I've had with the shotgun line, but I have to be bluntly honest, I debated long and hard because of the experience I had with a 715T/Plinkster I owned. To say that I was stunned and appalled by the 715's qc is an understatement, as I almost shipped it back to Mossberg in pieces. Given that I don't have money to burn, I took it down to my local gun store and sold it for about 60% less than what I paid for it. Between the magazine problems, the shoddy design, horrific qc and flat out rip off on the cost of OEM accessories, I almost passed up on the patriot. I sincerely hope this rifle restores my faith in Mossberg, because this is the last time I'm going to take a chance.

I have the Patriot in 308 and feel that it was worth every cent I paid for it. I opted for the a stick stock to keep weight down and for durability, it's already been dropped and acquired some large scratches on the butt stock walking through the woods last season. As for function, I have zero complaints thus far.
 
. . . I'm going to take a chance.

I'm a lucky guy because I retired with enough money that I can afford to buy whatever gun I like as long as it's not some historical English fowling-piece worth a Fortune. ;)

In my experience (which is admittedly not so extensive as many of the members here) Mossberg is far from the only culprit in this game. Nearly every gun that I bought or looked at to buy in the past two years has something that I don't like about it. There was rust inside the action, the stock was weak, the feed ramp wasn't smooth, a crooked feed ramp, a rusty mag tube, a Cheapo sticky plastic follower, inaccurate sights, dry actions. loose bedding, molding flash on the plastic which interferes with the magazine release, improperly machined main pin, and more that I probably can't remember right now.

But only a couple of those guns were Mossberg's. There are three Savages, an Uberti, a Ruger, an AR-15, two Henry's, an American Tactical, a Kahr, a Winchester, a Stoeger and a Remington. I did not buy the Stoeger Winchester or Remington. But all the rest I own and each one had some defect from the factory.

As a retired manufacturing engineer I am reasonably qualified to fix most of that stuff myself, and I have.

But of all the ones that I have purchased recently the only ones that appeared and function flawlessly were a used Ruger Mark 3 .22, a new Springfield XDS 9, and a used M&P Shield .380.

So my feeling is that almost no matter what brand of gun you picked you are going to take a chance, because the quality of manufacturing has gone in the toilet all across the nation, as a result of depression and dissatisfaction among the working classes, and a huge amount of pressure from the "financial" classes above to produce.

I can't believe that even the mighty Kimber has been putting out some faulty Firearms lately. I've always wanted to own one and revered them as practically the epitome of accessible weapons. But no more.

Unless I find something that I absolutely can't live without, my intention is to quit buying new modern guns and to concentrate on buying used high-quality guns for my collection.
 
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This may be a little sacrilegious here, but I'm going to confess: a week ago I bought a .243 off of Sportsmansguide for $200 (after rebate). It has a 22" 5R floated barrel, 5-round rotary magazine, nice useful 3-way safety, a cheap but robust bolt, and a synthetic stock that is very stout, ie, doesn't bend or warp no matter how much pressure I put on it. It has an inexpensive 3-9x 40 Chinese scope, a "Sun Optic". Comparing it to a decent Bushnell 3-9x 40 scope, it lags SLIGHTLY in brightness/clarity by a little bit. The barrel, btw, is made by Smith & Wesson.
The .243 is not a Mossberg, it's a Thompson Center, "Compass" model.
Could I have bought a Mossberg ? Yes.
If I was buying a shotgun, it's a Mossberg all day, every day. That's just me though.
If I was going to buy a lever 30-30, it would be a Marlin 336 over a Winchester 94, all day, every day. Again, that's just me.
If I'm going to buy a semi-auto handgun, it's going to be (and has been) a Hi-Point. :eek:

I bought the T/C even though T/C had a safety recall last September 16, 2016 for any "Compass" built before that date.
(remote possibility that if the safety is in the "Fire" position and dropped).
So why did I buy the T/C ? Because of the price and because of what I've heard about their customer service.
That's a BIG factor for me: customer service.

Kind of a side note: I bought a Hi-Point JHP .45ACP a couple of months ago. Why a Hi-Point ? Because I had experience with their .40 S&W JCP and I wanted to get a .45ACP pistol. So I had the opportunity to pick one up for $121 (NIB) shipped. It came with a magazine that had been mis-stamped. I sent the mag
to Hi-Point, they replaced it quickly with 2 magazines.
Customer Service.

A friend of mine is wanting to buy a rifle for his son and he mentioned as one of his choices the Patriot.
I told him what I knew of it and I also mentioned to him the T/C.
Like me, price is a consideration to be sure, as is an acceptable level of quality. But so is customer service.
It'll be interesting to see what he finally decides.

It's a tough battle out there in the firearms industry. I hope Mossberg is able to balance everything to keep afloat.
 
I got very good customer service from Mossberg.

BTW, I shot my buddies 1965 Winchester 94, and I thought that for an antique it was a nice gun to shoot. My lever gun is more accurate by far, but it doesn't have nearly as many rounds through the barrel.

My lever action 30-30 is a Mossberg, & it definitely out shoots the Winchester 94. I've never shot a Marlin 336 but I would sure like to.

My Mossberg had an issue from the factory: it has a silver coating & there was too much of it inside the action in places.
20160608_061622.jpg

I cleaned it up with oil and Scotch-Brite and after a reasonable break in period the gun functions great. Guys with the blue steel model didn't have this problem.

The other problem was that the tube had a little rust in it. I cleaned it all with oil on a brush, but I screwed up the follower. The follower is made from the wrong kind of plastic.

It has a thin lip on the following end & my gun oil or solvents made it swell up. I found that if I just trimmed off that lip and cleaned it up, and put it back in, it functioned fine. I make sure it doesn't get oiled.

The other issue I caused when I removed the extractor. I was careless when I snapped it back on and I deformed it. It wasn't really noticeable to the naked eye, but it did not fit as tightly to the bolt anymore. This caused it to drag on the action, and I had to get new ones from Mossberg.

In both cases I found their customer service was very easy to deal with and helped me with my problems right away. They offered to exchange the whole gun even though I had used it many rounds, but that was never necessary because I knew what to do.

Once I figured out how I had screwed things up! :D
 
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Well, I don't want you to have to suffer with that Mossberg 30-30 anymore, so I think you should just get rid of it. I'd be willing to pay shipping/handling to take that troublemaker off of your hands. ;):)
Nice gun. :)

For my Mossberg 535, I have spare parts at the ready in the event something heads south. One known issue that can show up is that 3 1/2" shells can cause some problem with the cartridge stop. The cartridge stop sometimes isn't "bent" enough at the factory. It can be lheated and rebent at home to a "good 'nuff" standard, but I figured having spares on hand would be better.
I've never had any problems with any 500 I've had, not one. I do have spares at the ready in the event something wears out/breaks.

The Winchester 94 is a fine rifle, with a fine tradition. For me, though, the Marlin 30-30 just feels right in my hands. It "clicks". It is built, IMO, like a brick outhouse.
Again, nothing wrong with the 94.
Same thing with the Mossberg 500. For me, it "clicks". Nothing wrong with the Remington 870, a lot of folks have it and are happy with it.
Although, with both shotguns, if you go to the owners group websites, there seem to be quite a number of folks not happy. Not necessarily with a problem with
the gun, but with how a problem with the gun was handled with customer service.
Go to the Marlin Owners website, and you'll get an earful of talk about "Remlins" and "Marlingtons". And not nice talk. :punish:
You get a little bit of that here, but not as much.
You go to the Hi-Point Owners website and ..... well, there isn't a Hi-Point Owners website. :rolleye:

I hope that I haven't given the wrong impression because I am WELL satisfied with my Mossberg shotguns. I don't have any hands-on experience with any center fire Mossbergs, but I imagine that will change.
Although ..... there is a way right now to get a Savage 12FV (26" heavy barrel) 6.5 Creedmoor right now for $142 with rebates/etc.
Crazy !
 
Yeah that's an amazing price. I paid over three times that much for my Savage .223 Varminter. It's a somewhat fancy model.

I've only owned one Marlin which was a 22 long rifle. Semi-auto. It's been so long ago I can't remember the model number, but I've always wanted a lever action Marlin. So far the right used one has not come along

I love the varminter though. I picked a .223 caliber because I just liked the gun and there's so much ammo available.

20170128_113922.jpg
 
Daaaammmmm, that's nice ! Fluted, stainless (?) barrel, factory Boyd-like stock, ....... I'd be willing to bet that that rig can shoot close to MOA at 100 .... heck, 150 yards !!! ;):)

Just a second.

Okay, I'm back. I had to put my T/C Compass back in the closet and lock the door. I didn't want her getting jealous.

I have an adequate supply of close, near, and mid-range firearms. The next, and probably final, firearm that I get is going to be a long range centerfire, something that I'm comfortable with and capable of long distance varmint hunting. It's going to cost a lot more HiPoints than my usual purchases, but accuracy at those distances comes with a price.
Maybe while I'm saving up my money, Hi-Point may come out with a 338 Lapua ? It could happen ! Only problem would be that it would weigh 35 pounds. :rolleye:
 
Yes, pretty much the whole gun is stainless steel. I think it weighs about 14 pounds.

I'm a little bit embarrassed about this because it is so fancy looking, you know. It's a city boy gun and I live in a Cow Town.

This gun sat in the display case at the local gun store for years, and they kept dropping the price to the point where I couldn't resist and one day I bought it.

With the proper (hot, heavy) ammo, 1 MOA is no problem. I'm old and shaky and I always seem to have one flyer in a group somewhere but I managed to do this with my own loads.

20170311_060255.jpg
That's approximately 1.5 inch group of 5 at 225 yds.

75 / 25 means that I was using a 75 grain Hornady match grade bullet over 25 grains of Varget Powder.

That's about the best shooting I ever did in my whole life, and I was using a sandbag and a tail bag on a concrete bench, using the weight of my upper body to hold the gun down as solid as possible, so it doesn't twitch when I pull the trigger. The Steiner scope is 40 power and my eyesight sucks bad so I couldn't possibly do this without it.
 
I just posted a thread about my new 308 patriot, and the reason I bought it,
and I will admit that I was provoked to pull the trigger on the purchase after watching you tube videos of scoutlooks 2016 top 10 deer rifle review,
I have a 44us (A) that is one of the best shooting rim fires I ever put my hand on but it is the ugliest gun in my safe
I hated the aesthetics of the earlier Mossberg renditions of a center fire hunting rifle and while they might have shot great I never knew because I would not give one a chance over their appearance, a lot of good women are ugly, but I always found myself wanting to date the pretty ones
 
Sometimes you have to remember to remind people that Mossberg has always made guns in America, but Remington is just a typewriter company pressed into service to build rifles for the war.

brother were you drinking when you wrote this, :)

EP Remington started building rifle barrels well over 200 years ago, Remington type writers was a venture that the Remington company started in 1873, and later spun off as Remington Rand who built 1911s for the Government
 
LOL, of course I was just teasing the Remington guys. :D

Whenever Remington guys say something about my Mossberg I always throw that typewriter thing at them. :p
 
Everyone on the internet is a top level operator with flawless rifles customized to never ever fail under any condition and shoot .00001 MOA at 1K yards with factory ammo. But they are always to busy to show up at the range and give face to face pointers or share their secrets to success.

Everyone on the internet, except, of course, the Mossberg owners Forum members. For some reason you don't see that kind of nonsense here.
 
Everyone on the internet, except, of course, the Mossberg owners Forum members. For some reason you don't see that kind of nonsense here.
LOL, of course I was just teasing the Remington guys. :D

Whenever Remington guys say something about my Mossberg I always throw that typewriter thing at them. :p

OK now I understand, and my response to those remarks is always to offer my gun and a hundred dollar bill, against their rifle, if they can out shoot my gun, I have yet ever had someone to take that offer up, I have done that same thing with my old 44us and had no takers, of course I have had 10-22 owners say they will take the challenge but when I tell them to use iron sights they back up quick

I have a lot of rifles and I like my new mossberg

any way I like your taste in rifles heres a few of my savage guns
10 fp tactical in 223


grandson on 110 fp tactical in 308

another grandson on a 110 fp Tactical in 7mm rm


my 12vlp dbm in 308


and a couple of weatherbys
243 vg2

and a vg weathermark in 308
 
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