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.
The 129 gr SST wasn't terrible, but hovered around 1 inch or a little less the whole time
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
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.
Picture of the mossberg wearing the Viper next to the TC
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.
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
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)
Second buck tag was an 8