I purchased my first Mossberg 930 off GB in May. I wasn’t really thinking I would win but strangely I was the only bidder and I won the auction for the min price. Score!!!!!!!!!
I’ve always loved the looked of this particular shot gun but never enough to actually by it new. I already own a Browning 12 gauge semi shotgun. The gun itself has some negative videos as does the 930 platform in general. I decided to make a project out of it. My goal is to keep the hauntingly beautiful look and play around with the internals to make it an extremely reliable, easy to use, easy to load go to sporting clays rifle for the long Winter season here in western New York.
I’m a Mossy pump shotgun nut (3 M500 and 1 M590 plus 1 Mossy O/U) so I need to build my knowledge on the 930. I’ve read lots of the great info found here on this forum. I may reach out with questions from time to time.
Initial impressions out of the box:
1. It looks as good in hand as it does in the pictures. It’s a beautiful shot gun. Relatively light weight for such a long shotgun. I’m sure this changes when you throw 12 plus 1 shells in it.
2. Standard Mossberg packaging. Box was not damaged.
3. Acc-Set chokes with a choke wrench. Comb/LOP adjustment hardware. Chamber Flag. Safety lock. Manual. Standard stuff.
4. Conversion parts to take it from 12 plus 1 to 4 plus 1. This is important for me since I live in New York State.
5. Safety checked all controls and they all worked fine. No issues.
6. Front sight was where it is supposed to be.
7. I have seen pics of the SG with a ported barrel but my shot gun does not have a ported barrel.
8. There is some wiggle in the forearm and the gap at the receiver is as advertised. I’m not sure how much of an issue this is to me at this point. Time will tell.
9. In the 4 plus 1 configuration there are 2 sling swivel attachment points.
10. Small but functional red fiber optic front sight. This is great for me because I prefer a simple bead sight on my sporting shotguns.
Now I need to start the disassembly process. my plan it to strip it to bone and do a thorough inspection and cleaning. Already have a few specific areas and items to look for thanks to all of you.
The 2 parts that I ordered right away after winning the auction was the MCARBO magazine tube follower and their trigger spring kit. I’ve used their stuff in all of my pump shotguns and I’m a fan.
Once I have it in pieces I’ll get a wish list of items put together. My initial plan is to test it out with the factory parts first before ordering replacements and upgrades.
The one thing I had to do in order to take possession of the firearm was to work with my FFL to install the standard NY State compliant magazine tube. So this it what it looks like as received from my FFL and prior to me doing any work.
It should be a fun project and I’m looking forward to it. I’ll post some updates as I progress. My goal is to get it ready to go by next Christmas. By then the snow will be flying and I’ll blend right in!
Feel free to offer up any comments, suggestions, tips, feedback it will all be welcome.