Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mossberg Patriot

Has anybody handled one of these? John B. Snow says they're the best rifle Mossberg has ever made which is quite a statement considering that Mossberg used to make the model 800 which was an excellent rifle. They're offering the Patriot in cartridges up to .375 Ruger which seems to mean its a real rifle and nothing like the 100 ATR which along with the 4X4 has apparently been discontinued.

I guess I'm pretty ignorant, but I don't know who John B. Snow is, or that the 800 was an excellent rifle.
My opinion of the 800 is that it was very inexpensively made rifle that worked okay, but had little else to recommend it (based on an 800 that my brother owned).

I've not heard of the Patriot rifle, either, so I just can't make any comments on it, but mostly Mossbergs don't interest me much at all, not since they quit making the "good rimfire rifles" back in the '60s.

Who is John B. Snow and what is his claim to fame or expertise?

I have owned several Mossberg 800s and thought that they were, at best, a mediocre rifle in its time. I particularly didn't like the plastic trigger housing, as it could soften in high temperatures, like when let in a rear window gun rack of a pickup, and become both physically distorted and unsafe. I know this from personal experience with an 800 in 22-250 around twenty years ago (1995ish).

Mossberg sells a lot more centerfire rifles build on the third/forth generation Raptor actions than I would have ever guessed. I have never felt positive about that action, fair or unfair, so I've not been a buyer or a shooter of them. What action did Mossberg copy to build the Patriots?

Not a bad looking rifle.

If they shoot well and are durable and reasonably priced, I could see myself owning one.

Yeah Bob I thought the same thing after looking at them. I've got a Tikka right now and am shooting and enjoying it. Have also been eyeing the RAR. powdr

It's still a MOSSBERG. I'd personally rather have the Ruger RAR.

I thought that the bolt raceway between front and rear bridge looks really thin and wonder how it would do in an incorrectly bedded stock.

I wondered where John Snow would turn up since they wrote him out of "Thrones".

john snow took over as outdoor life shooting editor,from jim carmicheal.


I had one of the original raptor rifles,and the Mossberg rifles are (or were) exactly the same gun.
mine had so many issues,and flaws,I sold it for 1/3 of what I paid for it,and was completely happy about it.

This +1 I think.

It is not a bad gun, but you are only like $50 away fro the RAR, and no-one had bad words to say about, beside possibly the stock, and the Mossy has a very similar stock.

the son of a friend recently bought one of the original Raptors. The 30-06 closed easily on a no go gauge.