Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Mossberg Shockwave or Remington ?

Looking to acquire an “other” for the camper.

Shockwave or Remington 870 TAC 14?

I like the top safety on the Mosssberg and it’s easy to modify for th Aquila short shells.

Who has either? Pluses or minuses?

I don't have either but the two things you mentioned make the Mossberg a good choice to my thinking. The Rem 870 has a better rep for quality, even with Rem's recent history of QC issues, I've been told, but with arthritis the 20 gauge might be my choice if I go down this path.

And if I were to buy a 12 the Federal or Aguila short shells would make me lean towards the Mossberg.

I don’t know anything about Mossberg’s QC, but I wouldn’t buy any new Remington 870. They’ve been terrible for years.

I've had both. Sold the Mossberg after the third time a live shot shell fell through the skeletonized elevator, jamming up the gun, in the process of racking the pump action. Then I went out and bought a Remington Tac-14. No problems with the Remington. Only drawback to the Remington is one less round in the mag, but you can get a plus one for it.

Here's what kept happening to the Mossberg:

The only thing worse than Remington QC is Mossberg QC. Since they moved almost all production to Eagle Pass, TX, everything has sucked.

I have shot the Reminton and it is easy after you get the HANG of it.

The cut down shells make it a lot easier to handle.

It took 2 shots to get where i could hit 25 yards from the hip.

Have not shot the Mossberg.

Remington. Mine works flawlessly.

Yep.

Mossberg needs to narrow the skeletonized elevator so shells cannot partially fall through and jam up the gun.

The minus' I can see at the moment is that the tac 14 seems to have become scarce lately & the Mouseburger prices are going up daily. $286 two weeks ago, now $399 at the same place.

Tac 13's & Shockwaves are being bid above retail on GB.

Good luck finding either of your choices at a reasonable price right now.

These are some really good points.

If you are already well armed, and I suspect you are, I'd be patient and see what the post Corona used market looks like. I imagine there will be a fair number of first time gun owns who put these on the market after shooting it for the first time.

I personally have two Mossberg 500's that I've owned for many years. Both have had thousands of rounds pumped through them with zero malfunctions. I think you are cursed.

I would consider a Mossberg shockwave 590 in 20Ga, or even .410 for motorhome/camper/travel use. Winchester makes the .410 ammo with Copper cutting discs and pellets that would make the .410 into a nasty close/medium range defense shotgun. All plus sides are the safety on the back of the receiver (not on the trigger guard), no adapters needed, and it would be better to handle for a wife/daughter, than a 12Ga IMHO. YMMV. -TomT

I totally agree.

And you’re right, a significant number of zombies would have to storm the castle for me to need to call for a resupply.

A quick canvas of local gun stores yielded three outright laughs, two “not even for you” and one, “seriously?”

At this point, I’m just gathering data.

I bought the 12 ga Shockwave right after they came out. Was torn on Shockwave vs Rem because I have two 870s already and I'm comfortable with the safety position. It came down to the extra round and the strap on the forend with the ability to shoot the 1 3/4 shells.

It's run perfect with anything I've fed it weather bird shot buck or slugs. Runs everything from 1 3/4 to 3 inchers although 3s tear up my hands.

When the FedEx truck shows up next week it'll get a Streamlight Shockwave forend and a SB brace.

If I can find an in stock ported Carlson barrel it will get one of those too.

I watched it happen to Hickok45. Same exact thing. Shell fell through the skeletonized elevator as he was pumping forward after pumping backward. It was only stopped by its rim from falling to the ground, jamming up his Mossberg pump shotgun. He just nonchalantly stopped what he was doing, and fidgeted with it, working it back up into the action area, then shucked it in, with little comment. He doesn't like to bad mouth the products he's shooting.

Remington was smart to use a solid elevator, lacking skeletonization.

Never seen it happen personally. Can't make mine do it and never had a customer come in with that complaint in the four years I worked in general gunsmithing full time. I suppose it's possible they've changed something in the action since then that could cause it but that seems unlikely.. There simply is not enough room in the action between the shell stop at the front of the trigger guard and the extended tab on the lifter for a 2 3/4" shell to rotate and allow the nose to fall through on either of my 500's. Two guys I work with now have shockwaves and both run perfectly. As to the 870 lifter being superior, obviously you've never seen a shell get trapped between the lifter and the bottom of the bolt when it wasn't fully seated in the magazine and clicked in ahead of the shell stop before releasing it.

One wonders if duct or Gorilla tape over the opening is a reliable and quick fix?

There is nothing to fix unless they've changed the length of the extended tab at the bottom front of the elevator or the location of the shell stop at the front of the trigger guard since either of mine were made. When I get back to work I'll try to remember to have one of the guys bring in a shockwave so I can check it out.

Blackheart, did you see the picture I posted? That's a full sized 2 and 3/4" 12 gauge shell, and I didn't stage that picture. It happened three times just from racking the action with a loaded magazine. The third time it happened, I laid it down in my gun case and took a picture of it to show my gunsmith. Same thing happened to Hickok45 while reviewing a Mossberg pump shotgun. If it were impossible, it would not have happened three times to me, and been captured once in a Hickok45 video. He was using standard 2 and 3/4" shells, too.