|
870 or 500? I'd go with the 870. In fact I own two and do not own a Mossburg of any type.That's me personally, I am comfortable with this system and wish to stay with it.
How much are you willing to spend? If you have a couple hundred extra bucks you might look at the 590. That said, I'll give you a subjective observation from a Louis Awerbuck shotgun class I went through last week.
Several pump guns, 3-4 870's, 3-4 590's, 1 eight round 500 ( about 10 years old). The 500 did admirably, but gave up the ghost at the end of day one. It just shut down as far as extracting and feeding, but it's an old departmental gun and the consensus is that Mossburgs are being made much better today.
The 870's did great, a few feeding problems due to weak/old mag tube springs, this is a matter of maintainance and is easily and cheaply remedied. The 590's were absolutely great, no problems at all. Are they better? I don't think so, as they were all less than two years old while you would have had to saw the 870's in half and counted the rings to guess their age. The point I want to get to: For the price of a 590 you get a clean out mag tube (wait until you load a shell backwards to see how handy that comes in), nice ghost ring sights, the most ergonomic action release button, and a safety that is useful for righties and lefties. For the price of two 590's you can get an 870 with great custom features, but I beleive the 590 is better off the rack if we are comparing new guns
As for 870's, you have several decades of proven reliability and a great platform for upgrades if you desire. 870's are the Ford trucks of shotgunning, everyone who does repairs is familiar with them and parts are easy to come by most anywhere if you need them.
Now that I have further confused your decision I will cease.
Bil Mattern
|