This will be a picture heavy post with little description since it’s self explanatory. Shown is a Mossberg 590 I purchased back in the 1990’s. It is not the A1 since the trigger guard is plastic and it lacks a heavy barrel.
Understanding that a good SD shotgun needs a light, I never put one on this 590. Why? Because it used to be the only decent option for a lighted fore-end required the user to CUT THE BAYONET LUG OFF!
My response to that has always been, “OH HELL NO!!!”. You see, back in the late 1990’s, the bayonet lug was, “verboten”. Because Lefty Democrats think having a bayonet lug on a long arm makes you a stone cold killer. Whatever.
Listen. I get it. Putting a bayonet lug on a self-defense shotgun is a little douch-ey. But damn it! That’s how it was originally designed. And when the Federal Government says I can’t have something, now I want it even more. And cutting the bayonet lug off meant cutting intrinsic value off the 590.
Don’t act so surprised. This is Econ-101 stuff here. And there aren’t enough stone-cold-killer pejoratives the Left can toss around to off-set that lost value. So every few years, I would look at the shotgun and think now is the time to finally upgrade it. And….I would end up in the same vicious cycle of not cutting stuff off. So…it sat stock for 20 years.
Then a few years ago (cough…cough…8) while working SHOT, I had a run in with the nice people at Mossberg. We discussed some upgrades I would like to see done to Mossberg shotguns, which they eventually did. Disclaimer: I’m sure they didn’t do it because of me, but since this is my story, they did because of me.
And during the course of the conversation, the Mossberg rep pulls up a 590 with a lighted fore-end and shows the bayonet lug still in place. He then asks, if I would like him to send me one? Sure enough a few weeks later, my boss calls and says there is a package from Mossberg with my name on it.
I wish I could tell you that I ran home and stuck the fore end on the 590 that night, but that isn’t the real world. See the reference to 8 years above. The fact is, a pump action shotgun just wasn’t a priority back then. We hardly ever used them at work. I rarely carried one on the streets — maybe 3 times in 19 years?. And even for training, the shotguns just didn’t get pulled out much at all. Once a year? Shrugging my shoulders as I type this, We live in a AR / 9mm world. As do most of my peers. My sincere apologizes to Mossberg. I’m not a gear reviewer. I actually used guns for a living.
But…my schedule and commitments have changed and Freeze and I have resolved to look around the armory and finish up old projects laying about. So here are some pictures of the before, after, final product of upgrading the…now…20 year old Mossberg 590.
Enjoy.
Marky
www.john1911.com
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
Areas of focus: Defense and National Security, Modern Light Weapons, Small Arms, Weapons Training.
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