Mossberg 583, my latest project
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2026 1:19 am
This is the shotgun I referred to when I posted "I'm all choked up". This shotgun belongs to a hunting friend and he bought it just for S&Gs. It was badly rusted but for $40 he took it. After the trigger guard screw fell out he put it on the front porch where it continued to rust. When he gave it to me the first thing I did was to clean and inspect the bore, it was pristine. I then disassembled the gun and found the stock shattered. Stush Bubba had tried to refinish and repair this gun, There is a steel recoil shim held in place by the cross bolt to absorb recoil, it was missing. He had carved out the barrel channel 1/2' deep 1/2" wide and 4" long. The stock split and he tried to hold it together with epoxy. Stush had tried to refinish the metal and sanded some of the lettering almost off. He also lost the take down screw and replaced it with a hex head cap screw. I ordered a new take down screw and, trigger guard/grip and screws.
I threw the old stock away and used eBay to locate another stock only to find Stush Bubba is prolific. This stock had been refinished with spray on lacquer. It was thick and there were numerous runs. When they tried to remove the cross bolt it chipped the wood at the holes. Stush had a hose clamp around the barrel and stock that left dents near the schnoble end. I managed to remove all the dents but one that I decided to leave for history. The trigger guard screws were enlarged and needed to be drilled and plugged. The stock had a plastic butt plate but it was missing, The stock had a rounded butt to marry with the butt plate. As I worked on the stock I decided to cut it square and add a Decelerator recoil pad because a replacement butt plate was the same cost of a recoil pad and might not fit.
After removing the rust and prepping the metal I used Oxpho Blue and my heat gun with good results. The wood took some work but came out well after fitting the recoil pad. I used boiled linseed oil for the finish but didn't want to go too far because I want it to look like what it was, an old economy shotgun! After Stush Bubba lost the take down bolt he decided to remove the stud and drilled and tapped it to 5/16x14. I couldn't buy another stud. This took some thought but I eventually bought a 5/16x14 bevel head machine screw, put it in my drill and filed the bevel off the bottom so it fit flush with the mag cover and seated well in the bottom of the mag cover. After bluing, it doesn't look bad!
As I researched this gun I found they came with IC, Modified and Full chokes. The chokes are small and don't interfere with the pointing of the gun, If you remove the choke they were effective and accurate past 50 yards with rifled slugs making it a very effective efficient one gun does it all weapon. The action is a Mauser design. all and all not a bad shotgun at all! It was a fun and interesting project and the owner is very happy. I didn't charge for my labor and for $150 he has a very effective versatile, soft recoil, old shotgun for his kids.
I threw the old stock away and used eBay to locate another stock only to find Stush Bubba is prolific. This stock had been refinished with spray on lacquer. It was thick and there were numerous runs. When they tried to remove the cross bolt it chipped the wood at the holes. Stush had a hose clamp around the barrel and stock that left dents near the schnoble end. I managed to remove all the dents but one that I decided to leave for history. The trigger guard screws were enlarged and needed to be drilled and plugged. The stock had a plastic butt plate but it was missing, The stock had a rounded butt to marry with the butt plate. As I worked on the stock I decided to cut it square and add a Decelerator recoil pad because a replacement butt plate was the same cost of a recoil pad and might not fit.
After removing the rust and prepping the metal I used Oxpho Blue and my heat gun with good results. The wood took some work but came out well after fitting the recoil pad. I used boiled linseed oil for the finish but didn't want to go too far because I want it to look like what it was, an old economy shotgun! After Stush Bubba lost the take down bolt he decided to remove the stud and drilled and tapped it to 5/16x14. I couldn't buy another stud. This took some thought but I eventually bought a 5/16x14 bevel head machine screw, put it in my drill and filed the bevel off the bottom so it fit flush with the mag cover and seated well in the bottom of the mag cover. After bluing, it doesn't look bad!
As I researched this gun I found they came with IC, Modified and Full chokes. The chokes are small and don't interfere with the pointing of the gun, If you remove the choke they were effective and accurate past 50 yards with rifled slugs making it a very effective efficient one gun does it all weapon. The action is a Mauser design. all and all not a bad shotgun at all! It was a fun and interesting project and the owner is very happy. I didn't charge for my labor and for $150 he has a very effective versatile, soft recoil, old shotgun for his kids.