TTAG is no stranger to the Mossberg Model 930: the 930 SPX was rigorously compared to the FNH-SLP in 2011, and the 930 SPX was also the subject of its own review in 2010. This is not a review of the 930 SPX. The Model 930 is one of the lowest-priced autoloading shotguns on the market, and the only such budget boomstick to be made in America. Other semi-automatic shotguns might have illustrious police and military pedigrees, but none of them share the Mossy’s’s $499 street price or ‘Made In USA’ bragging rights . . .
OVERVIEW
The Mossberg 930 is a gas-operated semiautomatic shotgun with a tubular magazine. It’s chambered in 12 gauge for both 2.75″ and 3″ shells. The stock and fore-end are black polymer, the receiver and trigger guard are anodized aluminum, and the cylinder-bore 18″ barrel and magazine tube are phosphated steel. The muzzle wears a sharply crenelated breaching device with multiple elongated vents. This is designed to keep the barrel from bursting if you’re blasting through doorfranes with solid plaster or powdered metal breaching loads.
I didn’t breach any doors during testing (I’m not sure that breaching loads would properly cycle the 930’s action anyway) but it’s possible that the breaching vents helped moderate the gun’s recoil, which was very mild by any standards. The breaching muzzle is of a larger diameter than the barrel, and seems to be pressed and soldered to the end of it. The white dot front sight bead is extra tall to stand up over it.
A small cocking indicator protrudes inside the front of the trigger guard. When the bolt is closed and the hammer cocked, this rounded pin sticks into the trigger guard as shown here. It doesn’t protrude if the bolt is open or the hammer is already down, and this lets you do a silent press-check without taking your eyes off the target of your hands off the gun.
A large tang safety sits at the top rear of the receiver, and if your shotgun has a straight stock like most 930s, it works extremely well. Unlike trigger-guard safeties, the Mossy’s safety knob is big, rugged and ambidextrous, and it’s always right there under your thumb. Rear is safe and forward is fire, and if you can’t remember that all you have to do is glance down at it to check.
The only drawback to tang safeties is that they don’t work well with pistol grips. It’s just not cool to remove your strong hand from the gun to manipulate the safety. Some Mossbergs come with pistol grips; avoid them for this reason and stick with a straight stock. If it’s good enough for Jerry Miculek’s 3-gun 930 SPX, it’s good enough for you.
The 930’s reciprocating bolt handle is large and aggressively textured, and the stock features a thick, soft recoil pad.
More modern shotguns like Winchesters and Benellis have rotary bolts, like the bolt of an AR-15. The 930 is fairly paleo in this regard, and its bolt locks into the barrel extension using a single massive locking lug. The Mossberg 500 and Remington 870 pump-action shotguns use the same kind of bolt lockup.
When the 930 is fired, twin gas ports bleed off propellant gasses from the midpoint of the barrel. This high-pressure gas is directed against an annular gas piston, which surrounds the magazine tube. The gas forces the piston rearward, which presses in turn against action bars identical in function to those of a pump shotgun.
The action bars then unlock the single lug and force the bolt rearward out of battery. As the bolt moves rearward, it compresses a heavy mainspring within the buttstock. The empty shell is ejected, and the mainspring returns the bolt forward to chamber the next shell. Lather, rinse, repeat; it all happens so fast that you can empty the standard 4+1 round magazine in well under two seconds.
MAGAZINE CAPACITY
Many versions of the 930 are available, from long-barreled waterfowlers to the tricked-out 930 SPX. This test gun is the ‘Tactical’ variant with a straight stock, a large bead front sight, and 18″ breaching barrel. All of them except the XPS have a 4-round magazine capacity (without a plug) and one round in the chamber. Five total rounds is pretty weak sauce for a noob cannon that calls itself ‘Tactical,’ so I immediately ordered up a +2 magazine tube extension from Choate and upped the capacity to 6+1.
Longer extension magazines are available, but the +2 tube is the longest one that will fit under the 930 Tactical’s short barrel without sticking out past the muzzle. If you need more rounds than this, the 930 Tactical isn’t the right gun for you. You should look at the SPX instead, or an FN-SLP if you’ve got a bit more coin.
If you study YouTube and practice really hard, you might be able to ‘ghost load’ an extra round on top of the 930’s shell lifter without smashing your fingers. I kept my digits intact, but I couldn’t pull off this trick without hopelessly jamming the gun. The 930’s 6+1 rounds won’t win you a 3-gun competition (and neither will its short barrel or cylinder bore) but it’s good enough for me.
Extended magazines like the Choate are a simple and affordable ($60) modification for the 930, and they don’t require any 922(r) compliance bullshit because the 930 is US-made. Most other autoloaders (modestly-priced Turks, CZ Utility Shotguns and Benelli M4s) are imported. They can’t legally be converted to more than 5+1 capacity without installing a bunch of additional US-made parts. I know the chances of getting in legal trouble for a noncompliant Benelli are slim, but even silly federal laws have the weight of the ATF and the federal courts behind them. With the 930, they’re a headache you won’t have to worry about.
I removed the Mossberg magazine cap, spring and follower and replaced them with the higher-capacity Choate components. The +2 magazine tube extends past the breaching vents and nearly to the end of the crenelated muzzle. I was concerned that muzzle gasses might scorch or cook the tube, but they don’t even dirty it when firing.
The barrel clamp comes with the Choate magazine kit, and it’s not just a cosmetic accessory: it provides the only forward sling attachment point after you take off the stock magazine cap. It also stabilizes the otherwise-unsupported magazine extension and keeps it from unscrewing itself. Unfortunately it slides forward slightly under recoil no matter how hard I crank it down and Lock-Tite it, and this quickly wears a few shiny spots into the barrel.
The extension tube and spring fit perfectly, but the plastic Choate follower was garbage. It immediately shoved itself through the shell cutoff and into the receiver. This solidly jammed the action. That was fun to disassemble, and I (eventually) pulled the crappy plastic follower out and put the metal OEM follower back in. Problem solved.
HANDLING/ERGONOMICS
Even with the magazine extension fully loaded, the 930 handles quickly and balances just under the loading port. The magazine extension gives it the weight of a long-barreled waterfowl gun, but the moment arm is shorter and the barrel swings more quickly.
The broad, smooth trigger breaks at an unexpectedly light and clean 4.0 pounds, and it’s one of the best mass-produced shotgun triggers I’ve shot. It’s lighter and more ergonomic than my late-90s Remington 700, much cleaner than my Nixon-era Mossberg 500, and several pounds lighter than my friend’s brand-new Benelli M4. I was surprised that the 930’s trigger was just as user-friendly as the ‘Lightning Pump Action’ safety trigger on a brand-new Mossberg 500.
The 930, like most auto-loading shotguns, carries its main recoil spring in a (very strong) fixed tube inside the buttstock. This means the 930’s shoulder stock can’t fold or collapse, but Mossberg includes sets of shims that let you raise or lower the drop at heel to fit you better. I’m shaped such that I shoot high with most standard shotguns, and I had a hard time getting my eye down behind the barrel. I used the shim that dropped the heel by .25″, and the 930 now fits just about perfectly.
The bolt handle, as I mentioned, is large and very aggressively textured. It’s a bit too rough for un-gloved hands, and it starts to tear your fingers up if you’ve got to rack it a lot of times. I guess it’s better to be a little too grippy than a little too slippery, especially in the wet or the cold. Besides, it never bothers you when you’re shooting, because you hardly ever touch the bolt handle anyway.
Recoil of the Mossberg 930 is very mild and slow when compared to pump-action shotguns. The gas venting, the compression of the mainspring, and possibly even the muzzle ports all combine to make 2.75″ buckshot kick like wimpy trap loads. Light practice loads barely kick at all, which is why they sometimes have trouble cycling the action all the way.
Mossberg autoloading shotguns don’t generally go in for pistol-grip styling, because they don’t work well with Mossberg’s tang-mounted safeties. The straight stock has a nice curve to the grip, however and the comb didn’t bash me in the cheekbone the way some guns do.
The recoil impulse is very mild, but the stock design doesn’t transmit it to your shoulder with the same straight-line geometry of a more modern design like the Benelli M4. Muzzle rise is just slightly higher, and recovery time will be just slightly longer between shots. When it came to buckshot mag dumps I couldn’t keep up with a former SEAL and his Benelli, but that says more about the shooters than it does about the guns. (Note how I avoided the word ‘operator’ there. SEALs are operators; I’m just a guy who gets to go shooting a lot.)
RELIABILITY
For a defensive shotgun, heavy loads (buckshot and slugs) have to be 100% reliable because that’s what you’re going to be throwing downrange when things go all stinky bad. Nobody uses #8 birdshot for defense, but you still want your shotgun to function pretty well with it for fun and practice. Buckshot and slugs don’t kick much from the 930, but none of us can afford to shoot them all the time.
Mossberg 930s have a generally good reputation for reliability, but Internet lore (and experienced 930 owner Nick Leghorn) told me to expect lots of feeding failures with light loads while the gun broke in. I put about 45 rounds of buckshot and slugs through the 930, and about 200 rounds of #6 and #8 birdshot. This hasn’t been enough to fully break in the gun, but it’s a good start.
Functioning was perfect out of the box with the heavy loads, as expected. Birdshot loads fed and fired properly, but they failed to eject if we limp-wristed the gun. With an extra-firm grip they work pretty well for recreational shooting, but not great. Federal birdshot seemed to work better than Remington, but with a firm shooting stance I still had a total of about 10 FTEs. I also had one freak malfunction where the 930’s extractor ripped away a segment of the shell rim and jammed the gun solidly. This wasn’t an extractor failure (on the contrary, it did its job with commendable vigor) but an ammunition failure.
5% FTEs with light birdshot is not cool, but this gun is still in the break-in process and its functioning is improving over time. Foghorn had the same issue, and says that his 930 eventually worked perfectly. In fact, when he came to Portland last summer he had me buy him a pile of #7 and #8 birdshot to shoot in the Crimson Trace Midnight 3-Gun Invitational.
FAVORITE FEATURES
- Simple, intuitive and positive controls.
- Excellent shooting comfort and adjustable-drop stock.
- 100% reliability with defensive loads, straight from the box.
LEAST-FAVORITE FEATURES
- Small magazine capacity out of the box.
- Slightly tricky magazine loading, until you get the feel for it.
- Long break-in period for reliable functioning with light birdshot.
- No interchangeable choke tubes, so you’ll have to shell out for an extra barrel if you want to hunt with it.
- No place to mount a weapon light unless you go aftermarket like I did.
SUMMARY
The Mossberg 930 Tactical is a compact and quick-handling defensive shotgun, and it’s well suited to this intended role. It costs a lot less than the 930 SPX because it lacks the excellent LPA sights and extended magazine that make the 930 SPX so great. Shooting comfort is fantastic, and so is reliability with defensive shotshells. Birdshot reliability is still questionable after almost 250 rounds, but it’s improving.
If you want a solid defensive semi-automatic shotgun and you’re not planning on getting into 3-Gun shooting, the 930 Tactical is a good choice. It’s ruggedly–and American–made, so you can up the magazine capacity without any 922(r) hassles. I recommend doing this immediately; some magazine extensions are a cheap as $40.
However, it’s not every gun for every shooter. It won’t be a good hunting shotgun unless you shell out bucks for a longer barrel with interchangeable choke tubes, and it won’t be an ideal 3-Gun shotgun unless you pay more for ghost-ring sights.
Specifications:
Caliber: 12 gauge (2.75” and 3”)
Barrel: 16.75” Cylinder bore with permanent 1.75″ breaching muzzle.
Sights: High-profile white dot front sight, no rear sight. (The receiver is drilled and tapped for whatever you want.)
Finish: Matte black
Overall Length: 39”
Overall Weight: 7.5 lbs
Action: Gas-operated, semi-automatic
Trigger: Single-stage, 4.0 lbs
Capacity: 4+1 (stock), 6+1 (with aftermarket Choate magazine extension)
Cost: $500-550 street price (plus $60 for the extended magazine)
RATINGS (out of five):
STYLE * * * *
Combat shotguns look mean as hell, and that razor-sharp breaching muzzle makes it look even meaner.
ERGONOMICS * * * * *
Quick handling, positive controls and the best shotgun trigger I’ve pulled in years. And I love the adjustable stock spacers.
RELIABILITY (buckshot/slugs) * * * * * (light practice loads) * * *
Perfectly reliable with defensive ammo; practice loads are hit and miss.
CUSTOMIZE THIS * * * *
It’s not a 10/22, but it’s a ‘Wal-Mart Standard’ firearm with a wide selection of accessories.
OVERALL RATING * * * *
I love it, but I hope it will be broken in soon with cheap birdshot.
What’s your favorite shotgun? Click here to answer at the TTAG forum
Cool, I have seen one at Walmart. I have a friend in the market for a defense shotgun will be showing him this article asap.
My bias is that a semi-auto is better for defense than a pump action because the autoloader is much easier to shoot one handed e.g. if your strong hand or arm is injured. No doubt some folks could operate the pump’s slide one handed and then reestablish some kind of shooting grip. Better it seems to not have to deal with that.
Is gas operated better than inertial should it come to one handed shooting? For inertial shotgun autoloaders “limp wrist-ing” works the opposite of what one might think, the opposite of the way handguns behave.
The inertial shotgun action requires the recoil to move the body of the shotgun. Even with the gun held tightly to the shoulder there is a slight recoil movement which is enough. An inertial action shotgun should reload just fine even if it were just lying on the ground and unsupported. Apparently the way to cause an FTF would be to brace the butt-stock against something immoveable like a concrete wall or sturdy post.
If you need to run a pump gun one handed, one option is to keep your hand on the firing grip, then firmly yank the whole gun back, and stop it firmly. If the action is smooth enough, the slide will come back. Reverse to load the next shell.
I’m not very good at this, but I’ve done it, and seen it done well by others.
Sweet! Nice looking shotty!
Nice shotgun, I’ve never really like the mossberg safety switch tho, I like how you put “tactical” in quotes…people tend to forget that “tactical” is a mindset and not an equipment list.
Tactical Is not a mindset either it is simply short term combat principle. The opposite of tactical is strategic which is long term combat principle. Both are objective based principles. Combatives being the mindset that ties the two principles together.
Yeah, it looks good.
Feels decent too.
But if it doesn’t work any better than the craptastic Mossberg 930 SPX I once had, then it’s truly a waste of money, your time and life’s energy.
My SPX came with a front sight block welded on at a subtle cant… it wasn’t readily noticeable until you couldn’t hit a B-27 silhouette at 25 yards, even with full rear sight windage adjustment, but this isn’t the shottie with the fancy sight system and I eventually got a properly sighted barrel after about four months (when they promised a replacement in two weeks).
When the replacement barrel came back, I went to sight it in and I couldn’t get a tube full of shells to cycle without malfunctions galore. Short-stroke, misfeed, stove-pipe… all with standard pressure foster slugs. Slugs that feed just fine through my 11oo custom race gun and sure as hell through my old 590.
In short, in shooting fifty various loads, I couldn’t get seven shots off without at least one malfunction.
I debated about keeping it to loan to someone I didn’t like in the event of a zombie apocalypse, but instead sold it and bought a Remington 870 tactical, which is what I should have done in the first place.
Shame on me for thinking I could go cheap on a semi-auto shotgun.
Now, for the weekend warriors wanting a safe queen shotgun, have at it.
I’ve bought my last Mossberg though.
John
Gotcha, because you couldn’t operate a weapon you bought, anyone we can use it is a “weekend warrior”.
You’re right. I’m clueless.
What are your creds?
16-year instructor in multiple disciplines from multiple firearm training organizations here.
And a Rifleman.
But yeah, it’s just me.
John
Jon,
It’s a shame you let one poorly functioning gun get your panties in a bunch at a fine brand. Even to doubting your old 590… I’ve had very good luck with Mossbergs, and specific to the 930 design, my experiences have been much better than yours. I bought two 930’s about two years back. One to make into a 3-gun lite and one for birds. Both were FTF-o-matics out of the box. Detail cleaning, lubing, and a box of heavy loads through both and they’ve been smooth as butter since then.
I won’t deny that it did take a little work and some cursing was said, but I always have to modify the things I buy so I’m used to a little cursing at new things until I’ve made them mine.
Definitely a happy weekend hunter/outdoorsman here. Dunno about the weekend warrior comment. I don’t hang with that crowd.
Yes, i’m cheating by dropping this comment here, 5 yrs later. But i want others to know my experience with the 930. Especially the newbies to shotguns or anyone sitting on the fence about purchasing the 930.
I bought the JMPro version even after hearing about the light load cycling issues.
24” barrel, 8 shot tube (+1). So this is what I did… New outa the box I cleaned & lubed it.
Then hit the range with the heavy stuff to break it in. First up was 50 rounds of 3”, then 25 rounds of 00 buck and lastly 25 slugs. Put all but 1 slug in a life size upper torso target at 100 yds (shot all others at 25yds), and that one went high.
Since this initial breakin i’ve shot it mostly with #7 or 8 birdshot with zero problems.
Busting clays or running 3 Gun, it runs like butta. An old timer told me to break in every semiauto shotty like this. Plus, if a gun is gonna carry Jerry Mucilek’s name on it, it better run. And BTW, my right shoulder was a little sore next couple of days, but it just reminded me of how much fun I had breaking this great shotty in the right way!!
Beings that this is a tactical shotgun, it would have been nice to forego the butt stock and just have a regular pistol grip.
Doesn’t work with the recoil spring and tube, unless you want it sticking out the back of your pistol grip.
Is there any place to mount a piece of picatinny on the top?
Mine is drilled and tapped on top of the receiver.
I got one of these a few months ago. I have fired every thing from low brass #8 shot, High Brass BB, slugs, OO Buck, and a box of Remington “Managed Recoil” buckshot. Recoil with every thing but the slugs was very manageable. The slugs were uncomfortable to shoot. Not rounds you would shoot for fun.
The gun cycled and fired everything except the first two rounds of the MR. The last 3 rounds of the Managed Recoil, I fired after I had put about 100 shells of various types through the gun. It cycled those MR just fine.
If 5 rounds of OO buck won’t fix what ever problem you are facing, I would suggest you need to change your tactics. Especially since the weapon can be topped off at any time.
I picked this one over a 590 because I have MS and my left arm and hand are both extremely weak. I wouldn’t want to trust them to work a pump. The 930 has worked great and it is the gun beside my bed for things that go bump in the night.
I sincerely hope it works flawlessly when the chips are down for you.
John
I bought one for my dad. I took 7+1 rounds, all different, from 3″ magnum slug to 2.75″ bird, and ran them straight through. I took a video of it so if I ever put it on the tubes I will send RF the link. The only FTE we have had was a light load fired from the hip and not held strong enough, but we haven’t really run that many rounds through it.
The percieved need for more than 6+1 in 12 ga. is based on a game. 3 gun is a game. Find me a real dgu where 7 total rounds of 12 ga. did not deal with it. I’ll wait. Or 6. Or 5. I’ll wait.
This.
The strength of the shotgun is how quickly you can point shoot with it.
Nothing fixes a fast handling gun like hanging another pound of shells you don’t need on it. A rail with another pound of sights is even better.
There can always be a first. I’d grab my 7+1 930 SPX with another 4 on the stock before my 870 4+1 any day. I’d rather have ammo left over than run out. Either way, the less government intrusion into peraonal tactical decisions the better.
Just think if we had the options to tool up like the Syrian rebels.
Re-read the 930/SLP comparison and the comments. Wow, there are some cranky people looking for every excuse to blow off the entire test. Any word on that re-/expanded test?
Out of curiosity, is there any reason for a non-LEO to have a breaching muzzle? All I can think of is poking someone trying to take the gun front you. Or, well, breaching, but good luck justifying that.
Because a citizen wants a breaching barrel is the only reason he needs. Better a citizen have them than a government employee.
Okay, change it to “poking people and OOOShiny”. :p Still curious.
The breaching muzzle doesn’t add much but mean looks and some purely theoretical (read: mall-ninja) hand-to-hand muzzle menace. Most shooters would prefer to pay $35 more for the option of interchangeable choke tubes, which would actually be useful instead of mostly cosmetic.
If I knew a local gunsmith that would do it affordably, I’d have mine cut and threaded for choke tubes.
Interesting, thanks.
Regarding reliability, my 930 eats target loads just fine. My friend’s 930 jammed with 7/8 ounce Fiochi light birdshot loads. I imagine that ammo would also cause mine to jam. I shoot 1 to 1 1/4 oz target loads and I’ve never had an issue. OO buck works with everything from tactical to 3″ mag 15 pellet loads. I don’t understand putting super light birdshot loads through a self defense semi auto shotgun. (That’s like driving slow in a Corvette.) I wouldn’t trust my ARs to function with 35 grain varmint loads when they are designed for full power 55-77 grain rounds.
I’d love to see these shotgun companies return to the original idea of a “tactical” shotgun, before the adjective “tactical” was festooned all over all manner of firearms.
Let’s go back to one of the nicest features of the Winchester 1897: Where you could hold down the trigger and rack the slide. Every time your slide locked the breech, the fun would fire. No trigger reset required.
Now that’s a “tactical” feature.
The first gun I purchased for myself was an 1897. Me and my wife still shoot skeet with it sometimes. I will have to try this next time we go to the range. Thanks for that info!
Didn’t slam firing cause a freakout somewhere or sometime. ATF, maybe?
The old Ithaca 37 was capable of slam firing also. You could actually dump a mag full from one of those old slam fire pumps faster than you could an autoloader.
My friend’s Model 12 could do that too. I asked Ithaca’s new president about slam-firing their new Model 37: his answer was that their company would have been uninsurable if the gun didn’t have a trigger disconnector.
To which I said “Whoa, bummer, dude.”
I have no trouble doing 8 round mag dumps with my 930SPX with cheap Wal-Mart #8. I don’t even touch my 500 anymore.
Any reliability issues found while testing a tactical or defensive shotgun would automatically disqualify said gun from remaining in my inventory.
Aside from the fact that a semiauto shotgun isn’t my first choice for sd/hd, I’m curious about your criteria.
Does a firearm have to be perfect right out of the box or are you allowed to clean it/tune it to make the grade? I find that my Marlin levers all need a cleaning and deburring out of the box and my semiauto Mossberg’s all need a cleaning and pounding with heavy loads out of the box. On sd/hd guns, I did also go over my CCW handguns and pump shotgun and get them to the range for several hundred reliable rounds before declaring them ready to defend the home.
If a malfunction was a reason to disqualify a gun to go into combat or cary nobody would use firearms at all. ALL guns will malfunction if you dont think they do you need to shoot more and find out.
Great review Chris, just picked up one of these used for 400 and threw a choat pistol grip on it. I know this one is a little older because it came with the standard charging handle (i replaced it with a Nordic tactical model). I have yet to take it to the range but am very interested to see if I got a great deal on a broken in gun or one that struggled cycling and was sold for that reason. My question for you is did you notice any damage to your extended magazine from venting gas from the muzzle brake after you finished your review?
I have had this gun 8 months and I am sending in for the 3rd time for repairs. First was double feeds in the loading tube and chamber.
The 2nd was the loading tube. I just got it back today and it will only allow me to put 3 rounds in it and that’s including one in the chamber. I have been a cop for 26 years and never experienced weapon perform so badly. Its Sat 6/28/14. On Monday I will call them again and ask for a refund or a different gun. If they fail to do either I will contact the better Business Bureau and write on every forum the unreliability of this weapon ! Respectfully submitted, Mark G. Pierce
did you remove the 3 round magazine tube block from the tube?
some states require the block in the tube for hunting.
So I was curious if your 930 had any more issues after you pulled the shell limiter /plug, and your 2nd repair you just said feed tube… exactly what was the malfunction? I’m interested in picking up a 930 but I see all these posts of malfunctions and issues, yet alot of them I see are user error or proper clean up not being performed properly. You can send 10 boxes of shells through it to break it in, or spend 30 min. Prepping a new Shiney gun to post break in condition…. for example nearly all remington 700 magnum rifles nowadays come from remmy needing some attention. You can find all kinds of complaints on Google that people with .300WM, or 7MMRM or RUM calibers are complaining because their brand new remmy seizes the bolt in the chamber after the first shot and just keeps doing it…. this is because remmy and their QC has falling behind a bit… after they lathe their barrels they do not go in and re polish the chambers, leaving very small but ruff blemishes, you fire, brass expands and brass is stuck in chamber. People then unlock the bolt but can’t pull it back, so, they grab big stick or hammer and try to beat the bolt open at the handle, which then breaks of at the solder point. When if they pulled it out the box and properly prepped it with small wood dowel and steel wool, or super find sand paper, or even a piece of brilo pad they would have never encountered this issue. Same for the 930, take your steel wool or brilo, get a good light rub in the chamber, the feeding ramp lip, and edges and there would be less issues, inspect the follower tension, and retainer, these are simple tasks that weapons experts do to a brand new firearm, prep work before fun time. You cannot expect a true MILSPEC weapon out of the box for a weapon you pay half of what the military or LEO does. I see lots of slander around when there is a degree of prep that was neglected. It’s not just about the first oiling and wiping it down. Now that being said, the QC should indeed be better. I mean if a company expects us to pay moderate to high prices for a quality firearm than they should make the effort to prepping the weapon fully before shipping, but that’s not the way it works anymore, every company wants us to pay top dollar for their product while they cut corners left and right. Can’t be cutting into their profit after all. It is in deed a sad sight. But it looks worse when a gun “enthusiast” and god forbid a “weapon expert” neglects to acknowledge and correct such easy deficiencies, and even more so to instantly turn and bash a weapon as useless or low quality because the factory cut corners and the consumer in turn wants it replaced for a 30 min fixing. My .02 – weapons expert military, LEO spec and non-milspec varients
Note: time and time again we have also seen our “top of the line” MILSPEC weapons with such reDICKulous flaws it’s embarrassing. Especially for being grunts and expecting the best weapons because our lives depend on them to be flawless. Today’s world this is just not the case. It’s more about money and cost than it is about quality and reliability!
Fantastic comment!
As a new 930 owner & relatively new to guns, is there any way I could talk you in to a YouTube presentation of the steps you have talked about? It would be invaluable! Thanks.
Wow.. This was some great reading.. The comment I respected the most was Cannon balls… I firmly believe what you stated sir.. I never trust any weapon out of the box… Just about every weapon I have I’ve had to do a bit of tweaking to…. I also field test each one to make sure it functions properly..
You get what you inspect not what you expect…
Wish I had seen these comments sooner. Any firearm that does’t function flawlessly right out of the box should have never left the factory in the first place. What’s with all this “break in” and “tweaking” baloney?? Did anyone ever have to break in a Glock, Winchester Model 12, Browning Citori, Colt Cobra, (pre-Freedom Group) Remington 870 Wingmaster, etc., etc.? The fact that consumers now expect their guns to require breaking in or tweaking just shows how ignorant they are and what low standards the manufacturers have for their own products and what low regard they have for the shooting public in general.
For a shotgun that I am betting my life on, it’ll be a pump. The Mossberg pump, so far, seems to be a good bet. Keeping in mind, I am talking about bang for buck. You can spend a lot of money for pretty, when ugly can cook just as well.
My Choate +2 extended mag tube doesn’t line up evenly with the muzzle like the 930 pictured in this review.
Mine is about 1/2” short. I’m losing sleep over this!
Does anyone know why his goes all the way to the end of the barrel? But mine doesn’t.
Does Choate make different length +2 tunes?
By the way… I love my 930 tactical. I swear the vented muzzle makes shooting 00 buck seem more like low recoil loads.
My 930 is 100% reliable with 00 buck and slugs. It only jams once in a while with cheap #8 bird shot. But I can live with that. Because I know it functions 100% with the good stuff.
Same with my 930 tactical. Perhaps choate changed the design on their extension? I had to use the OEM spring and follower on mine. Choate spring and follower were junk. It feeds even the last round with plenty of ommpf and loading is a lot easier. Perhaps they changed the design to use the stock spring but supplied a new spring anyways? Whatever is up with that, my +2 extension is working fine, no hangups. You can see the difference in the length in this pic. http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r553/Target556x45mm/20150417_150444.jpg
Side note, my 930 ate everything out of the box, EVERYTHING. First 200 rounds were Federal Walmart bulk pack loads. But, I did give it a thorough cleaning and lubing out of the box and I run the thing soaking wet.
I’ve been looking at the 930 but I’m having a hard time hitting the “go” button. I bought an FNH SLP MK1 Tactical a while back and haven’t gotten it to shoot worth a hoot yet. FTE’s on anything but full-house 00, I’ve been polishing on “the rubbing parts” but I have to say the fun is certainly gone from that weapon already. And I don’t understand why it’s considered a sin to expect a firearm to actually function correctly right out of the box, either. I spent probably $300 or less on my old Mossy 500 about 35 years ago, and I find I’d rather use it than attempt to rely on a $1200 auto that simply doesn’t freakin’ work until I play gunsmith with it. I would think that for that kind of money the factory could find someone to do more than the minimum QC, or who could read calipers, or specs. Or maybe shoot the damn thing, heaven forbid, then FIX it BEFORE they shipped it out.
Is the bead sight on the 930 tactical a night sight?
As a follow-up to my April 4 post:
I went ahead and purchased the Mossberg, and took it, along with the FN SLP Mk1, out to some property we own and tested both shotguns out. The FN was a miserable failure, failing to eject and failing to feed just about every time I pulled the trigger, no matter what loads I put in it. The Mossberg ran like a raped ape, eating every load I stuck down it’s throat. So at $725 out the door for the Mossberg, which actually works, versus $1,200 for the FN which is basically a club …… I sold the FN at a pawn shop. I didn’t want to sell it to an individual myself, lest they come back and club me to death with it. (Because if they missed with the first shot, well, that was their only chance.)
I just purchased a 930 at Walmart for $399, TT&L out the door for $429.
I ran a bunch of #8 through it just to build a relationship with her, and she worked flawlessly.
She loves #00 and slugs.
The task of this wepon in my collection is home defense and a barn gun. I trap hogs and I need a sturdy “non pretty” truck gun to help the hogs go to a better place. The 930 isn’t pretty but works great for the design intent and the price was hard to beat.
I am an old guy that has done a lot of shooting, military and civilian, I have found the longer and the more offten you use a wepon, the less likely she will let you down.
For me she is a keeper.
Steve SA I too just bought one for $399 at my local Walmart after they had it marked down. The tactical model with the breach barrel like the one in the article. I felt like I stole it at that price but there seems to be a lot of negativity and mixed feelings on it online and I’ve been debating on keeping it
Gents,
I am completely agree with Cannon ball’s comment, it has to be cleaned from the box (cosmoline preservation grease to be removed, gas drive be cleaned dry, bolt slides lightly oiled).
I’ve just got my 930 tactical wit that door crush muzzle and tried light #5 #7 24 grams ammos as well as sport slugs – Mossy 930 performed extremely well, making me unconsciously happy. My fillings were just like: “wow, it does predict what I ask”. Same pleasure if you drive BMW – she knows what you want.
I HAVE PUT EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK IN MY 930. FLAWLESS ANS WILL NEVER GIVE IT UP. STOLE IT AT WALMART FOR 369.00
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