As I type this, four of my shotguns wear Mesa Tactical Truckee Handguards. It all started because I wanted to spend even more money on my Benelli M4.
From there, I decided my Beretta 1301 needed one to mount a light, and you know my Mossberg 940 needed one too. I’m a Mossberg guy, so when Mesa Tactical offered to send me their latest handguard for the 590 series, I jumped on board.
In the past, my use of the Truckee has been entirely on semi-auto shotguns. Moving to a pump would be an interesting arc. The Truckee 590 handguard isn’t the first M-LOK handguard on the market, but it’s certainly the most robust. Mesa Tactical machines the Truckee from a solid block of aluminum. They are rugged, dependable designs that offer plenty of M-LOK slots.
A big part of the Truckee’s appeal is the multiple length options for most guns. This allows users to choose more room for accessories or to push accessories, like lights, further forward to avoid barrel shadow. On the other side of the coin, a shorter forend is a lighter forend. Typically, shotgun pumps are one-size-fits-all, but the 590 version comes in 8.75-inch, 10.5-inch, and 11.75-inch options.
Installation of the Truckee
Your traditional shotgun pump installs pretty easily. Remove the barrel, unscrew the retaining ring, drop the new pump on, replace the ring, replace the barrel, and voila. That is not the case here. To ensure a proper, tight lock-up, you will be using two retention caps. One installs to the rear of the pump, and the other goes over the front.
You install the rear cap before sliding the pump onto the action. It locks up tight, and you can feel the friction as you slide it downward and over the action bars. Next, the front cap installs, and if you are using a Mossberg long-action slide assembly, you use a steel spacer as well. Then add your retaining ring, and voila, it’s installed.
Installation might be more complicated, but it is not difficult. Once installed, this has to be the most secure pump I have ever used..
Why M-LOK
Why choose M-LOK over a railed pump? A universal truth of 12-gauge is that they recoil a fair bit. Having a Picatinny rail in your hand while dealing with that recoil is almost akin to grabbing a cheese grater. This becomes an even bigger issue when you engage in the push/pull method to reduce recoil.
M-LOK is smooth and does not have that cheese-grater effect. It allows accessories to sit more tightly to the gun, and in general, allows for better modularity. With that said, the pump lacks any texture, and sweaty hands might experience a bit of slip-and-slide.
To me, that is okay because the presence of side and bottom M-LOK rails allows me to better tune the texture via inserts. I am not stuck with too little or too much grip. You can go from textured rubber to textured G-10 and everything in between.
If it is a defensive shotgun, a white light is a must-have. The longer Truckee pumps allow you to push the light forward a fair bit. Every little bit you can push a light forward helps because it reduces barrel shadow. Additionally, the more room you have, the better you can position the light for easy activation.
The Truckee, combined with a forward cantilever Scout mount and Modlite Havoc, creates a very competent shotgun light setup. It pushes the light far forward, even on a 20-inch-barreled Mossberg 590.
Run and Gun With The Truckee
The Truckee provides a nice flat surface, which adds some natural purchase to the forend. The flat shape and high sides keep your hands from coming into contact with a hot barrel. It is not quite a heat shield, but you will have to try hard to accidentally burn yourself.
It is not quite the hell of summer here in Florida, but spring is muggy. My hands were sweating, but they did not slip or slide. On 99-degree days with 80% humidity, when I’m sweating, it’s more of a problem. For home defenders, this will not be an issue, since you are unlikely to be shooting long enough to pool sweat.
Still, I am going to add some grip texture inserts to the M-LOK slots. I am not sure which brand just yet, but historically, I have been a fan of Ergo rubber inserts.
The M-LOK slots provide a rock-solid connection to accessories. I know the gun world runs on polymer, but the lock-up between metal M-LOK slots and metal M-LOK attachments cannot be beat. Most of the time, polymer is fine for the average user, especially on light-recoiling carbines.
On shotguns, the recoil is an abusive factor to consider. There is a lot of violent movement, which is enough to start loosening accessories like lights if they do not have a secure purchase. That is not the case here. The light and its far-forward mount remained locked in place over a few hundred rounds of buckshot and birdshot.
The pump-to-gun connection remained solid as well, and there is absolutely no play to be had.
Trucked Up
The Truckee series of handguards is bringing metal back to a platform that just might need it. I have used various polymer M-LOK handguards and barrel clamps, and time and time again, I find my accessories getting loose after long-range days. That is not a problem with the Truckee. Shotguns are violent tools, so metal might just be the key to keeping your gun up and running.
That’s a nice looking setup.
Itd be cool if you could find an adjustable beam width flash light that matched the spread of the pellets.
It looks nicer than the plastic stock guards but the smoothness does make me wonder about grip with wet hands, even with inserts added.
Could always add skateboard tape and switch out the cheese grater for the sander, I guess.