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Magazine cap detent ball went bye bye...

L

Larry23433

.270 WIN
It never ends... (Karma for making fun of "JCinPA'" for loosing his safety detent ball lol)

The tiny spring loaded ball detent on one of my 590 barrels vanished (the part that makes the magazine cap go clicky clack while screwing it on)

Obviously this thing is just there to help keep the cap from loosening so is it safe to assume I could just ignore it and use some loctite on the threads of the magazine tube instead? Or anyone have a better idea? Not trying to be cheap just looking for a rational alternative since it's completely missing (shot across the room). Reading through old posts it seems the only way to actually get a new one is to send it to Mossberg and that seems drastic since it'll cost a fortune to ship and they won't do it under warranty since it's an old barrel.

Pic of what I mean.

PXL_20231007_114556833~2.jpg
 
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Hmmm… Maybe I was wrong about which was the better system?

Go to a bicycle shop. An old scroungy one.
Mossberg is not making a special size ball just for that gun. I’m sure it’s off the shelf.

It might even be the same as the ball in a typical skateboard bearing, also commonly used around the world for small drill motors.

By the way, I am freaking out a little bit because I didn’t remember that that ball existed. I haven’t shot the 500 in a while but I thought that cap was just retained by the tube spring pressure.
 
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CaddmannQ said:
Hmmm… Maybe I was wrong about which was the better system?

Go to a bicycle shop. An old scroungy one.
Mossberg is not making a special size ball just for that gun. I’m sure it’s off the shelf.

It might even be the same as the ball in a typical skateboard bearing, also commonly used around the world for small drill motors.

By the way, I am freaking out a little bit because I didn’t remember that that ball existed. I haven’t shot the 500 in a while but I thought that cap was just retained by the tube spring pressure.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it's not simply a ball, I managed to pop one out of another barrel to see how it works. It's actually a little plunger with a rounded end that is pressed in passed a ridge until it free floats with a spring under it. Definitely a proprietary part. If I recall correctly the 500 and maverick 88 have the ball on the barrel lockdown bolt itself and not on the barrel lug like the 590, but I may be mistaken. (Having thunderstorms and I'm too lazy to run out to the barn to look lol).

It doesn't effect the operation of the gun at all, just there to prevent it from vibrating loose. For now I just wrapped the threads with some Teflon tape to make the threads a little tighter which is actually pretty snug and may work fine. I'm not super worried about it but figured someone might have found a little diy hack.

PXL_20231007_163001801.jpg
 
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CaddmannQ said:
Hmmm… Maybe I was wrong about which was the better system?

Go to a bicycle shop. An old scroungy one.
Mossberg is not making a special size ball just for that gun. I’m sure it’s off the shelf.

It might even be the same as the ball in a typical skateboard bearing, also commonly used around the world for small drill motors.

By the way, I am freaking out a little bit because I didn’t remember that that ball existed. I haven’t shot the 500 in a while but I thought that cap was just retained by the tube spring pressure.
Click to expand...

Just looked through some pics, on the standard 500's the ball is indeed in the takedown screw. So if this happens on a 500 you can just replace the screw lol.

51jdhTZy2gL._AC_UF350,350_QL80_~2.jpg
 
Apex, you could hand tightening it and then put one small drop of locktite or some gasket sealer on the outside between the cap and the barrel lug. That way it would be easy to remove for maintenence.

Regards
 
Well once again Ernst to the rescue. He mentioned the GG&G light mount in another thread of mine. The GG&G mount essentially replaces the original detent ball anyway. So not only do I have a plan for my light mount, it'll solve this issue as well!

Mossberg-Shockwave-Light-Mount-2 (1)~2.jpg

I love it when fixing something means I get a legitimate excuse to buy new stuff! Lol
 
I had to make a little detent pin like that and I used the shank of a drill bit.

I found one that was within the right diameter (with a little polishing) and I cut it, drilled it, and rounded the end.

You can drill the shank of a drill bit with a drill bit because the shank is much softer than the tip and flutes.

I bought a nice gun cheap because it was misfiring on the owner. A revolver that wouldn’t stay in time correctly and it would hang fire or misfire. The tip of that pushed up the cylinder lock, and it was cracked from bad installation.

It wasn’t a rare part or anything. I just knew that I could make it faster than I could order it.

I made a new firing pins for my old antique shotgun the same way, from the shank of a drill bit.
 
Well unfortunately the GG&G mount I wanted won't work, and after speaking to the folks over there, it was not a good plan for my gun anyway because it would put the flashlight past the muzzle. I got an M-lok barrel clamp mount from them instead and will address the magazine cap with the teflon tape unless it fails and I'll try thread locker.
 
apexkeeper said:
Well unfortunately the GG&G mount I wanted won't work, and after speaking to the folks over there, it was not a good plan for my gun anyway because it would put the flashlight past the muzzle. I got an M-lok barrel clamp mount from them instead and will address the magazine cap with the teflon tape unless it fails and I'll try thread locker.
Click to expand...
Apex, can you just hit up the local auto parts or big box store and get one of those wavy spring washers? They are very thin and should be more than enough tension to keep the cap from coming loose.IMG_3499.jpeg
 
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Rodburner said:
Apex, can you just hit up the local auto parts or big box store and get one of those wavy spring washers? They are very thin and should be more than enough tension to keep the cap from coming loose.View attachment 29948
Click to expand...

Thanks, this is not a bad idea, the magazine spring is already putting spring tension on the cap but more tension couldn't hurt especially directly between the barrel lug and cap. Gotta dig through the McMaster catalog...
 

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