JCinPA
.270 WIN
Executive Summary: My standard 930 Field & Security Combo has been modified with
- XS Big Dot Tritium front shotgun sight
- OR3GUN CSP & ASR combo
- OR3GUN MST, multi-purpose, Teflon coated
- OR3GUN Competition (blue) magazine tube follower (-5% SR)
- Military style simple sling
- BrownCoat Tactical shot card
It has run 100 1-1/8 ounce Winchester and 25 1 ounce Estate target shells through the 28” barrel, and it has run 100 Federal low-recoil 9-pellet 00 Buck, LE 132, through the security barrel without a single malfunction. This was done in one range outing starting with a clean gun, no cleaning or lubrication during firing the 225 shells.
Long version (too long--I'm kinda known for this) if you’re interested …
So, I’ve always been of the popular persuasion that pump shotguns are THE way to go for defensive use because pumps “always work”. Until recent years, most folks eschewed semi-auto shotguns for defensive use. That was likely driven by the American publics’ inherent trust in anything the military uses, and that was limited to pump shotguns until 1999 when the Marines adopted the M1014 gas-operated Benelli. Now the perception of semi-auto shotguns as defensive tools seems to be changing with the public as well. Maybe it’s been going on for a long time, and I’m just now becoming aware of it, I don’t know, but two things happened that steered me toward a Mossberg 930 for defensive use.
First, I have a Mossberg 500A field gun with 28” barrel, and because of the current market conditions, I cannot find an 18.5” security barrel for it to save my life. Well, I can, but I’m not paying $250 for one on FleaBay. Second, I became aware that my belief that pump shotguns “always work” is not true. Within days of reading about the occasional elevator issue with Mossberg 500’s a 500C I sold to a friend locked up on him. I have not had it back to try to diagnose it yet, but now I realize while pumps may (on average) be more reliable than semi-autos, they are not magical beasts impervious to malfunctions. I happened to have a 930 “Field & Security” combo sitting around the house, so that solved the unobtainium nature of a security barrel for the 500.
So I began to read here, voraciously, and watched as many 930 YouTube videos as I could find. I’m impressed the 930 is popular as a 3-Gun competition choice, as well, so I started to think about this logically. What kinds of malfunctions could happen with a gas-operated semi-auto shotgun that would not happen with a pump and why? Well, it could get crudded up badly by high-volume shooting (as in competition-or combat conditions) and it is less likely to run reliably than a pump gun does when crudded up. Cleaning is more critical for a gas gun than a pump. But I’m not going to do high-volume shooting because I do not compete, and never will, and I’m OCD about cleaning. So this is not a huge factor for me.
Is it a more complex action? Well, yes. Bleeding gas from behind the shell as it travels down the barrel, and that gas operating a short-stroke piston which in turn actuates the bolt is more complex than pulling a pump gun slide to the rear. Likewise, the recoil spring returning the bolt to battery while loading another shell is more complex than running the pump slide forward again. But I began to think that if the gun were clean enough and the recoil system was properly tuned to the loads used, this complexity should not necessarily result in more unreliability. These two things are critical, however—the gas gun must run as cleanly as possible in combat environments so as not to get crudded up, and the recoil system must be both bombproof and correctly tuned to the intended defensive load.
Most of the modifications with after-market parts for the 930 are aimed at these two issues, although some parts are designed specifically for competition use, like dual or quad speed loading modifications, lightening of the spacer tube to promote faster cycling, enlarging the controls, and other things I don’t care about. Below are the parts I chose and the rationale behind each choice, as well as why I did not choose some mods.
OR3GUN Competition Spring Plunger and Adjustable Spring Retainer
Rationale? These guns are commonly not 100% reliable with light target loads with the field barrel, and, although perhaps less often, they are not 100% reliable with low-recoil buckshot with the security barrel. My gun may run like a scalded dog out of the box (many here report theirs does), but the prevalence of light load issues on at least a meaningful percentage of guns logically indicates that the gun’s gas system is right on on the cusp of reliability/unreliability with these loads. I could have just gotten the CSP and had a 10% reduction in spring rate, and that likely would have made my gun 100% reliable. However, I have a less is more philosophy, so I also got the ASR, because I could then go with just a 5% spring rate reduction if that would do the trick. And in the unlikely event a 10% reduction did not do the trick, I could go all the way to -15%. If I end up on the 10% reduction, the ASR money was wasted, but if I can get off the cusp of unreliability at -5% (or if I need the -15%) then it is money well-spent. And I saved a second shipping charge. It turns out the -5% SR reduction did the trick, so I am glad I got it, even if it was not strictly necessary (if -5% worked then surely -10% would have as well), and I could have just gotten the CSP, but I’m glad I have a reliable gun closer to factory spec.
continued
- XS Big Dot Tritium front shotgun sight
- OR3GUN CSP & ASR combo
- OR3GUN MST, multi-purpose, Teflon coated
- OR3GUN Competition (blue) magazine tube follower (-5% SR)
- Military style simple sling
- BrownCoat Tactical shot card
It has run 100 1-1/8 ounce Winchester and 25 1 ounce Estate target shells through the 28” barrel, and it has run 100 Federal low-recoil 9-pellet 00 Buck, LE 132, through the security barrel without a single malfunction. This was done in one range outing starting with a clean gun, no cleaning or lubrication during firing the 225 shells.
Long version (too long--I'm kinda known for this) if you’re interested …
So, I’ve always been of the popular persuasion that pump shotguns are THE way to go for defensive use because pumps “always work”. Until recent years, most folks eschewed semi-auto shotguns for defensive use. That was likely driven by the American publics’ inherent trust in anything the military uses, and that was limited to pump shotguns until 1999 when the Marines adopted the M1014 gas-operated Benelli. Now the perception of semi-auto shotguns as defensive tools seems to be changing with the public as well. Maybe it’s been going on for a long time, and I’m just now becoming aware of it, I don’t know, but two things happened that steered me toward a Mossberg 930 for defensive use.
First, I have a Mossberg 500A field gun with 28” barrel, and because of the current market conditions, I cannot find an 18.5” security barrel for it to save my life. Well, I can, but I’m not paying $250 for one on FleaBay. Second, I became aware that my belief that pump shotguns “always work” is not true. Within days of reading about the occasional elevator issue with Mossberg 500’s a 500C I sold to a friend locked up on him. I have not had it back to try to diagnose it yet, but now I realize while pumps may (on average) be more reliable than semi-autos, they are not magical beasts impervious to malfunctions. I happened to have a 930 “Field & Security” combo sitting around the house, so that solved the unobtainium nature of a security barrel for the 500.
So I began to read here, voraciously, and watched as many 930 YouTube videos as I could find. I’m impressed the 930 is popular as a 3-Gun competition choice, as well, so I started to think about this logically. What kinds of malfunctions could happen with a gas-operated semi-auto shotgun that would not happen with a pump and why? Well, it could get crudded up badly by high-volume shooting (as in competition-or combat conditions) and it is less likely to run reliably than a pump gun does when crudded up. Cleaning is more critical for a gas gun than a pump. But I’m not going to do high-volume shooting because I do not compete, and never will, and I’m OCD about cleaning. So this is not a huge factor for me.
Is it a more complex action? Well, yes. Bleeding gas from behind the shell as it travels down the barrel, and that gas operating a short-stroke piston which in turn actuates the bolt is more complex than pulling a pump gun slide to the rear. Likewise, the recoil spring returning the bolt to battery while loading another shell is more complex than running the pump slide forward again. But I began to think that if the gun were clean enough and the recoil system was properly tuned to the loads used, this complexity should not necessarily result in more unreliability. These two things are critical, however—the gas gun must run as cleanly as possible in combat environments so as not to get crudded up, and the recoil system must be both bombproof and correctly tuned to the intended defensive load.
Most of the modifications with after-market parts for the 930 are aimed at these two issues, although some parts are designed specifically for competition use, like dual or quad speed loading modifications, lightening of the spacer tube to promote faster cycling, enlarging the controls, and other things I don’t care about. Below are the parts I chose and the rationale behind each choice, as well as why I did not choose some mods.
OR3GUN Competition Spring Plunger and Adjustable Spring Retainer
Rationale? These guns are commonly not 100% reliable with light target loads with the field barrel, and, although perhaps less often, they are not 100% reliable with low-recoil buckshot with the security barrel. My gun may run like a scalded dog out of the box (many here report theirs does), but the prevalence of light load issues on at least a meaningful percentage of guns logically indicates that the gun’s gas system is right on on the cusp of reliability/unreliability with these loads. I could have just gotten the CSP and had a 10% reduction in spring rate, and that likely would have made my gun 100% reliable. However, I have a less is more philosophy, so I also got the ASR, because I could then go with just a 5% spring rate reduction if that would do the trick. And in the unlikely event a 10% reduction did not do the trick, I could go all the way to -15%. If I end up on the 10% reduction, the ASR money was wasted, but if I can get off the cusp of unreliability at -5% (or if I need the -15%) then it is money well-spent. And I saved a second shipping charge. It turns out the -5% SR reduction did the trick, so I am glad I got it, even if it was not strictly necessary (if -5% worked then surely -10% would have as well), and I could have just gotten the CSP, but I’m glad I have a reliable gun closer to factory spec.
continued