Mossberg 500a extractor fix....

[Boss Moss]

My older Mossberg 500a was not always extracting 100%, I took it to a good gunsmith, he told me that the 500 pumps can have this problem, and it is a "design" flaw.
It was is not the extractors, but the small cuts in the barrel where the extractors fit into.
The left side extractor was rounded off a bit due to the tight extractor grooves in the barrel.
The gunsmith milled out the extractor grooves in the barrel and touched up the left extractor and problem solved.
No more fail to extract.

 

[RichardL]

I'm almost hesitant to reply to this one, Boss, because it sounds like you got taken in by another "gunsmith". There is no design flaw on a Mossberg barrel. That left extractor is rounded so when it and the right one pull the hull out, the ejector on the inside left of the receiver can kick that hull off the left extractor and pop it out. If it's sharp, the ejector can't kick it out and you often get a broken extractor and a chipped/broken ejector. The right side one is sharp so it hooks tight....the left one is rounded so the ejector can kick the hull off of it. If you ever need to replace an extractor, always be sure to get the correct one. It sounds like you might have had a bad extractor spring not giving enough hold....those go bad and start sticking on older guns all the time. Just pop the extractor out, scrub it down good and scrub out the spring hole. Replace the spring and the extractor and see if the extractor moves then. If not, change the spring. A Mossberg 500 extractor spring is the exact same gauge as a Bic lighter flint spring, btw, if you ever need to craft one. If your extractor WAS bad as the smith said, it's a $5 part and literally five mins of work to replace it on your kitchen table. Simply put, unless you want a barrel cut or a stock adjusted, there's not much to ever let a smith do on it. They'll charge you literally five to ten times as much as you can do it for yourself in minutes.

This is a left;

https://www.brownells.com/userdocs/products/p_631000054_2.jpg

This is a right;

https://www.brownells.com/userdocs/products/p_631000053_3.jpg

Those are $14 brand new on Brownells. They go $5 each on Ebay or gunbroker.

 

[Boss Moss]

All I know is that it didn't function when I brought it to the smith, now it works flawlessly.

 

[RichardL]

That's all the matters. I agree. But I suggest you get to know your gun a bit and find out what you can and can not do. It's an easy gun to work on. There are only like five parts that you'll ever need to worry about repairing and all of those can be done literally in minutes. Congrats on your gun, Boss! Welcome to the forum, sir!