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How hard is it to access mag spring on 500?

DTL

.410
Thinking of picking up a 500 to compliment my a1. My concern is that in the event I need to access the magazine spring how hard is it to get to on a 500? I know its easy on the a1 but never dealt with a 500.
 
Not hard at all. Remove barrel,,,take a screw driver and pop out spring retainer(be careful the spring will pop out).

spring retainer.jpg
 
Old Mossy, That apears to be for a 590/590a1 mag tube no? Isn't it a little different on the 500?
 
No that picture is a 500.

Sorry I stand corrected,that is a 590 pic.:confused:
 
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Unscrew the mag tube. Yep. The first time it might be loctited and in that case, it's a couple of extra mins, but after that it's all hand tight no tools stuff. From the barrel off stage, it's no harder nor more difficult than the 590. Just hand twist it out and back in. Doesn't need to be loctited or anything.
 
It's never easy. Pulled many a 500 magazine tube over the years. Easiest way is 1: Stand the 500 up and apply nail polish remover with an eye dropper or Q-Tip into the magazine tube threads in the receiver. Repeat a few times. Let it sit for a while. The acetone breaks down the Loctite. Straight acetone will take the finish off, so avoid it. 2. You can use a hair dryer on high heat or a heat gun on the inside of the receiver towards the threaded end of the mag tube. Move the heat around the threaded end. Let it get hot. Ultimately the Loctite softens enough to remove the tube. 3. With the barrel off and your shoes on, wedge the butt stock between your feet and loosen with a rubber strap wrench counter clockwise. The strap wrench gets better torque near the end of the mag tube where the barrel would screw in. I've actually broken a strap wrench (Craftsman at that) and sometimes you have to reheat the threaded area to break the Loctite bond a few times. Vise grips and leather and all that has too much potential to dent the tube or scratch it up. A rubber strap wrench is harmless. Rule of thumb, the older the 500 the more difficult to remove the bond. Once off-sometimes it took major effort to break the bond-clean the threads of the remaining Loctite with nail polish remover. I always add Tetra grease to the threads. Loctite is factory overkill. Hand tight is good enough. Wolff makes an excellent replacement magazine spring. I've replaced many a mag spring for friends over the years. My 1985 (I bought it new in 1985) 500A with thousands of rounds and always 5 in the pipe in the gun safe 24/7 had the original mag spring in it when I finally replaced it because I just decided to this year. The 1985 magazine spring was still working fine after years of use, but I figured what the hey.............
 
Yep, just take off the barrel, slide the fore-end back, and with the stock between your feet and the gun upright, get a good grip on the mag. tube and unscrew it.
No harm to run a phosphor bronze cleaning brush up and down the mag, as crud builds up.
 
Yep, just take off the barrel, slide the fore-end back, and with the stock between your feet and the gun upright, get a good grip on the mag. tube and unscrew it.
No harm to run a phosphor bronze cleaning brush up and down the mag, as crud builds up.
That, too. Patches of Hoppe's #9 in the magazine tube drags out plenty of crud. Then swab it out dry and a spray of dry silicon or EEZOX. Don't want oil it.
 
It's never easy. Pulled many a 500 magazine tube over the years. Easiest way is 1: Stand the 500 up and apply nail polish remover with an eye dropper or Q-Tip into the magazine tube threads in the receiver. Repeat a few times. Let it sit for a while. The acetone breaks down the Loctite. Straight acetone will take the finish off, so avoid it. 2. You can use a hair dryer on high heat or a heat gun on the inside of the receiver towards the threaded end of the mag tube. Move the heat around the threaded end. Let it get hot. Ultimately the Loctite softens enough to remove the tube. 3. With the barrel off and your shoes on, wedge the butt stock between your feet and loosen with a rubber strap wrench counter clockwise. The strap wrench gets better torque near the end of the mag tube where the barrel would screw in. I've actually broken a strap wrench (Craftsman at that) and sometimes you have to reheat the threaded area to break the Loctite bond a few times. Vise grips and leather and all that has too much potential to dent the tube or scratch it up. A rubber strap wrench is harmless. Rule of thumb, the older the 500 the more difficult to remove the bond. Once off-sometimes it took major effort to break the bond-clean the threads of the remaining Loctite with nail polish remover. I always add Tetra grease to the threads. Loctite is factory overkill. Hand tight is good enough. Wolff makes an excellent replacement magazine spring. I've replaced many a mag spring for friends over the years. My 1985 (I bought it new in 1985) 500A with thousands of rounds and always 5 in the pipe in the gun safe 24/7 had the original mag spring in it when I finally replaced it because I just decided to this year. The 1985 magazine spring was still working fine after years of use, but I figured what the hey.............

Wow, that sounds like an awful lot of work if you need to access the spring in that tube but I do like the idea of a lighter 500 compared to my a1 for HD.
 
I like the weight of the 500 series. The A1 does swing a little heavy.

If you are like many shotgunners, your need to clean the magazine tube should be every ten years or so. Or never.

<smile>
 
Wow, that sounds like an awful lot of work if you need to access the spring in that tube but I do like the idea of a lighter 500 compared to my a1 for HD.

I believe he was offering many different solutions to tackle the problem. It wasn't linear. Just several different methods.
 
You don't have to mess with the tube to take off the spring.

You unscrew the tube cap, pop-up the retainer, and the spring just shoots right out.

I leave the little stamped sheet metal retainer out of my gun, because I find it's just easier to take the gun apart without that in it, and it really doesn't do anything for you as long as you remember to hold your hand over the spring when you take the cap off.

But you don't ever have to take the mag tube off of the gun unless you're actually going to change the tube. I don't know how we got sideways on to that subject.

Anyhow clean the spring well and clean the inside of that mag tube really well. They do get rusty and mine had some rust in it right from the factory.

Some people change the follower for an aftermarket follower, but mine seems just fine. I polished it up a bit and that's it.

My 500 only has 200 rounds through it so far, but it has broken in and now is as slick as snail snot. I am incredibly happy about the way my Mossberg operates.
 
The 500, Cadd, doesn't have the 835-type tube cap. The 500 is a closed tube that you unscrew the tube to get to the spring and follower. And Conn, pull your barrel and the innards and the forearm/slide action tube. Hold the receiver in front of you with the tube hanging down and hit the half inch of tube just below the receiver with a propane torch. Only takes a few secs. When you see the puff of smoke and smell the fumes, the loctite is gone and the tube unscrews easily. When you reassemble, screw the tube in tight hand tight. No tools. Tight hand tight. It'll take no tools to switch it out ever again.
 
Okay I'm all confused.
20161016_193412.jpg
That's my 500 broken down except for the mag tube is still attached.
This is the part that I tossed out.
20161016_204041.jpg
 
By the way I cannot imagine any reason at all to remove the mag tube from the receiver unless you needed to change it or straighten it, and frankly I would straighten it still attached to the receiver.

But I certainly recommend a thorough cleaning of that spring and tube, as mine was rusty from day 1.

The tube was not parkerized or blued inside on my gun. It was "in the white" as they say (which means that if they didn't oil or grease it, it's rusty.) I scrubbed it up with the bronze brush and oil.

I blued the inside of the tube with some Perma blue and then I gave it and the spring a very light coat of WD-40 Special Anti-corrosion oil.
 
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