John, I REALLY apologize for the wait on this one, big guy. I tossed my back out a week or so back and I'm not too mobile so I'm going back through old posts.
The action tube....if you think about it, its only real use is to provide a strong working base for the wood. If the wood is long, long tube. If the wood is short, short tube. There is even the mega-rare Regal tube that's 8 and something inches long for the longer walnut forearm. The longer tube is still on most all tactical models...the shorter one is on most sporting guns with wood forearms. The shorter forearm look just is the vogue these days. All are interchangeable, though, so it's not a big problem either way. If you're thinking of buying a new aftermarket tactical forearm, though, go for the 7 5/8"....it's still the standard. If the maker doesn't say 6 1/2", it's a 7 5/8".
Your safety problem....I just described the exact same prob in another post. Your safety connector, the little tab on the back of the trigger itself, is broken off. Your trigger isn't linking to the safety anymore. It comes from sticking an overly long stock bolt in and pulling the trigger. It's a simple, five minute fix to replace the trigger....and the Mav 88 trigger is the exact same part so if you have one of those, you can pop the trigger out of the Mav and install it in the Mossy. Put the Mossy trigger back into the Mav. Like I said, it's a simple five minute fix, only one trigger group pin, but if you're not comfortable with it, get someone else to do it. You can send the group back to Mossy and they'll replace the trigger for you free of charge.
