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Rusty Mossberg 500.. Help?

5

500buckshot

Copper BB
Hello everybody, I have this mossberg 500 that I picked up about a month or so ago. The gun was just about perfect when I got it. I cleaned and oiled it up then put about 100 rounds through it. After that I loaded it up, stuck it in my closet and forgot about it. Yesterday I went to get the gun out to shoot it and saw this.

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I have a problem with field mice getting in my house. I guess they decided that my shotgun would be a good place to make a nest on/pee all over. I cleaned some of the surface rust off the gun, but the problem I am having is that I can not get the gun open to unload it. There is a shell in the chamber and the mag is full. I tried to press the slide release button in to release the slide back, the button pushed up and got stuck there and the slide is still locked forward. I also tried to shoot the shell that is in the chamber, but when I pulled the trigger nothing happened, like the firing pin is rusted/seized up and can't move forward. I liberally sprayed the gun down with oil and waited 1 day thinking that it would free it up but it didn't work. Any ideas on what I should do? I mainly want to get the loaded shell out of the chamber. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you!
 
It's toast, better send it to me for disposal. :-D

Just remove the rust, paint or reblue the barrel and call it good. If it were me I would sand blast it, cerekote it and have a like new gun.
 
Ack, you certainly have your work cut out for you. :confused: This is the only thing that I could think of, so take it as you may. Since it has a pistol grip you have to take that off to take it down. Can you get the pistol grip off, then get the take down pin out? Once that's out the trigger assembly would just pull out under normal circumstances. With your gun in the shape it's in, it may put up a fight. If you can get the trigger assembly out, it might help getting the slide back.

Also, when you take the trigger assembly out, the cartridge stop and cartridge interrupter will fall out. Keep your thumb on the rounds in the magazine tube, because there won't be anything keeping them back. I forgot to take them out of the magazine tube once, and they went everywhere. :oops:
 
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It won't help that shotgun, but you should put some unused dryer sheets at various locations in the closet. Mice hate 'em and won't hang around where those sheets are.

Replace them every 6 months or so.

Mothballs work even better, but you probably don't want all of your clothes to smell like that.

I rented three large storage units to store all of my household items for several years. I scattered dryer sheets and mothballs throughout all of them and had no signs of mice at all.
 
Missed the part on getting it unloaded.

I would seriously just douse or soak it on oil until it comes apart. Can you depress the bolt release? If that alone does not work, you may need to take it to the woods, hold the button in and morter it to see if you can force it apart. Obviously making sure you are no where near the muzzle, maybe find a log or something closer to chest high. Though soaking it good should do the trick.

You could also just pop the pins on the trigger assembly and try to pull it out, once again making sure you are in a safe place with a backstop in case it does manage to go off
 
Wow, I've never seen anything quite like that from a month of storage!

I second (or third?) soaking it. I also second that you may be refinishing it. I don't know how easily the trigger group will come loose with it in battery, but I've never tried it.

What have you used to try and oil it with thus far?
 
Rossignol said:
Wow, I've never seen anything quite like that from a month of storage!

I second (or third?) soaking it. I also second that you may be refinishing it. I don't know how easily the trigger group will come loose with it in battery, but I've never tried it.

What have you used to try and oil it with thus far?
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Me either.

Get Penetrating oil on the bolt and action arms. Make sure the safety is on, and get it unloaded somehow. If you can't, take it to someone who can.

Then you can concentrate on sanding it down and cerakoting it, or duracoat or whatever you want to use.

You probably already know this, but it would be a good idea to get rid of the mice too.
 
The hammer has fallen, so it won't shoot when you pull the barrel off.

Have you ever had the barrel off of this gun? Can you unscrew the magazine cap and take the barrel off?
Then a dowel will push out the live round.

Then get the stopper, spring, follower, and the corroded rounds out of the tube.

The slide must be in mid position in order to disassemble the receiver easily.

Once you push out the trigger group release pin and pull the trigger group out, you'll have easy access to the rest of the action. Of course the pistol grip must come off first.

If you've never taken this gun apart watch the instructional videos. It's not that hard.

But I think your biggest problem was going to be that the aluminum parts of the gun are going to be severely damaged from the mouse urine.

This turns your Mossberg into a mouse urine battery with the barrel as the cathode and the receiver as a sacrificial anode. All that fluffy white stuff is your aluminum receiver melting away from Mouse pee into Aluminum oxide.

Unfortunately there's every likelihood that the entire receiver is ruined if there's too much of this inside.
A good soak in a vinegar and water will neutralize the mouse pee and then rinse out thoroughly with water and then use a water displacement oil like WD-40 and soak the snot out of that gun.
 
Yeah the diesel fuel is a good idea, or kerosene, or mineral spirits paint thinner. But a drum of that stuff costs as much as a used shotgun!

I'd wrap it up tight with plastic all the way except for the muzzle and pour in a pint of something like diesel oil that won't dissolve the plastic. That will only cost about $3.

But I would definitely neutralize the ammonia soaked oxides first, as they're just going to make your oil less effective.

You need to wash it with hot water and a mild acid like vinegar or Jasco metal prep diluted with water. Let that work for a little while then scrub it in and wash it all off with hot soapy water.

Then dry out well with compressed air, and then spray with WD-40 which displaces the water from the cracks in the metal.

The WD-40 is not really a permanent lubricant. It evaporates away and you have to put real oil on the metal or it will Rust quickly.

That's the point where you want to soak it in oil.
 
IMHO The entire gun needs to be stripped to the last screw anyhow.

If 500Buckshot isn't qualified to do so, perhaps it's time to learn, or get another gun.
These guns are too cheap to spend any real money in restoring it.

But this gun likely has serious internal corrosion and likely will require many hours to make it reliable again.

The springs may well be corroded junk, so unreliable but of course they're cheap to replace. The aluminum receiver is the key. If it's corroded on the internal "rails" how do you replace the missing metal?

You can't. You just junk it.
 
,,,,,,,after a week or so in the diesel bath,,,,,,empty out the old ammo,,,,,,load a new shell,,,,,,,and i'll bet a shinny nickel it'll work..

It's a MOSSBERG!!!!!!!
 
Maybe we could get John Cameron Swayze to toss it in a cement mixer later... ;)
 
Emorris said:
WD - 40 PB blaster or some KANO KROIL and some careful manhandling
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THIS ^^^^^^!!!!

As there is a round in the chamber it is possible the hammer is "stuck" and just waiting to fall and possibly fire! :eek: The muzzle must be pointed in a safe direction until you get it apart. :eek:

I would pull the pistol grip and trigger group if you can get them off. Use the spray tube to get into various nooks and crannies in the receiver. Also see if you can get the barrel off--a padded vice may help with this. I've seen worst corrosion--I think it is fixable and it will certainly have character now. :rolleyes: ;) Maybe rattle can it once it is cleaned up and put back together.

We will need to see pictures of your progress, please! And Welcome Aboard, Buck! :)
 
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