Mossberg 535 12 Gauge Shotgun

When choosing a shotgun several factors need to be considered. You will need to find out if the shotgun can be modified or not. You may need to make some modifications and/or accessorize your shotgun based on your preferences and your stature. You must also consider your budget. Be realistic about what you can afford. Do some research on your state laws concerning firearms before purchasing. Have your gunsmith do the modifications to ensure you are within state laws.

The shotgun is one of the most versatile guns made. You are able to use it for target practice, hunting (either large or small game and fowl), or for home protection. Consider why you are purchasing a firearm. Is the shotgun the best firearm for you and your needs? Chances are that the good old fashioned shotgun will fit into your category. Proper selection of a fighting (tactical) shotgun and effective ammunition, combined with training gives the defensive shooter one of the most devastating firearms possible.

Who are you purchasing the shotgun for? Is it a beginner shooter? Then I would recommend a Mossberg 20 gauge shotgun. The first reason is that many modifications can be made to this shotgun if necessary . A good example would be this: A woman living alone and wanting the shotgun for home protection purposes. The Mossberg 20 gauge shotgun with a shortened barrel would be easier to learn how to handle and shoot versus a 12 gauge because of its weight and recoil.

A more experienced shooter would be able to go with a 12 gauge because it has a wide variety of ammunition. The range is from reduced recoil rounds to heavy load rounds. This is important because depending on the experience of the shooter, one may go from light loads (which have less recoil) to heavy loads (which have more recoil). It is not recommended for an inexperienced shooter to begin with ammunition that has a heavy recoil. Safety first, so learn how to handle your firearm responsibly.

The Mossberg 535 ATS 12 gauge shotgun has the same frame as the Mossberg 500 shotgun. Mossberg sells it for use in turkey hunting. They do sell a slug barrel for the shotgun which is interchangeable. This gives you the option for big game hunting capability. When you purchase an extra barrel, you can have it shortened to 17 1/2 inches. With the addition of Truglo fiber optics you will have a good home defense shotgun. Before we go any farther, we will need to take a look at the anatomy of the shotgun.

It is always wise to learn about your firearm before you purchase it. It is important to understand the mechanics. This will come in very handy when it is time to clean your shotgun. A shotgun should be cleaned after each use to ensure that there are no malfunctions the next time you are in need of it.

For this explanation, we will use my Mossberg 535 12 gauge shotgun as the example. I prefer to use my own shotgun because this is the particular shotgun that I feel is a better choice for home defense. First we will go over the basic parts and later I will go into more detail about each one.

We will begin with the barrel. The barrel on my Mossberg 535 12 gauge shotgun has been modified. It was shortened to a length of 17.5 inches. The barrel is chambered at (made to be able to shoot) 3.5 inch magnum. This is the largest 12 gauge ammunition for those who didn't know. My preferences regarding ammunition and why will be imparted to you at a later date on another lens because this can get very complicated to explain in detail. I had the barrel shortened to this length because of the length of the magazine tube (located just below the barrel). The barrel on this particular shotgun was able to be shortened because extentions that would allow a shotgun to hold more ammunition are not available with this model.

The site which is located at the tip of the barrel is a bead. Halfway down the barrel you have something called a site indiger (a half-bead) which is your rear site. When I shortened my barrel, I lost the front site so I added a Truglo fiber optics front site. This put my rear site very close to the front site, so I added a Truglo rear site which sits much farther down the top of the barrel. This allows for much easier thus faster targeting.

I chose the Truglo Fiber Optics Front Site because it is a heavy duty site. If you are going to put sites on your shotgun it should be able to withstand the recoil. Truglo Sites are made for shotguns and are time tested. They are easy to install, but be careful of where you put your shotgun when travelling. I broke the fiber optics on mine. It should have a red optic across the top. However, they are easy to replace.

I chose the Truglo fiber optics adjustable rear site because it comes as a set when you purchase the front site. Tactical shotguns usually just have a bead. I wanted to give some depth to the look of the barrel. It is pretty darn accurate when shooting slugs.

When you look down the barrel of your shotgun through a Truglow fiber optics rear site, the rear sites are green and the front site is red. This makes it easier for people who aim with both eyes open.

Let's talk a little bit about what I call the forward hand grip. The proper name for it is the "forend" or "forearm". It serves several purposes. The first purpose is that it gives the shooter a place to put their free hand to balance the weight of the shotgun. This is important for several reasons. When aiming, you start with the shotgun pointed downward and you swing the tip upward while holding either the stock or your pistol grip with your other hand.

The second reason is that on pump shotguns, this is how you load or eject a shell (ammunition). You do this by pulling the forward handgrip back. Pulling for ejecting and pushing forward for loading. This motion is called "the pull". That's when you hear the chk,chk sound. That sound alone will scare the heck out of people. An intruder will know immediately that they are in an unsafe area and that you are packing some heavy duty weaponry.

The third reason is that Mossberg shotguns have dual action slide bars which puts even pressure on the bolt. This makes for longer lasting parts.

The Blackhawk Knoxx Recoil Reducing Stock was my choice for alot of reasons. Unlike the Mossberg 500 this gun is chambered for a 3.5 inch magnum shell, it is going to have alot of kick. This stock has two systems that reduce recoil. One is in the pistol grip and the other is in the stock itself. When fired the barrel assembly and the receiver actually ride back into the stock. You can actually see what I am talking about if you stand your gun on a stable flat surface and push down on it. You will note that right behind the pistol grip there is a gap. This is where it rides back into. There is a spring in there that stops it from having a dry hit against a solid stock. It has an upward angle to it that raises the back of the shotgun. This makes a very big difference when you need to aim for another quick shot. This allows you to bring the tip of the shotgun down faster because it is not kicked as high during the recoil.

There is another spring in the stock as well further reducing the recoil. If you have ever shot a 12 gauge shotgun without this stock, believe me when I tell you that you will appreciate all that it does for you. For those of you who have never shot a shotgun this means that you will be much less sore after shooting a whole box of shells.

This stock has 6 adustable length settings. This means that you can adjust it to fit the length of your arms comfortably. This will reduce the swing even more. You can put a shell saddle on the side to hold extra ammunition. Blackhawk has a ton of accessories for this stock.

The reciever houses the firing mechanism of the shotgun. It houses the injection port, the shell feed port and the bolt and trigger assembly mechanism. Beside the trigger mechanism is slide release. This release the lock so that you can pull your slide back.

The proper name for the receiver is "the bolt ejection port". This is an complicated piece so just watch the video on how to disassembe and assemble your shotgun that I have included for you.

The Mossberg 535 12 gauge shotgun has an ambidextrous safety feature that is located at the top rear of the receiver. For those of you who are not familiar with shotguns, this receiver is what houses the trigger. It has two positions which are "safety on" and "safety off".

You should never fully trust the safety mechanism just in case it is malfunctioning.

The "safety on" position is when it is pulled back towards the stock of the shotgun. The "safety off" position is when it is pushed fully forward towards the tip of the barrel. You will know when the safety is off if you see a red dot behind it.

On this photo you will see a place where the receiver is already tapped for a scope. This would be the double dots in front of the safety on top of the shotgun. Tapped simply means that is already predrilled for the scope mount.

I recently purchased a Mossberg 535 12 gauge shotgun from a friend of mine and had a few modifications done to it. I have to give credit to the people who did the modifications on this shotgun. They did a wonderful job. Let's give a big Whooaahh to Bayou Teche Gun Shop located in Arnaudville, Louisiana! Let me know if you would like to contact them.

I chose this particular shotgun because it was within my budget, but also because of its longstanding history of the company since 1919. I shortened the barrel length from 24 inches to 17.5 inches. I did this for the balance and the swing of the shotgun. The balance is important in finding your target in your sites. Proper weight distribution in each hand is very important here. The swing is finding your target from rest position to firing position. The longer your weapon is, the longer it takes to get it into firing position. This also is important when rounding corners. The shorter barrel also reduces the react time for the intruder.

Shortening the barrel will cause more recoil, so to reduce the recoil I added a Blackhawk Knoxx Recoil Reducing Stock. This stock has two reducing systems to it. One is in the grip and one is in the buffer spring. The Mossberg 535 offers a 3.5 inch chamber. The chamber is what holds the ammunition. This allows for a choice for shooting a wide range of ammunition. This stock is 2.5 inches shorter than the standard stock when fully collapsed. It has 6 adjustable positions. It is 3/4ths of an inch longer than the standard stock when it is fully extended.

I bought the Mossberg 535 12 ga. shotgun for home protection. I am using a buck and ball ammo. I find this is the best ammo for home protection. This ammo will go through walls. This is a fine choice for me because it is only myself and my wife in the house. This is not recommended for homes with children. For example an intruder happens to be in front of your daughter's bedroom. You miss and end up hitting your daughter because it went through the wall.

This ammo does make for a higher recoil. The Blackhawk Knoxx Recoil Reducing stock is superb in recoil reduction with this type of ammo. It also makes it easier for my wife who is small in stature to operate the shotgun. I plan to purchase a Mossberg 20 gauge shotgun for my wife. It is much better suited to a person of smaller stature and all of these modifications can be done to this shotgun as well.

The next modification I had done was to add a Truglo Fiber Optic front site. The rear site was also modified by adding a Truglo Fiber Optic Adjustable rear site. When you purchase this rear site it comes with either a two-dot or ghost sites. I chose the two-dot because I was trained on a two-dot system in the military.

In the future, I plan to purchase a slug barrel. Most of the slug barrels that are out there are 24 inch barrels, but I plan to cut this one back to 17.5 inches as well. My reason for wanting a slug barrel is because I want to go with a hollow point slug.

To be proficient with a firearm you have to shoot it alot with your ammunition of choice. Be aware that you may be sore after shooting a few boxes of ammo.