Over on Facebook, Jerry Miculek posted about a young lady getting her new JM Signature Mossberg 930. This sparked much though. Jerry is a great guy and I have had the pleasure of meeting him and talking with him at a SHOT Show “Media Range Day”. He is a Gentlemen to be sure, and one of the very best shooters in the world. He’s putting his stamp on a Mossy 930 should be more than enough to squelch all the Mossberg Haters out there. Mossberg makes some very good, solid, and reliable shotguns. They also make some real stupid crap as well… More on that later.
As I was thinking about this, the idea struck that S&W should buy O.F. Mossberg, lock stock and barrel. You see, S&W has wanted to get into the Shotgun Market for some time and have pretty much foundered in it. When you think S&W, you don’t think Shotguns and vice versa. A couple years ago S&W made a big attempt that flopped… Buying a factory to build Shotguns in Turkey. Well, this pretty much flopped because anyone with even one decent eye could see that these were the very same shotguns that have worn a number of brand names on them. Tri Star, Charles Daly, Interarms and a whole slew of mediocre badges that just didn’t get anyone interested. The store I work at is a full line S&W Dealer and we didn’t even order a single one.
S&W wanted to get into hunting… so they bought Thompson Center. TC is renowned for making serious hunting arms. Boom, S&W is a hunting company now. This is a good thing. I just wish TC’s Custom Shop remained open…but overall I think this was good thing for TC and for S&W. This move worked.
S&W could do the same thing with Mossberg and make it a success… But first, they would have to do a couple of things. 1. The guy that came up with the Chainsaw idea… fire him. 2. The guy that came up with the Road Blocker idea… fire him. If these are the same guy – fire those that Yes-Manned the creator and supported the idea. 3… and this one is very important… the guy that came up with the idea to dress a Lever Action up like an AR – Fire him, then go to his home and shoot his dog and burn his house to the ground and then salt the earth so that nothing grows there. If this is the same guy that came up with the Road Blocker and Chain Saw ideas… give him a blind fold and a cigarette and use those horrid things on him, starting at the knees. Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh. Just drop him off in Iran with an “I HATE ALLAH” T-Shirt. Give him a sporting chance.
In all seriousness though… those guns need to go away and all mention of them be removed from all company documentation. Mossberg should stand for serious use shotguns and that is all. Take those Lever Actions, brand them S&W, remove the tang safety, and make them look more Old Westy than Modern Lever. S&W could bank on that alone.
Kill off all the Mossberg bolt action rifles because they are just dogs and are competing against the TC Venture series when S&W doesn’t need an alternative to it’s own product that kinda sucks. If you have one that you like – good for you. I tried one and found I’d rather shoot Pool. But hey, everyone likes something silly sometimes. But Mossberg needs to get rid of the Silly. It’s embarrassing.
If S&W did this, they would have one hell of a good Tactical and Hunting combination.
+1 on everything but the dog killing (cat–maybe…).
I get pissed every time I see one of those stupid muzzle-thingy’s.
I have two Mossy 500’s that I love. The zombie-chainsaw-door buster-road weenie designs are sacrilege. IMO.
Rock on, Ogre!
Have a Mossberg 590 SP, 8 shot tube,speed feed stock ,Ghost ring sights,bayonet lug,excellent weapon. In late 70s briefly had a S@W 916 12 gauge. Sear would hang up unreliable in the extreme. Traded it in on a 6 inch blued Python
Pretty much agree. Though S&W’s 1300 pump gun seems to have been well thought of, back in the day. One thing I lacked in the armory was a serious shotty. Found a Mossberg 500 in one of the few pawn shops (here in Md.) that does guns f/$250, new extracters for $20, 18.5in. barrel(that takes choke tubes) f/$90 some bucks, butt-cuff, sling, good to go for less than 400 bucks. Won some bacon w/ it at a local turkey-shoot last yr., surprised some guys laughin’ at the “street sweeper”.
I wouldn’t get rid of everything in their rifle line, just give it to TC to perfect. I think the MVP rifle (takes AR mags) is a great idea for hunting prairie dogs and other varmints. Though, I do wonder why do this if you already have an AR? The AR I built for my wife (A2 stock and 24″ barrel) is more accurate than what I have seen coming from various reviews of the MVP.
I also think their lightning trigger is a great idea for hunting rifles. If TC perfected these, I think they would be great.
It is a great idea… But the gun sucks and has pathetic accuracy.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention their (Mossy) crappy rimfire “AR” thingie that for some reason they think is cool looking and something that people actually want.
I don’t want to think about those.
Got to shoot a 930 JM a few weekends ago, will eventually get one for 3-gun. It shot just as well as my friends Benelli M2, actually felt a little softer. Just need to see how it will hold up. But first impressions were outstanding!
I’ll say that Mossberg can make very accurate rifles – I had an ATR that was 1″ groups all day. And that kind of accuracy for 2 bills is a silly thing to off.