Since 1961, the Mossberg 500 has been in production. Over 11 million have been produced in just about every configuration you can picture. The Mossberg 500 series evolved into the 590 at the military’s behest, and while it keeps the same receiver, there are some changes to the magazine tube and barrel design.
Variants of the Mossberg 500
When you have a gun in production that long, there are going to be some variants people have forgotten. Some are special editions, and others, well, some got a little weird. As an enjoyer of weird guns and shotguns, my favorite genre of firearms is weird shotguns. From the annals of Mossberg’s history, here are five weird variants of the Mossberg 500.
Mossberg 590DA
The Mossberg 590DA might be one of the rarest Mossberg 500/590 variations. The 590DA was aimed at the law enforcement market and was an attempt to provide a Mossberg shotgun that matched the trigger pull of revolvers and double-action automatics.
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The DA stands for double action. It had a longer, heavier trigger pull. It wasn’t a true, traditional double-action. Instead, when the pump was cycled, the hammer half-cocked and the trigger fully cocked and released the hammer. If there was a failure to fire, the trigger could not restrike by any means.
A batch of LEO trade-in 590DAs recently came up for sale, but sadly, I missed out on grabbing one. These didn’t seem to be in production very long.
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Mossberg 500 Rolling Thunder
Rolling Thunder is a helluva name. It’s one of my favorite cult-classic revenge films, the name of a shotgun-reloading drill, and the name of a unique edition of the Mossberg 500. The Rolling Thunder was a pistol grip only (PGO) shotgun with a 23-inch long barrel. In reality, it’s an 18.5-inch or so barrel with an absolutely bonkers muzzle device.
It’s listed as a barrel stabilizer. It’s a big chunk of aluminum attached to the barrel. This thing has 22 ports that make it look and theoretically act as a compensator. What’s also interesting is that this is a heavy-profile barrel. Heavy profile barrels are common on 590A1s, but they aren’t common on Mossberg 500 models.
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The Rolling Thunder was designed to be a “compact” option. It’s compact without a stock, but overly long compared to other PGO options with 18.5-inch barrels. Any recoil mitigation was likely due to the tall-boy-sized muzzle device and the weight it added rather than the effect of the ports.
Mossberg 500 Road Blocker
Another oddball pistol-grip-only gun with a weird muzzle device is the Mossberg 500 Road Blocker. Ithaca had previously used the Road Blocker moniker to describe their short-barrel, semi-auto 10-gauge. Much like the Rolling Thunder, the name is familiar to shotgun enthusiasts.
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Like the Rolling Thunder, this model of the 500 had a heavy-walled barrel. At the end was a tank-like muzzle device. It’s identical in design to the muzzle device found on Barrett .50 BMG rifles. Unlike the Rolling Thunder’s stabilizer, I could see this muzzle brake actually working. I bet it’s loud as hell, too!
The Road Blocker wasn’t produced in any great numbers and seems to be incredibly rare these days. If you find one, let me know.
Compact Cruiser
It’s a real shame that Mossberg has gotten out of the NFA business. One of their last iterations of NFA Mossberg 500 shotguns wasn’t a shotgun, but an AOW (Any Other Weapon). The Compact Cruiser shares DNA with the Serbu Super Shorty. It’s stockless, pistol grip only, and exceptionally small.
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The Compact Cruiser held two rounds of 2.75-inch shells and fired from a 7.5-inch barrel. The gun is absurdly small and light. Mossberg added a vertical folding pistol grip, much like the Serbu Super Shortys of yesteryear.
The Compact Cruiser is a beastly gun, and Mossberg produced a limited number. These have become highly collectible today. Maybe Mossberg will dip their toe back into the NFA world in the near future.
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590M Breacher
Speaking of NFA items, Mossberg makes the 590M Breacher for the Law Enforcement market. The 590M Breacher is a magazine-fed shotgun using Mossberg double-stack magazines. This allows the gun to be exceptionally short but not limit its capacity. The magazines range from 5 to 20 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition.
The 590M Breacher uses a Shockwave-style grip or a normal grip with an 11.5-inch barrel. Mossberg’s micro-sized M-LOK pump-action forend is present and accounted for. At the end of the barrel is a breaching barrel device to press it right against the door without risking rupturing the barrel.
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This thing, converted from AOW to SBS with a stock, would be a compact shotgun without the magazine limitations of a tubular magazine. Hopefully, Mossberg will bring this to the commercial market. They’d sell at least one—to me.
Conclusion
The Mossberg 500 is 64 years old. It can collect Social Security at this point. It’s not a big surprise that there were some oddities along the way. I, for one, embrace the weird, the different, and the attempts to do things better.
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