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Mossberg 500 Stealth

Mossberg 500 Stealth

The humble .410 cartridge is much maligned, but quite frankly I think it is one of the best, most useful shotgun cartridges available for the vermin or pest shooter. People think that because of its size it is ineffective; how wrong they are – a No 6 shot pellet travelling at 1250fps is the same, whether it is shot from a 410-gauge or 10-gauge, it’s just pellet load count and shot column size that makes a real difference.

In a normal range environment, and especially in and around farmyards, the nimble .410 cartridge is king, although I also like the 28-gauge. It has a unique place in the shotgunner’s arsenal and none more so when it is coupled with a silenced barrel arrangement. In this guise, you have a very effective short-range vermin tool that is very versatile.

The Stealth series of shotguns is made by York Guns and is based on the Mossberg pump shotgun, or a single barrelled Baikal shotgun. It is available in .410, 20g and 12-bore calibres but it is the Mossberg 500 Stealth that I have on test here.

Take stock

I have tested the synthetic version of the Stealth in 20g before and they make a very practical choice. The only problem is it is quite hollow feeling and therefore light and with the moderator it unbalances the gun. Not so with this wood version. I prefer it to be honest, for two reasons. Firstly, as I said it, balances the Stealth far better than synthetic because it’s solid and yes it adds more weight, about 0.5lb, so what? It feels far better in the hand. It is a pale soft wood, with matt lacquered finish and some actually quite good chequering to the pistol grip and deep scalloped forend for grip. Secondly, it feels more robust and is warmer to the skin, which may sound odd but it makes a difference.

You always have the option with the wood stock to have it coated, painted or hydrographic coated, therefore having the benefits of both synthetic and wood. It also has a good thick ventilated recoil pad and a length of pull of 14.25-inches.

Action stations

The action is a typical American pump system that is functional rather than aesthetic. The model 500 Mossberg was always meant as a budget gun and it makes the whole Stealth system very affordable. It is available as here as a Section 2 shotgun three shot, i.e. one up the spout and two in the mag, or a five shot FAC if you like.

The trim action is still all steel, with a matt black paint scheme to it, so practical but this .410-gauge version does not have the top of the receiver drilled and tapped for a scope mount, as its larger brother does.

That’s a shame and your only option is a rib mounted, onepiece mount from an aftermarket extra. You have twin action bars that operate the slide or pump action and it works with a mechanical grace all its own. It will not wear out quickly, that’s for sure. Once cycled, it is locked solid but can be released via a bolt release button situated behind the left side of the trigger. The safety is well positioned, also on the top rear of the action and is back for OFF and forward, red dot showing, for ON.

The slim 410 gauge cartridges are loaded the standard way, down through the sprung loading gate and up into the forend magazine; you can easily load 2-, 2½- or 3-inch shells. I cock the action, load one up the spout and then close, followed by two up the magazine.

As far as cartridge manipulation goes, the Stealth is ultra reliable, with a positive solid action and the positive, twin claw extractor at the nine and three o’clock position really help in this respect. Ejection is by a simple spur set into the left hand sidewall of the action and is as positive as the speed of racking the action.

Barrel roll

This is where the magic happens. As a suppressed gun, a semiauto is never that reliable, it can be done but a pump action is perfect. The Stealth uses the standard 24-inch barrel that has a fixed full choke that protrudes from the forend, so the addition of a sound moderator poses no problems.

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The rib remains, with an aluminium fixing collar welded to the point where the barrel attachment nut is situated. This is replicated at the muzzle end, with another collar of 1.35-inch diameter. In between these two collars, the barrel is ported 12 times, six holes on each side, with 4.32mm holes.

To cover all this, and supply the noise reduction, is the aluminium sleeve. This is 1.50-inches in diameter and is one piece and 16-inches total length. When fitted, it extends past the muzzle by eight-inches and the moderator mounts to the threaded section of the rear alloy collar and supported on the front one.

So now, as you fire, the ports in the barrel bleed off the expanding gases from the firing process and thus vent rearward down the rear section of the moderator, cooling as they go to reduce the overall noise levels; they finally vent through the front end of the moderator. This forward section of the mod has a one-piece, milled aluminium baffle stack of five inches. It has five circular holes drilled from one side to the other of 0.75- inch diameter each that form expansion chambers and baffle sections to retard, and cool the expanding gases on firing.

In the field

Having a sound moderator fitted, it is best to use subsonic ammunition for maximum sound reduction but you can safely shoot full power loads through the Stealth as well, but these will be noisier. Very importantly, the mod has been designed for use with both plastic and fibre wadded loads and the tight, full choke also helps in this regard. I had a stack of 410-gauge ammo to test but really the subs are where it is at but I did try some full power loads to check patterns and noise reduction.

As with any sound moderated shotgun or rifle, the location in which you fire it as any obstacles such as tress, hedges or building reflect noise.

Fiocchi’s 3-inch mags are one hot little 410-gauge round and have a max pressure of 1050-bar and are excellent performers in a semi and very good in a pump also; I had No 6 size shot, although denser patterns are obtained with the smaller No 7 or 8 shot. However, the striking energy from these little wonders really stretch the 410’s legs. In the Stealth at 30-yards., I had a total of 74 pellets on the board, with 16 pellets in the inner 15-inch circle and 58 pellets evenly distributed around these. A little sparse but No 7 or 8 shot would even this out, but the No 6 shot hits harder.

Noise-wise, I was actually very impressed, not as quiet obviously as the subs but on the open field it was very muted, although you did notice the increased recoil, still mild by shotgun standards.

Another supersonic load was the Game Bore Hunting, which I have used in the 410-gauge group test. Although their target version of this load is geared towards clay shooters, the Hunting version is good as a shorter-range feral pigeon and rat load. It has a 73mm case and uses the smaller No 7 shot size and a plastic wad for tighter patterns and 16-grams of lead. The 190 pellet payload translated into (at 30-yards with the full choke) of 116 pellets on the pattern board with a very good even, no-holes pattern. It had 85 pellet strikes around the inner 15-inch kill zone, of which 31 pellets hit. I would use this for pigeons and crows for sure.

The Eley Extra Long Subsonic is a three-inch plastic case, holding 18-gram load of No 6 shot, with a velocity drop to below 1100fps, designed to be very quiet in silenced weapons.

18-grams translates into 89 pellets at 30-yards hitting the pattern board. 68 No 6 shot in the outer sector and 21 in the inner 15-inch circle. At 25-yards, this ratio increases by 25%, so range is important. It was really quiet with only a hollow ‘throng’ as the pellets exited the bore and then you can hear the pellets/wad in flight.

Another good subsonic load was the Lyalvale Express Magnasonic. It uses a load of 17-grams of No 5 shot, so a theoretical 130 pellet payload but at 30-yards on full choke I had a quite tight pattern of 28 pellet in the inner circle on target and 61 pellets in the outer regions, for a total of 89 pellets. Funny enough, the same pellet count as the Eley subs but these had a tighter pattern with the larger shot.

Conclusion

The 20-gauge stealth is probably the best all-rounder but the .410-gauge I find has more uses, if that makes sense. It is a really useful bit of kit for vermin control and in truth shooting pigeons over decoys with the 3-inch loads. You won’t trouble any one with noise and disturbance.

  • Mossberg 500 Stealth - image {image:count}

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  • Mossberg 500 Stealth - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Mossberg 500 Stealth - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Mossberg 500 Stealth - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Mossberg 500 Stealth - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Mossberg 500 Stealth - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

gun
features

  • Make: Mossberg 500
  • Model: York Guns Stealth
  • Action: Pump
  • Overall length: 52 inches
  • Barrel length: 24-inches full choke
  • Barrel plus moderator: 32-inches
  • Magazine: Two shot
  • Stock: Wood
  • Price: £660
  • Contact: York Guns Ltd www.yorkguns.com Just Cartridges www.justcartridges.com Hull Cartridge www.hullcartridge.co.uk Eley Hawk www.eleyhawkltd.com
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