Admittedly these sights aren’t very rugged and will be removed fairly soon and replaced with a red dot anyway. I added a set of TAC Star bolt on sights. You have to aim at their belly button to hit them in the chest. The Mossberg appears to hit high if you rely on the bead sight. Other companies figured out long ago to raise that bead. The main problem I have with Mossberg and their bead sights is the fact it’s pasted directly to the barrel. Adding an Opsol mini clip might be a great way to go if mini shells are your thing. Some 1.75-inch mini shells cycle fairly well but are not reliable enough for anything but plinking.

The gun blasts through anything from two inches to 3 inches long. Mossberg pumps famously have a bit of slack to them, but the 500 Retrograde feels smooth and rapid.Īs a pump action, it’s awesomely reliable. The action cycles rapidly and fairly smoothly. This helps you beat recoil and makes the light gun kicks a lot less like a mule and a bit more like a mad rabbit. The aggressive texturing of the pump and the pistol grip texturing makes a good push-pull technique easy. Mounting the gun is easy, and the comb aligns well with the bead sight. It might feel a little long for some, but at 13.78 inches with the recoil pad, it’s not terrible. It’s fairly ergonomic with a decent length of pull. A light gun is an easy-to-manipulate gun. Light is good with shotguns, and a light gun is an agile gun. The gun weighs only 6.75 pounds, so it’s nice and light. The finish is a nice rich black finish that’s a bit glossy and deliciously old school. A matching sling swivel sits attached to the stock as well. The magazine tube is capped at five rounds, and at the end of the tube sits a sling swivel. The barrel is 18.5 inches long and fit with a standard gold bead sight. At the end of the stock sits a classic recoil pad. The stock is also dark wood with a textured pistol grip. This means you get a nice aggressive level of grip texture. This includes the famed honeycomb pump action. The wood furniture also takes an old-school approach. The Mossberg 500 Retrograde wears wood furniture with a dark finish. The term riot gun is a bit an old-school term that goes back to the first successful pump action shotgun, the Winchester Model 1897. Pump action shotguns are the most common riot guns. So what’s a riot gun? Typically they are defined as repeating shotguns with 18 to 20-inch barrels and simplistic operation.

Old mossberg shotguns