First Look: Mossberg 590 12-Gauge Shotgun

With the first gun I ever fired being a single shot 12 gauge without a padded butt stock, I knew I would have to eventually find one to fit my needs and personality. I had been drooling over a Benelli Nova for quite some time. However, the Benellis were right next to the Remington shotguns, which put me into an even greater predicament. It wasn’t until I found a used Mossberg 590 with the collapsible ATI top-folding stock that I found the one, or at least the ideal model I was searching for.

About a week later I picked up a brand new Mossberg 590, bolted over to Cabela’s to get the ATI top-folding stock, and made my way over to my friends shooting range. I first fired off a few rounds of Wal-Mart Birdshot and then some 3” Mag Buckshot and slugs. The rubber padding on the butt stock absorbed the sharp recoil from the powerful loads well, not as well as an AR absorbs recoil, but enough that it wasn’t unpleasant to fire off a few powerful rounds. At fifty yards nailing a 4X4 beam standing up with the slug rounds was a breeze with open sights, and a great deal easier than I expected it to be. From there, I put on my vicious-looking ATI stock and started with the bird shot again. Although I cannot say the ATI stock was the most comfortable thing to shoot I can say that it did not affect the firearm very much and still shot wonderfully. Although the stock does cause slight harm to one’s shoulder and cheek when being used for long range shooting, rather than close quarters tactical shooting, I kept the stock on the weapon as I intended to use it as my home defense gun.

Complete disassembly is a breeze and requires only a flat head screw driver, or an allen wrench for the ATI stock, and something to tap out one of the pins in the receiver and you’re good to go. The item breaks down easily, cleans fast, and goes back together in a breeze. My model, but a few years old, did have a problem with a part of the safety notch keeping one of the parts from being inserted into the gun, but I have learned from cleaning my friend’s newer 590 that Mossberg corrected this issue. I would also like to throw in that his model was stamped with the A1 designation. I’m not really sure how much of a difference that makes with the internals, but I figured it was worth throwing in there.

This gun has a great finish, as its lack of scratches can attest to. Being my home defense weapon this thing has seen a great deal of tight spaces and a whole lot of range time. Even though I am a person who babies some of my weapons, this is one of the few that I am not afraid of getting a little dirty. It has seen its fair share of bumps, but does not have the marks to show it. To this day it looks fresh off the gun rack, and I can’t give you a round count for this weapon.

Since I have owned this gun it has been a reliable shooter with zero problems and, in my opinion, it provides some of the best accuracy one can ask for in a smooth bore shotgun. This gun has functioned so perfectly it would surely be in my arsenal for a SHTF situation, and on a side note its accuracy makes it a great hunting shotgun when the Zombies/Nazi/Vampire/Robots are not your priority. From my experience with this weapon, there are not enough good things to say about it. It is a firearm that I trust with my life and love to shoot. You can’t go wrong with a Mossberg 590.

First Look: DPMS LR-308

My first hunting rifle was a Savage Arms 30-06. I enjoyed the .30 caliber round so much I began to search for a semiautomatic rifle that fired a .30 caliber projectile. While on my search I became very knowledgeable about the .308 caliber and experimented with several rifles chambered for the caliber. I would like to mention that this includes the 7.62x51. I understand that they are different in their own ways, but to save both time and space I will say now when I say .308 I mean both .308 and 7.62x51 and vice versa.

Anyway, while looking for the perfect rifle to fit my preferences I went through the French MAS and the CETME until I saved the money to pick up an AR-10 style rifle. This particular rifle was a DPMS LR-308, although the barrel said it was chambered for 7.62x51, and it had a 16” barrel with an A2 butt stock. The upper receiver was a flat top with a dust cover and forward assist. It was also equipped with a detachable carry handle. The barrel was equipped with a Yankee Hill Machine flip-down sight and a UTG quad-rail fore grip.

The rifle was a personal build from the floor up, as I learned it is much cheaper to go that route with an AR-10 style rifle. What I would like to brag about in regard to this rifle is its felt recoil. Anyone who has fired an AR-15 can attest to the lack of recoil in these firearms and the LR-308 is no exception to this trait of AR style rifles. Going “Rambo” with this rifle was nowhere near unpleasant and the weapon never went off target while firing. There is one negative thing to shooting the .308 from these rifles and that is the slightly loud bang that emerges from the barrel. Its slightly louder than shooting 5.56/.223, but the added noise, to me, is music to my ears.

The firearm had zero problems while firing, no FTFs or FTE’s. It shot from a Polymer Magazine and a C-Products Magazine, both 20 rounds, with both functioning flawlessly through every shot. This firearm, obviously, functioned just like an AR-15 with the only noticeable difference being the sound it makes and the size of the hole it puts in the target. The spent cases looked just as they should after being shot: perfect. There were no dent or nicks left in the casings that other semi-automatic .308s leave on the spent casings.

The difference in price for the rifle is also noticeable, but having a reliable semi-automatic rifle that shoots the .308 round is just about worth the price you pay. This was my second AR build, the first being a 6.8, and it is still amazing to me how simple they are a build and maintain. When looking into the .308 market in the future I will most likely start with the LR-308 design first.

Take-Down Videos

In the future we are planning on posting links to videos on our YouTube channel which provide tutorials for complete disassembly of the firearms we post about on this website. However, if you have questions about disassembly about the firearms we post on here please feel free to send us an email and we will try to provide you with answers to your questions. We would like to mention that neither one of us are licensed, certified, or registered gunsmiths or armorers so the advice we provide will be based solely on our experience with these weapons and as such we provide no guarantees on the advice that we provide, as we are not certified to do so. Our goal is simply to help people make safe repairs to their firearms by themselves as the cost of labor and parts for a profession in this economy does not sit well on the wallet.

First Look: Smith & Wesson M&P45 4.5" Barrel

Had it not been for the introduction of the 2011 1911 polymer frame for the 1911 pistol I would say that Smith and Wesson’s M&P45 is the answer for shooters looking for a polymer 1911 with all the feature of the polymer pistol. From its manual safety (optional on some models) and slide lock positions to its relative felt recoil, which is very reminiscent of a 1911, every shot fired made me believe I was holding the polymer answer to the legendary 1911 pistol. The M&P45 utilizes a striker fire system, which seems to be the trend for new pistols, and makes good use of a firing pin block. In my opinion, all pistols should be equipped with this as an added safety measure.


The trigger pull on this bad boy does have a slight flaw, in my opinion; the trigger is equipped with a trigger safety—which follows the decorum of polymer pistols—that engages in the middle of the trigger when the lower section is pulled. This has never caused any problems during firing in my experience, but its feel and pull is not as smooth as the trigger pull of other pistols in its class. The issue inherent in this trigger design is that if you have your finger too high on the trigger when you squeeze it, it will not engage the safety device and the trigger will not budge. However, with proper practice—which every shooter should engage in—this should not be a problem. This firearm had been my primary carry gun for a few months, as well as the weapon I practiced with the most, and I never had this happen to me. On a side note about the trigger if you are a person like me, who understands the risk of trigger bounce or hammer follow in 1911's, then this gun is for you.

The slide makes use of slide serrations, which provide great contact with the hand, and not once was I unable to draw the slide back on this weapon. Its pull-back also very closely resembles that of a 1911 with the exception of the slide serrations. A possible drawback to these serrations is that they do have somewhat of a sharp nature, and if the slide was not gripped properly it could slide forward and be a little rough on ones hand. This was never a problem I experienced, but it is something to consider.

The firearm can be field-stripped like just about any other modern pistol on the market: draw slide back, lock slide in place, flip down take-down lever, allow the slide to go forward, and remove it from the frame. I’m sure it’s safe to say you know how to handle the rest from there. The internals for the pistol are very simple and easy to work with for those of us who enjoy full take down and cleaning. There are even kits you can buy, and easily install yourself, that will allow you to take a few pounds off of the trigger pull. In regard to this I would recommend not tampering too much with its design. Form my experience with this weapon it has been designed to be a very sturdy carry, service, and duty gun (you can use whichever of those apply to you). With its 1911-esgue design and feel this would be a great pistol for anyone who has sworn by the time-tested designed on the 1911 pistol. A 1911 being the pistol I learned to shoot with, I am very partial to firearms that resemble the legendary gun, so needless to say I was drawn to it immediately. This is a firearm that will serve its owner well for years to come.