Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

When I started working and knew I had follow up business I knew I wanted to buy my first gun. I was eyeing some glocks most notably the G22 which was in .40S&W. One of my closest friends has one as his carry gun and I thought I would try it out. It didn't fit my hands well so I started looking for other .40 handguns. I really liked the Ruger SR-40. Ultimately a later lack of job security and the trending ammunition shortage turned my sights away from handguns. The most available ammo was a 12 gauge and rifle ammo was coming back in. I already had a rifle so I didn't see a need to get another one so I set my sights on a shotgun.

The top shotgun models were the Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500. I didn't know the difference. I just knew they were the leading models. Mainstream models like this have a wider variety of parts and accessories available. If the aforementioned models are so popular they have to be doing something right. Really the decision to get the 500 came down to my friend. The same friend who has the G22 was very fond of the Mossberg. Rather than doing the smart thing and researching for myself I just concluded I would get a 500.

A local store had a M500 Cruiser for $350. I was really interested in the Cruiser model because it came with a pistol grip. My gunsmith had a Revelation 310 with two interchangable barrels for $250. Apparently Western Auto sold a lot of guns under the Revelation name. It's like getting Malt-O-Meal Cinnamon Toasters instead of Cinnamon Toast Crunch from General Mills. It's the same product with a different name and a lower price. Actually the Revelation shotgun wasn't just an off brand of the M500 it WAS an M500 produced by Mossberg. They just slapped a different name on it and sold it at discount. The gun had an 18.5" home defense barrel and a 28" hunting barrel with a built in modified choke. I didn't have the price for the brand new Mossberg so I got the used one from my gunsmith.

The Revelation was really old. Mossberg started cranking out the 500 model in 1961. My shotgun didn't have a serial number which meant it was manufactured somewhere before 1968 when legislation was passed requiring all guns manufactured to have a serial number so it had to be somewhere between the two. Roughly 50 years of use left the gun pretty wore out. The feed mechanism didn't work properly so I had my gunsmith fix it up. After a second failed repair job it still didn't work so the gunsmith fixed it a third time and even put in new parts. All 3 of these were at no cost to me. After the feed mechanism was fixed the end snapped off the action bar. By then I was fed up with the gun so I just traded it in and used the credit for a down payment on a new shotgun. I'm sure when the action bar is fixed it will work fine, but I'm tired of everything wearing out. I hope the next owner will have better luck. Still I'm somewhat sorry I got rid of it. In April Mossberg manufactured it's 10 millionth 500. Over 50 years of use and counting. The Revelation was a piece of history.

I got the new 500 on Saturday and have been really excited about it. It has a 28" vent rib ported barrel. That means it's a long hunting barrel with holes drilled in the side near the front of the barrel to reduce recoil. It's an "accu-choke" barrel which means the inside of the barrel is threaded to accept different choke tubes. It also has a synthetic stock. Down the road I'm considering getting an 18.5" home defense barrel and a pistol grip. That will make a compact home defense gun that can easily be converted to a hunting or skeet gun.