Mossy 500's are fun...

A few weeks ago I took the family on a little camping trip. As part of my camping gear I take along my Mossberg 500 12 gauge with a pistol grip. It comes in handy when a grizzly, or lion wanders into camp...who am I kidding, I really have no practical need for the weapon, it's just FUN. I like this boom stick, and I recommend one to anyone interested in blowing stuff up. "00" buck shot makes a real big mess of trees ( that's right, I shot a tree), gourds, gallon jugs of water, and anything else you would like to destroy. It also makes a nice home defense weapon. The ch-chunk sound that a shotgun makes as you rack a round into the breach is a sound familiar to all most everyone, but most especially to those who make it their living to prey on others.

Pictured above is a gun very similar to mine minus the heat shield over the barrel. The pistol grip is optional, 500's also come with butt stocks. There are also many after market stocks and fore ends that you can buy and install without much trouble. A quick search on Google will yield a variety of options and info on the 500 that I, in this little blog post, don't have energy to cover.

People, who don't regularly shot, are often intimidated when approached with the idea shooting a 12 gauge on any kind, but this setup with the pistol grip really gives people pause. But it's not that bad...he, he, he. Just to give you an idea, I can hold the gun straight out in front of me like a handgun and fire it with one hand, no problem. I demonstrated this for my wife, Mandy, on our camp out..."See, no problem.", I said. I then showed her how to engage/disengage the safety, load the gun (three rounds of 2 3/4" "00" buck), properly hold and fire. Mind you, she has never shot a gun of any kind, let alone a 12 gauge shot gun pistol-grip to boot. Here's what still makes me smile to this day. So, I toss this gourd out about 10 yards and tell her to let it rip. BOOM! She looks at me like I was drowning kittens in the kitchen sink. I yell, "TWO MORE!"... BOOM!... BOOM! She looks at me, shaking her right hand, and says, "I don't want to do that ever again." He, he, he...Truth is she took it well, no real damage, just a clearer understanding of the ol' boom stick.