mossberg modification?

[freedomkeeper]

i got bored the other day and did this, made steel buttplate, carved out finger grooves in grip, engraved half of a dead man's hand, and stenciled\burned the serial number onto the buttstock. Finished with a coat of gunstock stain, and satin polyurethane, then steel wool30089300903009130092. What do you think? Rate 1-10, 1=suck and 10=good, all comments welcome

[weasel_master]

No offense but I'd rate it a 4. I'm not a fan of doing things like that to my guns, but then again it isn't mine. The work looks like it was done decent though.

[Old Grump]

No number but I liked the forearm and pistol grip a lot. The buttstock not so much. I just never was into engraving and inlays on a working gun and all my guns are working guns. But that's just the dinosaur in me.

[Perro Del Diablo]

while the Mossberg is not a collectable firearm by any stretch of the imagination, it brings back horrible memories of the "Custom" modifications made to my 41 Johnsons wood, and honestly it just makes me cringe based on that fact alone. The fingergrooves are just too much for my personal taste, and this i think is what gives me the heeby jeebies the most.

Since the Mossberg is a dime a dozen commercial firearm i personally have no problem with the customization or the engraving on the mossberg if done professionally with say a laser like Battle Born Arms or Bladeworks123 does. I can totally dig a custom commercial firearm if done professionally.

I also think that the steel buttplate would be very cool if you countersink the screw holes and replace the sheetrock screws with something a bit nicer.



I don't mean to offend in anyway - you asked for an honest criticism and said "all comments welcome" so dont take this wrong

my Johnson stock prevents me from being able to like it.

[freedomkeeper]

Some people to whom I have shown this to have mixed opinions about it. That gun started out as a standard Mossberg 500 field from Wal-Mart for $217. I shortened the barrel, cut the vent ribs off, reblued and installed a factory heat shield. The buttplate I made out of some old signpost steel. The holes are countersunk, and I did have the proper screws (I oil blued them) but I forgot to put them in a safe place, and lost them in my shop. Perhaps if it were seen in person it would look better. The gun probably has about 5000-6000 rounds through the gun, as I use it to teach my Defensive Shotgun class. So it is very much a working gun. The rubber pad tends to stick my shoulder. I like my guns to be mine. I probably got it in my mind doing this after all the different rifles I saw in Afghanistan, adorned with copper wire, brass tacks, and sometimes drawings of flowers. I think it is cool. Everyone has an AR with the rail-mounted kitchen sink, and hair dryer. Anyway thanks, glad to hear it.

[Arkane]

PDD - that stock looks like it came off of a blunderbuss ;)

[Perro Del Diablo]

yes, i desperately wish it wasnt the stock originally issued to the Johnson, but someone felt the need to add a pistol grip with finger grooves to the stock, and sand a palm swell releif and thumb relief, and finger reliefs in the original hand guard. During that "custom" modification to my gun, they had to hack off half of the original trigger guard, and since less than 20,000 of them were ever made im certain you can understand that spare parts are not the easiest thing to find for this gun. I got very lucky in being able to find the parts to restore it back to military configuration. The whole finger groove thing just gives me the heeby jeebies - i cant help it

the really weird thing is the gun works perfectly as issued - still dont understand the need to add a pistol grip to it

sorry to hijack the thread with stuff about my Johnson Freedomkeeper - only trying to explain why i personally do not like it without offending you