Feedback on my 930 Vs. SLP

[Mbauer67]

Now that I have a couple matches using my 24" Mossberg 930 JM, It's time to share my thoughts.

Facts:

1. The 930 comes from the factory in a very dirty condition, so breaking it down and cleaning it out is probably best.

2. For the price and overall features, it is certainly the best value for anyone looking for an entry level gun to get into the 3-gun game.

Pro's

1. Price....

2. Value....

3. A lifter that is less prone to riping your thumb into pieces, but most people will probably want to get it welded up, because it still likes to bite your thumb a little.

4. Shoots slugs straight (Fiocchi 7/8 oz Aero slugs)

5. Run's the cheapest birdshot I could find

6. Weight

Con's

1. Loading port- this was probably the single most annoying thing for me. When inserting a shell into the tube you have to really push the shell pretty far up into the tube with your thumb, farther than most other shot guns I have ever loaded. There are also a lot of sharp edges and square corners that prevent the shell from going smoothly and fluidily into the tube. After opening and bring the loading port further forward, then smoothing out the sharp edges on the transition of the receiver and tube junction, this made loading much easier.

2. Forward handguard- Once again as if pertains to loading, it just come to far back, but that is a very quick and easy fix with a hack saw and buffing wheel. But also does not fit very tight on so it wiggles a little on my gun.

3. Fit and finish is a little rough, but for the most part does not affect function.

4. Some type of rear sight would really be nice.

So compared to my SLP the 930 is a good out of the box gun, they are very similar guns but there suttle differences that anyone could get used to and never look back. For me the SLP fits my body better, particularly in the cheek weld area.

Just like all of the SG's used in the 3-gun game today, the 930 requires a few modifications to smooth out the details and get the last 10% of the gun dialed in for each shooter's individual tastes. But most of these are easy to do, and don't cost much.

For the 930 the pro's far out way the con's. So if your on a budget get one while they are cheap.

[E53X5]

I would agree with most of the above. Instead of welding up my lifter though, I simply rounded off sharp corners of the "fork" and beveled all of the edges with a Dremel. It made it much "slicker" and I have yet to have my thumb pitched, not even an attempt. I also broke it completely down and went over every part with some Flitz and polished everything that moved - chamber, barrel extension (there were some very rough and nasty machining marks on it), bolt, carrier, hammer, magazine tube, inside of the piston, inside of the gas chamber, follower, top of the lifter, etc. Took me a couple of days to get it all done, but I think it was worth it and it feels smoother now. I got rid of the barrel clamp - it just wouldn't stay put and kept sliding forward from recoil. If I tried clamping it down harder, it would squeeze the magazine tube extension enough to cause the "sticky follower" syndrome. I also wish I could drop the stock a little more, because I'm still looking down at the rib even with the .250 spacer. I think I'll try making my own spacer to drop it a little more, but it looks like I can only get another 1/8 out of it at most. All in all, I'm happy with this gun so far.

As far as loading the magazine goes, you do have to push the rounds fairly deep into it, or you risk having a round pop back out onto the lifter, which means you're done topping off at that point. But I also noticed that loading rounds into my 930 is much easier than into my buddy's M2. It seemed like it took almost twice as much pressure to load a round into his M2 than it did with 930, which may just be the weight of the spring he had in his M2 vs. what the 930 comes with (it looks like they ship the 930 JM 22" model with the same spring they use in the 930 SPX model).

One thing that worries me more than anything else through is the fact that I've had a couple of light primer strikes so far (one during practice a couple of weeks ago, and another one during the match yesterday). It appears to be a fairly common problem with these guns, and I'm not sure what the solution to it may be.

[mpom]

Also had a couple of mis fires. Wonder if a slightly stronger mainspring is in order. Was thinking of slipping a small nut into the cup sitting on top of mainspring, to increase compression on cocked hammer. So far has happened with federal target load. What load(s) did it happen with for you?

Got a pretty crisp 3.75 lb pull so am reluctant to increase it, but going bang every time has priority.

Question: why do you want to drop the stock? Is it shooting high?

Mark

Edited June 11, 2012 by mpom

[E53X5]

Also had a couple of mis fires. Wonder if a slightly stronger mainspring is in order. Was thinking of slipping a small nut into the cup sitting on top of mainspring, to increase compression on cocked hammer. So far has happened with federal target load. What load(s) did it happen with for you?

Same load here. Federal target #7.5 1oz. and #8 1 1/8 oz..

Question: why do you want to drop the stock? Is it shooting high?

Yes, shooting a little high, so I have to make sure to bring my stock up higher into my shoulder.

Edited June 11, 2012 by E53X5

[colbyjack]

Thanks guys alot of good info. Im looking for my first 3 gun shotty and its between the 930jm and the fn slp. Hows the felt recoil between the 2? I got bad arthritis and some days is better than others, but my buddies 500 pump i used last month kicked the tar out of me....

[Ming the Merciless]

Con's

1 Loading port- this was probably the single most annoying thing for me. When inserting a shell into the tube you have to really push the shell pretty far up into the tube with your thumb, farther than most other shot guns I have ever loaded. There are also a lot of sharp edges and square corners that prevent the shell from going smoothly and fluidily into the tube. After opening and bring the loading port further forward, then smoothing out the sharp edges on the transition of the receiver and tube junction, this made loading much easier.

2. Forward handguard- Once again as if pertains to loading, it just come to far back, but that is a very quick and easy fix with a hack saw and buffing wheel. But also does not fit very tight on so it wiggles a little on my gun.

Thanks for the info. Do you have any photos of where you smoothed out the sharp edges at the tube junction? Also photos of the hack saw fix for the forward handguard.

[mpom]

Also had a couple of mis fires. Wonder if a slightly stronger mainspring is in order. Was thinking of slipping a small nut into the cup sitting on top of mainspring, to increase compression on cocked hammer. So far has happened with federal target load. What load(s) did it happen with for you?

Same load here. Federal target #7.5 1oz. and #8 1 1/8 oz..

Question: why do you want to drop the stock? Is it shooting high?

Yes, shooting a little high, so I have to make sure to bring my stock up higher into my shoulder.

[E53X5]

Thanks for the info. Do you have any photos of where you smoothed out the sharp edges at the tube junction? Also photos of the hack saw fix for the forward handguard.

This thread inspired me to take a Dremel to my JM Pro last night, so I'll try taking some pictures after I'm done.

[mikeAZ]

Good info... I'll toss in a little more. My gun, 22" JM (all I could find at the time). I really thought I wanted the 28" 13 shot Pat Flanigan model, open gun..... never have seen one yet... 1st. I've added the xxl extention tube for + one round (works fine with the stock spring, $20 bucks for another round, not bad). 2nd. I've very sligtly polished the chamber entrance and have not touched anything else on the gun so far?.. 3rd. Bought a new condition 28" vented barrel from a member here and used the +8 Nordic tube & spring, (easy 13 rounds in the tube with the xxl extention). The gun has been flawless with anything I've ran thru it from 1145 to 1350 fps mixed bird shot/slugs/ with either barrel. I've got the Otto load two x 24 rd. chest rig and load with my "weak" left hand.... (I'm not real good at this yet but am working on it). I gave up on the 28" barrel as it seemed too heavy/ slow to swing to me, fully loaded.... (sold to my buddy, he likes it). GOOD info on the loading gate... I've been looking at doing the discribed mods in this post...I don't know what most people are using for gun oil/cleaning????..... I just switched to Frog Lube.... It seems to be as good as it says it is... The powder fouling on the JM piston wipes off with a rag... I coudn't believe the crud that has came off my compensator on my Open pistol... (and I thought it was clean)... I've not had any light primer hits and have tried Wally world, Federal, Estate, Rio, etc... I'll agree, probably the best spent $$$ for a 3 gun shotgun... a simple barrel change and you have either an open or limited shotgun that runs with lots of mods already done from the Factory.

[E53X5]

Just finished putting mine back together, so here are some pictures as promised. It's hard to get a good close up of the port, so this was as good as I could get.

[mikeAZ]

Thanks for the pics... I'll do mine soon. I really have not seen a reason to do anything to the lifter.... but I probably can't leave it alone???...

Edited June 14, 2012 by mike NM

[Mbauer67]

That is pretty close to what mine looks like, except I brought the port a little further forward. What follower are you using?

[E53X5]

That is pretty close to what mine looks like, except I brought the port a little further forward. What follower are you using?

I was afraid of going much further becasue there wasn't much of the ramp left, so I figured this would be good enough. It's the stock follower that I broke the edges on a little and went over it with some Flitz.