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Mossberg 535 pump-action shotgun review

Mossberg 535 pump-action shotgun review: The Mossberg 535 pump-action shotgun is a strikingly camouflaged pump-action shotgun that would make the ideal tool for vermin and wildfowl.

ShootingUK
ShootingUK 3 December 2010

Mossberg 535 pump-action shotgun review.
My first and only experience of using the pump-action shotgun for real was in the early 1970s on a local farm. I am no longer sure of the make, but I remember that it seemed ancient, even then, for a gun of its type.

The operation was ?chackley? (a local word that described the loose and noisy sounds when cycling the action – it could be heard the best part of a field away).

It was not mine, but lived unloved in the corner of a barn. Its primary purpose was crop protection and it never let us down.

It did, though, introduce me to a type of shotgun not commonly used in the UK, and also to that American concept that a shotgun is simply a tool to do a job.

It was little more than a hand-operated machine to ?shuck shells?, as someone from the US might put it.

LONG, LIGHT AND SLICK
Recently, I had a Mossberg to test and wondered how different the experience might be this time.

></img> <br /> <br /> First impressions were of length, lightness and a fairly slick action. All such guns tend to be rather long because of the length of the receiver to accommodate the feed mechanism. <br /> <br /> Lightness is achieved by using a synthetic stock and fore-end and an aluminium alloy receiver. <br /> <br /> As for the operation, it cycled easily, but, like all of its breed, was never going to be particularly quiet. <br /> <br /> This is often a criticism levelled against the pump action, but, of course, a pump action is similar to a semi-auto or self-loader without the automatic cycling by either recoil or gas operation. <br /> <br /> These are much faster to complete the ejection-and-reloading cycle than a pump action and therefore seem less noisy only because the same sound is condensed into a shorter period of time. <br /> <br /> Either way, pump or auto, it is something you have to accept and for the lone wildfowler or vermin shooter it is of no great consequence. <br /> <br /> <em><strong>CRAZY CAMOUFLAGE</strong></em> <br /> The other striking feature is the almost shockingly daring overall camouflage. <br /> <br /> When out of the environment it was designed for, the camouflage is, ironically, often noticeable. <br /> <br /> In a reed bed or a field of maize it would be almost invisible and the matt finish is in harmony with such natural surroundings. <br /> <br /> I can imagine the embarrassment of having laid it down in long grass while attending to fallen quarry and then, perhaps with dusk approaching, the rising panic at trying to locate it again. <br /> <br /> The synthetic stock and fore-end sport surprisingly effective moulded-in chequering and the black rubber butt-pad seems soft enough to help to tame the recoil of most cartridges. <br /> <br /> <img width=

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