Mossberg 500A

Performance: 10

My experience with this gun has been nothing but good. I have never had a single malfunction, although that's not saying much for a manually operated gun. It works like it'ssupposed to, so it gets max points here

Features: 7

The features of this gun are those of a basic pump gun; there are none. You can order all kinds of acessories, from forend flash lights to shellholders, to collapsible buttstocks. The Mossberg 500A is a basic gun, and has nothing special on it from the factory. It has plenty of aftermarket offerings, though, so it gets a good rating here.

Appeal: 10

Like any other pump action 12 gauge, a person could have been born under a rock and never had any kind of exposure to any other human or media and they know they're in trouble if they hear the slide being raqcked on a "shottie". It's something practically instinctive. And from personal experience, I can say when someone has a shotgun pointed at you, it looks like you're staring into a trash can. There is zero appeal for the bad guy on the business end of this thing, but a righful feeling of complete dominance and supremacy for the homeowner holding one of these.

Overall:

Performance: 

My experience with this gun has been nothing but good. I have never had a single malfunction, although that's not saying much for a manually operated gun. It works like it'ssupposed to, so it gets max points here

Performance Rating: 

10

Features: 

The features of this gun are those of a basic pump gun; there are none. You can order all kinds of acessories, from forend flash lights to shellholders, to collapsible buttstocks. The Mossberg 500A is a basic gun, and has nothing special on it from the factory. It has plenty of aftermarket offerings, though, so it gets a good rating here.

Features Rating: 

7

Appeal: 

Like any other pump action 12 gauge, a person could have been born under a rock and never had any kind of exposure to any other human or media and they know they're in trouble if they hear the slide being raqcked on a "shottie". It's something practically instinctive. And from personal experience, I can say when someone has a shotgun pointed at you, it looks like you're staring into a trash can. There is zero appeal for the bad guy on the business end of this thing, but a righful feeling of complete dominance and supremacy for the homeowner holding one of these.

Appeal Rating: 

10

In summary, the Mossberg 500A is, in my mind, one of the two best shotguns available for home defense or any other work that a shotgun excells in. The other one is, of course, the venerable Remington 870. The Mossberg is a bit less expensive, and with all the add-on parts and cool guy accessories available, makes for a great starting platform to build the ultimate high speed, low drag, air cooled, teflon coated, laser guided thermonuclear badass "room broom" a homeowner (or bird hunter) could ever desire. My recommendations for home defense would be, to start, a Surefire forend light and a side saddle shell holder. The probability of needing spare ammo in a home defense scenario is low, but unless you are involved in the drug trade, the probability of having to defend you house at all is low too, so if you've already defied the odds once, why risk defying the ammo-count odds? Just my thought.