by Dana Delesoy
GunsmithUSA Contributor
Recently I performed an annual detail strip and clean on my Mossberg 500 shotgun. The gun was purchased four years ago, shot four times and put away in the safe. I brought it out now and again over the years for its annual cleaning and to practice working the action with dummy rounds.
During a cleaning it’s always wise to inspect along the way, and I did, as usual. I noticed several surfaces on the main moving parts of my gun were a bit bumpy and rough.
A new way of thinking
During the process of learning gunsmithing, I have developed a new outlook on things. I noticed this especially when reviewing AGI’s Professional Gunsmithing Courses for the second and third times, etc. The same proved true with subsequent looks at my own guns.
My gun has not been shot enough to have worn away any high points with rough areas. I knew that polishing key areas on the moving parts would smooth the action nicely, so this is exactly what I did.
A word of caution regarding smoothing and polishing
When smoothing and polishing surfaces be careful not to go too far, especially if parts are case hardened. My Mossberg does not have case hardened parts. Remove a little and check often. As a wise teacher once said; “It’s a lot easier to take it off than it is to put back on.”
For example: If the surface of a working part has high points with rough spots, there will most likely be “pits” in the low spots. The goal is to smooth the high spots. It is usually not necessary (or beneficial) to remove the pits. The pits could be .003″ deep from the high spots. If you polish all the high spots down flush with the “pits” and/or also remove the pits you could be removing more metal than necessary, leaving you with non-functioning parts.
This effect can be compounded when polishing two parts that rub along another. For example, if you remove .002″ off the bottom of one part and .002″ off the top of the part it rubs along, you have essentially removed .004″ .004″ is a lot of material to remove, and would in most cases be counter-productive.
Understand the function of the parts before going wild with polishing. Sometimes the part(s) are rough and removing any more than .002″, or even any at all, can be deleterious, leaving you with a self-induced problem needing repair.
Areas to be worked on
The main areas I smoothed were the surfaces of moving parts rubbing against another surface. Working the action slowly will amplify rough areas throughout the cycling of the action, helping you pinpoint them. Working the action quickly will hide rough areas. A good way to tell where contact occurs, and what kind of contact it is, is to liberally cover the clean parts with Magic Marker. Cycle the action vigorously a few times and then carefully disassemble it. The high points and corresponding contact points will tell a sad story on most factory guns.
Those parts smoothed are as follows: the elevator (cartridge carrier), action bars, extractors, cartridge stops, bolt body, disconnector, firing pin spring, safety connector on the rear of the trigger, and ejector. I will explain the function/action of each part, and provide pictures showing where each of these parts received their smoothing.
Tools used
The smoothing of the action did not require the use of files or sanding drums. I used a variable speed Foredom tool with foot pedal. 3M 400 grit sandpaper was wrapped around a mandrel and inserted into the chuck of the Foredom. I replaced the sandpaper as it tore or wore out. The cost of the smoothing project was about one quarter a sheet of sandpaper and a few cents of electricity.
Primary Extractor
The right outside of the extractor looked as if it had a coating of some sort (like chrome paint), and it was flaking off. Also the rear outside end of the primary extractor was sharp and galling the right inside of the receiver when the action was cycled. This is an area to look out for on any gun with an extractor that sits above/higher than the body of the bolt. I made sure to chamfer and polish any rough and sharp edges.
Primary and secondary extractors
The hooks of both extractors are areas that are cammed outwards as they snap over the rim of a cartridge and enter their slots/cuts in the chamber end of the barrel. This action takes place just before the locking block fully seats in its cut-out in the barrel extension. The hooks of both extractors, as well as their edges (especially the bottom of the primary) were polished.
Primary cartridge stop
The rectangle tab just rearward and above the hook (by hook I mean the part that stops the cartridges from exiting the mag tube) on the primary cartridge stop were polished. When the action is cycled rearward this tab is the part the left action bar bumps into and cams outwards (leftwards) causing the de-activation of the primary cartridge stop. This action occurs just before the elevator bottoms out and is at the same point just before the action is cycled fully rearward.
I smoothed the underside of the primary cartridge stop’s hook as well because this is the area a cartridge rubs along when it is inserted into the magazine tube.
Secondary cartridge stop
As the action is cycled rearwards from fully locked up, the bottom right rear of the bolt carrier bumps into an inclined plane on the bottom rear of the cartridge stop. This forces the stop upwards at the front causing the stop to activate/turn on. This area received smoothing.
As the action cycles forward, a shelf on the bottom of the right action bar bumps into an inclined plane on the bottom of the cartridge stop (a couple inches rearward of the tip of the stop) which deactivates the stop. This area was rough, so it was smoothed.
The shelf on the cartridge stop where the hook holds the cartridges in the magazine tube when the stop is activated was polished to aid in a smooth releasing out of rounds out of the magazine tube as the stop becomes deactivated.
Both the inclined plane on the stop as well as the tip of the stop were polished.
Action Bars
The action bars move fore and aft along the tracks on the sides of the receiver. The sides of them did not need polishing but the top and bottom edges did.
The elevator (cartridge carrier)
The elevator is activated by the bolt carrier when the action is cycled. When cycling the action rearward the rear top of the bolt carrier bumps into an inclined plane on the bottom edges of the elevator causing the elevator to lower. The forward cycling of the action causes the top front of the bolt carrier to bump into and pass over an inclined plane on the bottom of the elevator causing it to raise. The entire bolt carrier is smooth from factory but the working surfaces of the elevator were rough so I smoothed them.
The ejector
The left side of the bolt has a track cut into the bolt body as a space for the ejector to clear when the action is cycled. As the bolt travels fore and aft the shelf on the ejector bumps into the slot in the bolt and rubs along the bolt body. The ejector was quite rough and sharp, so it got a good polishing.
The Disconnector
The rear right bottom of the bolt carrier bumps into the disconnector at a negative angle as the action is pumped rearwards from fully locked. I polished the top of the disconnector because it was a bit rough. The area of the bolt carrier that rubs along it was smooth so I left it alone.
The Bolt body
As the action is cycled from fully locked up to just beginning to unlock I noticed a slight sticking point. I found the top edges of the inside walls of the bolt body (on each side of the locking block) contained a burr. This was causing the locking block to slightly drag along those rough edges as it moved up and down during locking/unlocking.
The inside of the bolt body had burrs on the edges of the cut outs for the extractors and the holes bored for the locking block retaining pin. This caused the locking block to bind slightly as it traveled up and down. I removed the burrs and chamfered the edges.
Firing pin return spring
Newer models of Mossberg 500s have a firing pin return spring. They are robust and hard to compress. The cut off ends of the coils are sharp. The firing pin return spring is always compressed. It shifts slightly as the locking block moves up and down. One end of the spring rests against the body of the locking block and the other end of the coil rests against a washer that rests against the bolt body.
I smoothed both cut ends of the coils, in case the spring twisted ever so slightly during its slight movement (compression/ decompression), to prevent any possible hang-ups. The flats on each side of the washer for the rear of the spring were rough. It looked like a coating had begun flaking off so I polished the entire washer smooth.
Bolt body: Firing pin hole
When checking for freedom of movement and protrusion of the firing pin I noticed its hole in the rear of the bolt was rough inside and along the edge diameter. This caused a bit of friction as the pin moved. Since the firing pin return spring is very strong, any smoothing for the benefit of the pin’s movement is welcome.
Locking Block
The locking block has constant upward spring tension from the firing pin return spring. The head of the locking block drags along the top inside of the receiver as the action is cycled. I did not mess with the locking block. There was no roughness on it nor on its slot in the barrel extension so I left both those areas alone. I did however check for burrs in the screw holes in the top of the receiver because the locking block drags along them.
Safety connector on the rear of the trigger
When the safety is placed in the “on-safe” position the safety connector on the trigger hits the safety when the trigger is pulled. Between the safety in the on-safe position and the safety connector this prevents any further movement of the trigger. This prevents the trigger from being able to move the sear clear of the hammer and fire the gun.
The top shelf of the safety connect for some reason was very rough, like someone had used a very coarse file. This does not make the safety any more difficult to operate because there is a slight gap between the safety and the safety connector. There is no friction because there is no contact between them. It is a different story if you have the safety on, the trigger pulled as far as it will go and then switching the safety off – there will be parts rubbing. I do not operate safeties in that manner. I polished the part because it was sharp and rough and should they rub against each other for whatever reason, those parts were smoothed.
In closing
Any areas I have not mentioned were already smooth from factory, i.e. the bolt carrier, chamber, and feed ramp on the barrel extension. All guns are not created equal and have character traits of their own. Your gun or your customers’ guns smoothness of parts (or non-smoothness) will likely differ from my guns, so proceed cautiously and accordingly.
Smoothing an action improves the function, can prevent premature wear and makes the gun much more enjoyable to shoot. It can be a time-consuming project but it is well worth it to take care of your investment. It is not unimportant that it also makes the gun much more fun to shoot . . . and your friends will notice.
The cost of performing the smoothing operation is next to none, other than the time it takes you. Be proud of your work. Show people your finished project, let them feel firsthand how smooth your gun functions and how smooth theirs could be by hiring you to work on it.
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