Mossberg bantam 20g POA/POI help.

[rdjustham]

Patterned my son's new super bantam turkey 20g with federal tss 9s.  Gun shoots high left even with el cheapo 2 3/4 #8s at both 20 and 35 yards.  Any suggestions on a choke that will help with this?  The rifle sights that came with it are useless, couldnt adjust them anywhere close.  Shot better with beads.

[Dtrkyman]

shoot high for him or you?  Different chokes may shoot different but no way to know which way.

Williams fire sights or tru glo adjustable gobble dots.

[Tom Dooley]

Trs-25 bushnell red dot sight on mine

[crow]

Patterned my son's new super bantam turkey 20g with federal tss 9s.  Gun shoots high left even with el cheapo 2 3/4 #8s at both 20 and 35 yards.  Any suggestions on a choke that will help with this?  The rifle sights that came with it are useless, couldnt adjust them anywhere close.  Shot better with beads.

If adjustable rifle sights aren't shooting patterns POI to POA  as close as your stationery beads are centering the pattern then something doesn't sound right.

maybe the rifle sights are loose or mounted crooked.

maybe the raised height of the rifle sights on the barrel rib compared to the lower height of the beads are causing you to shoulder the gun different (taking your face off the stock)

[rdjustham]

No red dot or scope because the gun is his do all for now.  The sights that came on the gun are cheap and JUNK!!  The gun shot 8 inches high for him and 6 for me strapped down in a lead sled.  I called and talked to Mossberg, real nice guy named Jeff.  He sent me a new screw in front fiber optic bead sight that apparently comes on the 2020 guns.  He said based on my description the gun i ordered was a 2019, so wanted me to try it.  I measured the new front sight and it was 2-300ths shorter than the original clip on one (so the gun would have shot higher).  Called him back told him the new dot was shorter and he is sending me a gobble dot set of sights.

I went into all that to say this.  Jeff agreed with me that the gun should NOT be shooting that high that close with a xfull choke and it needs to be looked at.  That being said, we are suppose to be leaving for georgia in two more days and the estimated 6-8 week turnaround time to get it looked at makes this gun useless to my boy, so Jeff sent the first set of parts two day delivery and told me he was sending the new "gobble dot" rifle sights two day fedex as well. 

Going to send the gun back after season is over for them to check it out, should be plenty of time to get it back before duck season starts.  The guy i spoke with was extremely helpful and wanted my boy to be able to use this gun this season.  The customer service I got was absolutely why i bought a mossberg over one of the turkish guns.  Time will tell what is actually wrong with the gun, i suspect its a barrel alignment problem, but we shall see.

[paboxcall]

How tight did you turn the barrel nut after seating the barrel in the receiver? May want to check to ensure barrel and receiver is lined up straight, and no dirt or machining debris on your seating surfaces before tightening it down.

I used a pair of channel locks on my bantam 20 gauge to give the nut a slight twist tighter than finger tight when I first assembled it. I then marked that with a sharpie line and ensure I tighten it to the same spot every time. No issues disassembling to clean it as it goes back to the same spot.

I have a Model 37 featherweight which needs a small rap of the butt stock on the floor to get the barrel seated correctly otherwise it won't tighten down aligned.

[rdjustham]

Ill give it a shot.  Thanks for the tip.

[rdjustham]

Checked the gun when i got home and there was a gap between the barrel ring and the mag tube.  Put some channel locks on it with rag and tightened it down to where the ring and tube meet.  Thanks for the tip willing to bet that fixes it but sure dont seem right.  Gonna shoot it thursday and we will see.

[strum]

Some gap is normal. Not sure how tight you went but I hope you didnt over do it.
Let us know when you get back at it.

[rdjustham]

Just got back from shooting it and here are the changes i made prior too,

I put the first replacement sight on, the one that comes on the 2020 model guns (still not sure how i got a 2019 ordered in march but oh well).  Replaced the factory xfull with a carlson .575 extended and left the barrel nut gotilla tight. 

First shot at 20 with #8 dove load was low.  Loosened the barrel nut and hand tightened it and at 20 its a tight poa/poi with dove and #9 tss.  Gun shoots a nice even pattern to 35ish yards then opens up.

Conclusion is the choke that came with the gun would have been better off as a paper clip since all i did was replace it and update the front sight to the new factory sight.

[paboxcall]