Im trying to find out the history about the gun my dad handed down to me

Question
QUESTION: My dad handed down his Mossberg 500AB 12ga Shotgun that he said he has had since he was about 20 years old and he is now in his early 50s. I was wondering if there was some way I could find out exactly how old the gun is and all its history. If you could please point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.

ANSWER: Mossberg Model 500 was introduced 1961 and is still in production.

The 500 is the model number the "A" means 12 gauge,
the "B" means its was sold at a discount house like Walmart or K Mart. In therory it was plainer than those sold at gun stores and higher retailer. In reality there not much difference.  The AB model were sold from the late 1970s to early 1980s. There is no serial number dating available for Mossberg. With the AB it should have a 28 inch Accu-Choke system barrel that has the spanner type choke wrench if the barrel is orginal.
Its is a well made gun that is very durable.


http://www.mossberg.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossberg_500
http://www.gunsandammomag.com/long_guns/mossir_033007/index.html

Personally I own 3 model 500 12ga 16ga and 20 ga
I also have a Mossberg Owners group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moregun


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QUESTION: So they put a serial number on the gun but theres no way to track it? So my gun is a watered down version of the mossberg 500A?

Answer
Mossberg did not put serial numbers on any gun untill after 1968. The federal government required serial numbers after that. What I said there public searchable database to date a gun with. This isn't unusual. Only Winchester, Marlin (some models) Remington from 1921 to 1972 only, Ruger and US military rifles have public databases to date by serial number. Colt will research a serial number for $75 to $150 fee.


There no functional difference between 500ab and 500a. The finish wood is slightly plainer and the blueing isn't as deep, in theory. In practice there no noticable difference.
The seperate designation for discount houses is last vestage of "House Brands". Store would have thier own brand name
of firearms. Slowly that practice fell by the wayside.

Mossberg are utility grade firearms.
High value, low cost.