View Full Version : New 930 SPX runs flawlessly...
Tannersaurus
02-26-12, 00:47
I finally picked up a 930 SPX. After lots of research, debating the finer points of semi vs pump followed by yet more research I settled on a mossberg 930 SPX with the standard stock. I deliberated long and hard between this and a 590A1. I feel that I made the right decision. While I know the 590A1 is a fantastic pump gun (and I will still get one eventually) I decided I had to have the semi.
I have read quite a bit on the 930. Some bad but mostly good things from what I've seen. I am pleased to report that mine came with none of the issues that earlier examples had. My front sight was straight, my rail was tight etc. Mine has the heavier barrel which is great as I plan on having it threaded for chokes soon and the extra wall thickness serves as piece of mind.
Now for the fun stuff... Range report. First thing I did of course was tear this sucker down and clean it thoroughly. There was quite a bit of funk and gunk in there from the factory. It looked like it had been test fired a dozen times, lol. I hosed each part with brake cleaner (one of my favorite ways to clean firearms), then brushed and wiped the parts down before oiling and reasembled them. I was not expecting the bolt tail be to such a bitch to guide into the recoil spring tube, but holy crap what a pain in my ass!!! Other than that though, it went back together easily and passed a function check. I thought the action felt smooth before I cleaned it but now it was feeling like a buttered babies ass on a tile floor. Gawd I love Lucas gun oil. I then hosed down the exterior with rem-oil and wiped her down then stood back to admire my new toy. By this time my buddy was getting drool on his x-box controller so we decided to pack up and head to the mountains.
It was an EPIC day for shooting. While we had limited daylight left (about an hour according to my weather channel app) it was beautiful. Picture a pine forest in the mountains of Oregon... Snowing those big fat wet snowflakes that fall really slowly in very still air. Just awesome. First thing I did when we got unpacked was set up the thirty or so milk jugs full of water I had brought along for a proper ballistic test (lol), then promptly ghost loaded 9 rounds of Wally World bulk pack birdshot. I figured what better test of cycling reliability than a mag dump of underpowered crap ammo? I even shot from the hip so as to give it the best chance of malfunctioning I could and fed and fired all 9 as fast as I could pull the trigger. "Good sign" I said to my buddy as I litterally shivered with excitement. Next up I stoked it with 8 Winchester Super-X 2-3/4" slugs. I took aim at one the previously mentioned jugs of water (at this point though I was picturing it as a zombies head) about 35 yards or so away and squeezed on off. BOOM!!! Pfffttt!!! Mist. One dead(er) zombie. So the sights are pretty close to dialed in too... I then proceeded to vaporize 8 more "zombie heads". This gun makes shooting fast and accurately easy. The LPA sights are really quick to pick up and point, and even work well for shooting clays. Yes, we chucked a few clays in the air for good measure. All in all we shot 10 slugs, 15 buckshot (00), and 100 rounds of bulk birdshot. It fed fired and ejected everything perfectly. I had ONE malfunction with the bulk stuff. I was TRYING to get it to fail and was able to do so when I held it very loosely down to my side so as to give it the least solid hold I could. I barely held on with my firing hand, and rested it in the open palm of my support hand. It failed to eject one of 9 rounds. I then loaded nine more and tightened my grip a bit and had no malfunctions.
All in all, I am extremely pleased with my 930 SPX. I still need to pattern it and get my sights dialed in as today was more just for function testing and a little break-in but I would not hesitate to make this my go to HD gun. I want to test it with some low recoil stuff to see how it cycles that, but have no problem with the recoil of full house 2-3/4" loads in this gun. It is a SOFT recoiler. That gas system just eats up recoil and runs...
Congrats on your new purchase. I love my SPX, it's probably my favorite firearm...
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j377/smao234/4d365762.jpg
jgcl05@yahoo.com
03-02-12, 21:52
If they had another type of stock solution for these besides the Choate stock, I would be half tempted to pick one up. Been looking for an autoloader and the price is right. I just like options when it comes to stocks. Glad to hear more good things about these, maybe we'll see more aftermarket parts in the near future?
A buddy had one available for $400, but of course, I didn't have the cash. Still kicking myself over that one.
A buddy had one available for $400, but of course, I didn't have the cash. Still kicking myself over that one.
Is that still available? I would be willing to take it off his hands cash in state.
Robb Jensen
03-04-12, 02:13
125 rounds fired, with 1 malfunction = flawlessly
New one on me.........
I had a Gen 2 Glock 19 stoppage last night it was the 1st stoppage in 2K rounds. I bought this gun used last year. I replaced all the small parts in it and I have a new Glock 9mm Gen 4 ejector in it. This stoppage was a failure to eject. The ejector isn't chipped and it's not short stroking. It's locked back on every last round on the mag, it was well lubed. It wasn't a stove-pipe but an empty caught horizontally within the ejection port. I believe my thumb may have contacted the slide since I was shooting rapidly and my support hand came loose on it. I need to stipple it like my other Gen 2 Glock 19.
One stoppage in 2K isn't "flawless", it's just very reliable. Even if it may have been shooter error. I need to shoot it some more, a few more thousand rounds without more stoppages before I can trust for defensive use. Nothing man-made is flawless.
Is that still available? I would be willing to take it off his hands cash in state.
That's a definite no. And he probably sold it for less at the gunshow he took it to.
One failure in 2000 rounds can just as easily be attributed to operator error or a bad round. Try not to take it out on your firearm.
Robb Jensen
03-04-12, 09:36
One failure in 2000 rounds can just as easily be attributed to operator error or a bad round. Try not to take it out on your firearm.
That was exactly my point. Flawlessly infers it runs without ANY issues.
I also love my spx. I went to it from a 590 and I have never looked back.
Z71Silverado09
03-06-12, 05:54
good to know thanks for the review!
silentmark
03-06-12, 11:11
Another satisfied 930spx owner here. I've run mine in 3 gun and never had a problem. Just want a different pistol grip stock to be available besides the choate.
My 930 SPX malfunctions flawlessly. Pull the trigger, hammer drops, no bang. Likes to do it most in competition.
Doesn't really happen enough for me to care, 'cause it's just a toy. I wouldn't trust it for anything else.
Tannersaurus
03-08-12, 23:52
125 rounds fired, with 1 malfunction = flawlessly
New one on me.........
I had a Gen 2 Glock 19 stoppage last night it was the 1st stoppage in 2K rounds. I bought this gun used last year. I replaced all the small parts in it and I have a new Glock 9mm Gen 4 ejector in it. This stoppage was a failure to eject. The ejector isn't chipped and it's not short stroking. It's locked back on every last round on the mag, it was well lubed. It wasn't a stove-pipe but an empty caught horizontally within the ejection port. I believe my thumb may have contacted the slide since I was shooting rapidly and my support hand came loose on it. I need to stipple it like my other Gen 2 Glock 19.
One stoppage in 2K isn't "flawless", it's just very reliable. Even if it may have been shooter error. I need to shoot it some more, a few more thousand rounds without more stoppages before I can trust for defensive use. Nothing man-made is flawless.
I had to TRY to make it malfunction. Using a load I knew it wouldn't like (2 1/2 dram eq bulk pack birdshot). I ran through a bunch of that same ammo while shouldered and it ate it up and spit it out. I litterally was hanging my arm limp at my side and holding on just hard enough to not drop it. Then and only then did it fail to eject. I then tightened my grip (still limp arm hanging) and it ran. I tried the same with a full powered buckshot load and it functioned fine. I agree though that technically speaking, ANY stoppage means it didn't run flawlessly. That said, it was operator error (on purpose) induced. I have thousands of failure free rounds through my Daniel defense AR, but I'm sure I could MAKE it malfunction too if I tried. Long story short, it took shitty ammo AND me TRYING to get it to choke before it did. You can limp wrist the most reliable pistol in the world and it can malfunction.
I'm almost up to 3.5k rounds through my 930SPX and haven't had any feeding or ejecting issues since the first couple hundred rounds. I use mine for shooting clays(with a 24" turckey barrel) and hunting jack-rabbits (with the SPX barrel). While mine has been great, I think the 930 might be a little hit or miss in general. I usually hear people say their 930 is either great or its junk. I guess I got lucky. I have one of the early ones and had to have Mossberg send me a new barrel since the original had a canted front sight. They never should have shipped guns with bad parts, but at least they were quick to fix it on their dime.
I totally agree that the Choate pistol grip stock is terrible. Its ugly and it fells terrible in your hand. Because of that I opted for the regular stock. If someone were to make a Benelli style pistol grip stock for the 930 they would sell a lot of them.
Was thinking of a 930 SPX for my next shotgun.
Good choice or not?
I had an early 930SPX with the canted front sight and ended up selling it. Bought a Benelli M2 thinking that there would be a huge difference between the two, but found at twice the price, I really wasn't getting a lot. Just sold the M2 and will shortly be buying another 930SPX. From what I understand, they fixed the issues with the front sight--anyone know differently?
I came to the same conclusion as strojo, for what I use the 930SPX for there is no reason to pay twice as much. I looked at getting a FN SLP instead of the 930. From what I read the SLP cant shoot both weak and strong loads without some sort of adjustment to the gas system. I could be wrong on that, but I think I remember hearing something like that.
On the sight, all the new ones I've seen have a different front sight than the one mine had originally. The barrel Mossberg sent me to replace my original one is the same as the one that's on all the new guns. Also, the new ones come with a big charging handle from the factory now. I had to buy my own since mine came with the tiny one that the sporting models have.
Seems like they have the bugs worked out on the new ones. You should be good to go right out of the box. Although they still ship with the cheap Choate magazine extension. The stupid end cap on the factory one kept falling out on my gun. Nordic Components makes nice replacement ones for the 930, I highly recommend them.
Robb Jensen
03-10-12, 15:02
I came to the same conclusion as strojo, for what I use the 930SPX for there is no reason to pay twice as much. I looked at getting a FN SLP instead of the 930. From what I read the SLP cant shoot both weak and strong loads without some sort of adjustment to the gas system. I could be wrong on that, but I think I remember hearing something like that.
On the sight, all the new ones I've seen have a different front sight than the one mine had originally. The barrel Mossberg sent me to replace my original one is the same as the one that's on all the new guns. Also, the new ones come with a big charging handle from the factory now. I had to buy my own since mine came with the tiny one that the sporting models have.
Seems like they have the bugs worked out on the new ones. You should be good to go right out of the box. Although they still ship with the cheap Choate magazine extension. The stupid end cap on the factory one kept falling out on my gun. Nordic Components makes nice replacement ones for the 930, I highly recommend them.
This is my FNH SLP MK1 with a 24" vent rib barrel. I got my back when Tanners was blowing them out for $695 about 4yrs ago.
These come with a heavy piston for 1-1/4oz or heavier and a light piston for 1-1/4oz or lighter. I use the heavy piston for everything. I use Winchester Sporting Clays 1-1/8oz 3 dram SuperSports and it's very reliable. If I use the really weak Wal-Mart Federal 1-1/8oz it'll choke about 1-2 rounds per hundred fired. This is why I use the Winchesters.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/gotm4/16c63fc6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/gotm4/a0feca91.jpg
Very nice SLP Robb! If I had seen one for a price like that I would have jumped on it! They can't be had for less than $1k in my area. I'm a big fan of the 24" barrels. At only $450 my 930SPX was considerably cheaper than any FN or Benelli shotguns I could find.
How does the SPL do when it gets dirty? Unfortunately I have noticed that after 350 rounds or my 930 needs a squirt of oil and maybe a quick wipe down of the bolt or it will start having occasional ejection issues with weak loads.
Robb Jensen
03-10-12, 15:26
Very nice SLP Robb! If I had seen one for a price like that I would have jumped on it! They can't be had for less than $1k in my area. I'm a big fan of the 24" barrels. At only $450 my 930SPX was considerably cheaper than any FN or Benelli shotguns I could find.
How does the SPL do when it gets dirty? Unfortunately I have noticed that after 350 rounds or my 930 needs a squirt of oil and maybe a quick wipe down of the bolt or it will start having occasional ejection issues with weak loads.
It runs well dirty. I do clean it between matches. I also run it very wet like an AR and lube it with WeaponShield. I'm thinking of having the bolt and carrier nickel-boron'd by WMD.
While I really like the price, I opted for the SLP MK1 because everyone uses them. I will have to pick up a 930 and try these down the road.
I do like that nickel boron.
LoneWolfRonin
03-13-12, 08:38
Glad to hear about your good experience. I had almost been scared away be a few horror stories about the 930.
Glad to hear about your good experience. I had almost been scared away be a few horror stories about the 930.
The gun isn't perfect. It needs the ability for interchangeable chokes from the factory. The LOP is too long although this is not an isolated Mossberg problem. It's gotten a bad rap with a few things when it first came out such as the canted sight problem. I had to send mine back after about 1500 rounds through it because of a bolt not going in to battery and if I hadn't had a good CS experience I wouldn't have one at all. It's not as refined feeling or shooting as compared to a Benelli or FN. My older version tended to rust (on the barrel) easy. My newer 930, made in October 2011 does not.
I use it in 3 gun and my best upgrade besides a larger safety, delrin follower, and longer mag tube from Nordic Components, has been a choke added.
It's not perfect and Mossberg has come out with some goofy other stuff lately but for $550 I've been impressed by the gun.
Elaborating on their CS, they sent me a brand new shotgun with the newer upgrades such as the new bolt handle and upgraded front sight as well as putting on my modified fore end from my previous 930. I had a AFG mounted and asked them to switch it out if my gun needed replacing. Turn around was 2.5 weeks.
-Jax
My father just bought one and he says he really enjopys it. For an 80 year old man, that's greart. However, he says after the first shell has been fired the next shell will not feed. You have to rack it again then the rest will fire everytime. I haven't been able to take a look at it yet but if y'all could tell me the issue may be then I'll call him and tell him to try what y'all are reccommneding.
My father just bought one and he says he really enjopys it. For an 80 year old man, that's greart. However, he says after the first shell has been fired the next shell will not feed. You have to rack it again then the rest will fire everytime. I haven't been able to take a look at it yet but if y'all could tell me the issue may be then I'll call him and tell him to try what y'all are reccommneding.
If you have the owner's manual there should be a parts diagram in the back of it. Tear it down and make sure your piston, action spring, and spacer are in correct order.
-Jax
My 930 SPX malfunctions flawlessly. Pull the trigger, hammer drops, no bang. Likes to do it most in competition.
I had the same issue. I could fire a round, then tap the charging handle forward and get it to work. I can almost guarantee that your gas piston has carbon build up. Completely disassemble, scrape, and clean it and your problem will go away.
This is my FNH SLP MK1 with a 24" vent rib barrel. I got my back when Tanners was blowing them out for $695 about 4yrs ago.
These come with a heavy piston for 1-1/4oz or heavier and a light piston for 1-1/4oz or lighter. I use the heavy piston for everything. I use Winchester Sporting Clays 1-1/8oz 3 dram SuperSports and it's very reliable. If I use the really weak Wal-Mart Federal 1-1/8oz it'll choke about 1-2 rounds per hundred fired. This is why I use the Winchesters.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/gotm4/16c63fc6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/gotm4/a0feca91.jpg
Nice Van Halen paint job.
I bought a 930SPX about a year ago, and while it didn't have the dreaded canted front sight, it suffered from plenty of other issues. Wouldn't hold a full tube of shells as it was shipped with a magazine tube spring that was to long and would bind when inserting the last shell, contacted Mossberg and they sent me the wrong spring.....3 times! One of the screws for the rail was stripped from the factory, fortunately I'm well versed with Helicoils and was able to fix that myself. And I just don't care for the transfer bars being installed in a plastic carrier, showed excessive wear itself and the magazine tube after just 200 rounds, and I kept it well lubed. The final straw for me was the inherent accuracy of this shotgun, or should I say lack of. My 870P will put slugs on a paper plate at 100yds all day long, the 930.....not so much. The 930 is an OK cheap tactical semi auto shotgun, but I wouldn't trust my life with the one I had.
Mine has issues too. FTF on the last round out of the mag tube. I've had about 12 malfunctions in 200 rounds. Just tore it apart and thoroughly went through it and cleaned it. Gotta get back to the range to see if it works any better. I'll use the 590, if ever the need arises.
I recently purchased a New 930SPX and ran it during a LEO instructors course...
IT ran great with zero hiccups....ran no 7 shot, 9 pellet OO buck, Slugs..
I was proud of it.....there was three Benelli super 90 SBS that has cycleing issues
Wife got one for Mothers Day earlier this year... Gen 3. Only thing I've been able to complain about is LOP (too long for a carbine user) and finish. Every other aspect has been utterly reliable. I'm one of the primary Firearms Instructors for my agency and have brought it along to the 13 shotgun classes we held this year. The classes averaged between 20-30 students per. I let anyone and everyone use it that wanted to and the only complaints were that the LOP was too long. Barring that, everyone just wanted to know where to get one. Once I can reliably chop the stock at least 1.5-2 inches and get it Cerakoted, I believe it will be GTG.
My spx is so reliable I can load bird, buck, slug, cheap, expensive, runs like a top. I have the tacticool rail, it my poor man's benelli m4. It preforms on par with my buddy's m4. Although his looks better lol.
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/humboldtkill/IMAG0672.jpg
I met the man who runs the repair/custom shop at Mossberg at the SHOT show. Very nice man. I explained the problem and he told me that some of the early models went out with too weak of a magazine spring. He took my address and promised to send me out a new spring free of charge. Said it should fix the problem, but if it doesn't, he will have me ship him the gun and he will make it right one way or another.
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