Mossberg & Sons International Silver Reserve II Field w/Shell Extractors - Blue/Black, 2 + 1 Rounds, Wood Stock

Not impressed. The wood is not finished to my satisfaction but I can complete the job. The breakdown action was stiff but some white lithium grease on the hinges made things a little better. The metal of the hinge is too rough and needs wear to smooth it out. The safety and barrel selector was too hard to move. With more grease and a glove (used a glove because it was too hard on my thumb) I was able to work the selector back and forth and up and down to loosing it up to what I would still rate as hard. The barrel selection can only operate with the safety on, and that is good for safety reasons. The opening and closing of the action does not move the safety switch back to safe. I like this for a field gun. After working the barrel selector for at least 200 times I got that loosened up but you can see the scuffing of the metal, tolerances are too tight. The breakdown action also loosened up with many openings and closings and the white lithium grease. All these things could be made a lot better with some factory control of tolerances and smoothing out the roughness. I will take it apart and see if I can "smooth" out the operation. One other item to mention is that the opening lever is set up for a right hand shooter. It is cocked slightly to the right side and not directly in the center. I don't know if it is just this gun or if all are like that. Had I been able to handle this shotgun in a store I would not have bought it on line. I have three grandsons of which one will get this shotgun, as soon as I "smooth it out".

I am not impressed with the finish on this product. Rough wood edges, and some of the barrel markings are not "crisp". The chokes included had rough edges. Patterning is poor. Trigger is stiff and feels a little flimsy. Safety works and is easy to flick on/off. The break open action is as stiff as a dead mans leg. The gun does rise nicely to the cheek, and is fast swinging. I've shot a Mossberg 9200 for 16 years. Very nice finish on that gun, patterns very nicely, but then again... it was made in the USA. Likely I will not purchase another Mossberg product based on the quality of this one.