Description
The Mossberg 590 Retrograde is the fighting shotgun the company has been building for half a century, dressed the way it used to be dressed. Walnut instead of polymer, a ribbed corncob forend instead of a molded one, and a ventilated heat shield over the barrel because that is what these looked like when they were issued.
Underneath the wood nothing has been softened. It is a 590: twin action bars, dual extractors, a metal-to-metal lockup and the tang safety that sits on top of the receiver where either thumb can reach it. Six in the magazine and one in the chamber, an 18.5 inch barrel bored cylinder, and a receiver drilled and tapped for an optic base.
At seven pounds and 39.5 inches it is a full-size gun. That weight is doing work: a light 12 gauge firing buckshot is an unpleasant experience, and this one is not.
Why the retro dress is more than a look
- A walnut corncob forend gives a positive grip when the barrel is hot and does not get slick with sweat the way a smooth polymer forend can.
- The heat shield is a genuine feature rather than a costume piece; after a dozen fast rounds the barrel is hot enough to matter.
- Walnut is repairable. A dented stock can be steamed and refinished, and a polymer one cannot.
- A drilled and tapped receiver means a red dot or a ghost ring base bolts on without gunsmithing.
- A cylinder bore 12 gauge throws the widest pattern the gun can make, which is the right answer at defensive distance.
The Mossberg 590 Retrograde action, unchanged
- Twin action bars, which is why a 590 does not bind when you work the slide off-square under pressure.
- Ambidextrous tang safety on top of the receiver, the best-placed safety on any pump shotgun.
- Dual extractors and a steel-to-steel lockup.
- Fixed walnut stock with a 13.87 in. length of pull, which is a full-size dimension.
- Bead front sight, matte blued barrel and receiver.
- Six-round magazine tube, seven rounds total with one chambered.
Mossberg 590 Retrograde specifications
- Model: Mossberg 52151
- Gauge: 12
- Chamber: 3 in.
- Capacity: 6+1
- Barrel: 18.5 in., matte blued, ventilated heat shield
- Choke: cylinder bore
- Sights: bead front
- Receiver: matte blued, drilled and tapped
- Stock: fixed walnut with ribbed corncob forend
- Length of pull: 13.87 in.
- Overall length: 39.5 in.
- Weight: 7 lb.
- Safety: ambidextrous tang
- UPC: 015813521512
Cylinder bore on the Mossberg 590 Retrograde
This barrel has no choke tubes and no constriction at all. Cylinder bore is the most open a shotgun barrel gets, and on a defensive gun that is deliberate.
An open bore opens the pattern fastest, which spreads buckshot over a wider area at a given distance. Inside a house that is mostly irrelevant, because at seven yards almost any 12 gauge pattern is still a fist. Past twenty yards it becomes the limiting factor, and a Mossberg 590 Retrograde is not the gun for reaching out. Pattern it on paper at the distance you actually care about before you assume anything.
It also means modern flight-control buckshot is worth buying. Those loads use a specialized wad to hold the pattern together and they work noticeably better than cheap buckshot out of an unchoked barrel.
Ammunition and setup for a Mossberg 590 Retrograde
Barnes Defense number 4 buck at 21 pellets is the serious load and we hold it deep. ATI 1 oz target loads are the cheap way to learn the gun; a pump does not care what it is fed, so unlike a gas gun you can practice on the lightest ammunition you can find.
The drilled and tapped receiver is the feature most owners ignore. A red dot on a defensive shotgun genuinely helps, and this one is ready for a base without any machining. If you would rather keep it period-correct, the bead works exactly as it always did.
Running a pump properly
A pump shotgun fails for exactly one reason in untrained hands: short-stroking. The shooter does not pull the forend fully to the rear, the spent hull does not clear, and the gun jams at the worst possible moment. Twin action bars make a Mossberg 590 Retrograde far more tolerant of an off-square stroke than a single-bar design, but they cannot fix an incomplete one.
The fix is to work the action deliberately and all the way, every time, from the first day. Practice it with an empty gun until the stroke is violent and complete rather than gentle and tentative. A pump run properly is the most reliable repeating shotgun there is; run timidly it is the least.
Honest limits of the Mossberg 590 Retrograde
A Mossberg 590 Retrograde is seven pounds of walnut and steel, which is a lot to hold at the ready for any length of time, and wood does not like being left damp. This is not the gun for a boat or a wet truck bed; a synthetic-stocked 590 is a better answer there and we stock several.
The fixed stock also means a 13.87 inch length of pull whether it suits you or not. A shooter under about five foot five will find it long, and unlike a modern tactical shotgun there is no adjustment to make.
Why the Mossberg 590 Retrograde earns its place
- It is a real 590 underneath, not a lookalike built on a lighter action.
- Twin action bars and the tang safety are the two things that made this design the standard, and both are here.
- Walnut and a heat shield make it the best-looking defensive shotgun on the shelf, and that matters more than people admit.
- Drilled and tapped from the factory for an optic base.
- Parts, barrels and gunsmiths for the Mossberg pump are available absolutely everywhere.
If you want the same action in modern dress, the 590R Tactical gives you synthetic furniture and a more aggressive layout. For a semi-automatic that soaks up more of the recoil, the 940 Pro Tactical is the step up, and the 990 Aftershock is the compact firearm-class alternative for anyone who does not need a shoulder stock.
If 12 gauge is more recoil than you want, the Mossberg 500 in .410 is the same family in the gentlest bore. Browse the rest of our shotguns category or the wider firearms range, and see the factory page at Mossberg. Every transfer goes through a licensed dealer.
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