Description
The Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge is a 12 gauge pump gun with a fourteen inch barrel and no stock, and the reason you can buy it without a tax stamp comes down to two measurements and one piece of history.
The Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge is twenty six and a third inches long overall, and it has never been fitted with a shoulder stock. Those two facts put it outside the National Firearms Act, and that is the whole story of why this thing exists.
What the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge gives you
- 12 gauge, 3 inch chamber, 5+1
- 14 inch heavy walled barrel, cylinder bore, no choke tubes
- Blued stainless steel receiver, drilled and tapped
- Raptor birdshead grip
- Corn cob forend with a strap
- Bead sight
- 26.37 inches overall length
- Swivel studs fitted
- Mossberg part number 50659
Why the Raptor grip changes how the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge is used
- With no stock the gun is far shorter than any shouldered shotgun of the same barrel length
- It is worked at waist or chest level rather than shouldered, so it is a close range tool and nothing else
- The strap on the forend is there to keep the support hand where it belongs
- Five rounds of 12 gauge in something 26 inches long is a lot of effect in very little space
- It is genuinely awkward to shoot well, and that is worth knowing before rather than after
Mossberg 50659 specifications
- Manufacturer part number: 50659
- Gauge: 12
- Chamber: 3 inches
- Capacity: 5+1
- Action: pump
- Barrel length: 14 inches (Zanders records 14.375)
- Barrel type: heavy walled, cylinder bore
- Choke tubes: none, not threaded for them
- Receiver: blued stainless steel, drilled and tapped
- Grip: Raptor birdshead
- Forend: corn cob with strap
- Sights: bead
- Overall length: 26.37 inches
- Swivel studs: fitted
- Recoil pad: none
The Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge is not a shotgun, and not a short barreled shotgun
This is the part to understand before anything else. A 14 inch barrel would normally put a 12 gauge squarely in National Firearms Act territory, but the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge left the factory with a Raptor birdshead grip and has never had a shoulder stock fitted, and its overall length is 26.37 inches. Because it was never a shoulder-fired weapon and it measures over 26 inches, the ATF classifies it as a “firearm” rather than a shotgun or a short barreled shotgun. It transfers on a 4473 like any other firearm and needs no tax stamp.
Two things would change that, and both are on you. Fitting a shoulder stock would make it a short barreled shotgun. So would shortening it below 26 inches overall. Either creates an NFA item, and MAG5 does not sell NFA items. State and local law on this class of firearm varies a great deal and several states do not permit it at all, so check your own before you order. It ships to your FFL and they will know.
Cylinder bore and a bead sight, and what that means at the target
The barrel is heavy walled, cylinder bore, and not threaded for choke tubes, so there is no constriction and nothing to swap. Out of fourteen inches with no choke a buckshot pattern opens quickly, which is the honest trade for the length. A bead sight is all that is fitted, though the receiver is drilled and tapped if you want to mount something. Pattern whatever load you choose on paper at the distance you actually care about before you rely on it, because at these barrel lengths the difference between one buckshot load and another is much larger than most people expect.
Ammunition and getting more than five shells to hand
Five plus one is what the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge holds, which is why a shell carrier is the first accessory most owners buy: the TacStar four shot side saddle for the Mossberg 500 and 590 puts four more on the receiver. For buckshot, STARS 00 buck nine pellet is the load we hold deepest by a long way, Winchester Super-X 00 buck is the alternative, and Barnes Defense number 4 buck with 21 pellets trades pellet size for pellet count. There is also a forend light made for the 500, 590 and Shockwave, and a Pachmayr grip glove, which is worth more on a birdshead grip than it is on anything else.
Other Mossberg pump guns we stock
If a conventional stock is what you actually want, the 590A1 with an 18.5 inch threaded barrel is the heavy duty version of the same action, and the 590R Tactical is also in stock alongside the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge in a second configuration.
Worth knowing before you buy
- Recoil goes into your wrist, not your shoulder. A birdshead grip on a 12 gauge is not a gun to hand to a first-time shooter, and the corn cob forend has a strap for a reason.
- Sources differ slightly on the barrel: Sports South records 14 inches and Zanders records 14.375. Overall length is 26.37 inches either way, which is the figure that matters.
- Swivel studs are fitted to the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge. No recoil pad, because there is nothing to pad.
- Mossberg publishes the specification at mossberg.com, and 12 gauge shotshells are standardized by SAAMI.
Why the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge earns its place
- Five rounds of 12 gauge in a package barely over two feet long, which is the whole point of the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge
- No tax stamp and no wait, because of how it is classified
- The 590 action underneath it, which is the one with the reputation
- A drilled and tapped receiver, so lights and optics are an option
- Nothing else in a gun cabinet does quite this job
This suits a truck, a boat, a shop counter or a corner of a bedroom where length is the constraint and range is not. It suits an experienced shooter who understands what a birdshead grip does with 12 gauge recoil. It is a poor choice as a first shotgun, a poor choice for anyone who wants to shoot it a lot, and a poor choice for anyone who has not read their own state law on this class of firearm first. Within those limits the Mossberg 590 Shockwave 12 Gauge does something no conventional shotgun can.
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