Mossberg 590A1 with Mesa Tactical 8-shot side saddle

[scootle]

For anyone who might be curious about the fit of the 8-shell side saddle from Mesa Tactical... Smartgunner shipped it a lot faster than I expected. Ordered Thu, arrived Sat... thanks Tommy!

The fit was pretty straightforward... you replace the internal ejector screw with a longer screw and T-nut, and they provide a long two-piece screw that replaces the trigger pin.

Two minor caveats... the factory hole on the side saddle for the rear screw was not drilled quite large enough, so it took some oil and elbow grease to get it through the saddle. It fit fine through the trigger pin hole though. Since this is the 8-shell carrier, a corner protrudes a bit over the rear edge, as you can see in some of the pictures.

No modification to the fore-end was required in this case, despite the manufacturer warnings to the contrary.







No shells, left side
No shells, right side

[shellslinger]

Excellent pictures scootle! It looks very mean. I think 590a1's and Side saddles go together like a fat kid with cake.

[BamBam-31]

That long line of green slugs looks like the salad bar at Soup Plantation.

[Cali-Shooter]

Nice one! I am *green* with envy! I gotta pick me up one of those too, my current side-saddle only holds 6 shells...

[bsg]

does look good; businesslike.

[scootle]

Nice one! I am *green* with envy! I gotta pick me up one of those too, my current side-saddle only holds 6 shells...

hah. i have green ones, red ones, gold ones, and clear ones...

yeah, 6-shells seemed a bit silly on a shotgun that holds 8+1 in the tube. it's nice that the 8-shell version fits fine. that said... it might be overkill when there are 8 on the saddle and 4 more in the stock SpeedFeed tubes. that's a lot of zombies i guess.

i can't say i'm a huge fan so far of the SpeedFeed though, sure the shells are there, but if you're not careful, the spring in the tubes can eject the shells right out of your hand!

thanks for the comments!

[BigDogatPlay]

Please post a range report on how it is shooting left handed. Curious.

[scootle]

Please post a range report on how it is shooting left handed. Curious.

I wondered about that too... with shells in all slots, shooting lefty has the rear-most shell just barely above my left hand if they are configured as shown (00-buck pushed up so brass is just at the lip of the saddle). I'd say about 1/4" above my extended trigger finger. It probably also depends how large your mitts are... for someone with meatier hands than me, you might have to push the rear shell up a bit farther.

There is some play in the shells, so if somehow you end up mashing your hand up against the shells, they just get pushed up farther into the saddle.

I'd imagine those who choose to run a pistol-grip stock won't have any problems.

[Cali-Shooter]

Please post a range report on how it is shooting left handed. Curious.

+1.

Yes, we'd appreciate a range report on how that side saddle holds up during downrange use. I'm also curious as to if it hinders left hand shooting as well. Let us know dude!

[MossbergMan]

Scootie, one caution about shooting an alloy receivered shotgun with a screwed in/on side saddle. The additional weight on the steel pins will wear/enlarge the pin holes in your receiver. When things get loose, we tighten them up, right? I've seen a Benelli S-90A1 ruined by tightening up a side saddle. If you're going to shoot the gun alot, either download or unload the side saddle when firing. All my side saddles are attached with either double side industrial strength 3M tape or velcro (like the 3 Gun Gear SS). I did this after my fellow instructor friend wrecked his Benelli and I found the fininshed chipped away around the pin holes on my shotguns. Steel guns (ala Remington) don't have this issue. It will just depend on how much you shoot your gun with the weight on the side saddle. Some shooting shouldn't hurt it. And I'd like to know if the Mesa SS hold the rounds securely brass down. It's a good looking unit for sure, great pics.

[scootle]

+1.
Yes, we'd appreciate a range report on how that side saddle holds up during downrange use. I'm also curious as to if it hinders left hand shooting as well. Let us know dude!

Will let you know... I will hopefully get a chance to hit the indoor range this week sometime, if not next.

Scootie, one caution about shooting an alloy receivered shotgun with a screwed in/on side saddle. The additional weight on the steel pins will wear/enlarge the pin holes in your receiver. When things get loose, we tighten them up, right? I've seen a Benelli S-90A1 ruined by tightening up a side saddle. If you're going to shoot the gun alot, either download or unload the side saddle when firing. All my side saddles are attached with either double side industrial strength 3M tape or velcro (like the 3 Gun Gear SS). I did this after my fellow instructor friend wrecked his Benelli and I found the fininshed chipped away around the pin holes on my shotguns. Steel guns (ala Remington) don't have this issue. It will just depend on how much you shoot your gun with the weight on the side saddle. Some shooting shouldn't hurt it. And I'd like to know if the Mesa SS hold the rounds securely brass down. It's a good looking unit for sure, great pics.

Interesting... I can understand the aluminum receiver being a bit softer than the steel receivers on other brands. I will make a habit of checking the mount points whenever I take down the gun for detail cleaning. I am hoping to use this shotgun in classroom settings for training, so we'll see how it holds up!

I suppose, in a way, this will be a test of both the Mesa Tactical and Mossberg engineers on both sides of the equation...

The elastomer they use to tension/friction the shells in the holder appears secure, but you really don't know until you run the gun and see how it performs in the field. They do recommend not storing shells long-term in the holder to prevent permanent deformation of the elastomer though, for what that's worth. It can be disassembled and replaced, however.

[Mesa Tactical]

Scootie, one caution about shooting an alloy receivered shotgun with a screwed in/on side saddle. The additional weight on the steel pins will wear/enlarge the pin holes in your receiver. When things get loose, we tighten them up, right? I've seen a Benelli S-90A1 ruined by tightening up a side saddle.

You can't overtighten the Chicago screws used to secure the shell carrier at the rear. They were developed specifically to avoid pinching aluminum receivers.

The elastomer they use to tension/friction the shells in the holder appears secure, but you really don't know until you run the gun and see how it performs in the field. They do recommend not storing shells long-term in the holder to prevent permanent deformation of the elastomer though, for what that's worth. It can be disassembled and replaced, however.

We've talked to a lot of trainers, and from what they tell us no shell carrier can reliably retain shells brass down if you are doing a lot of running around. This is why we generally recommend holding the shells brass up (except with stock-mount shell carriers).

You don't really save much time with reloading brass down vs brass up, providing you practice your skills.

[Callipygian]

Do they or anyone else make one for lefties? I have one that holds 4-5 shells and it's awkward for a left handed shooter.

[tacticalcity]

Nice setup. I just have the cheapy TacStar on my shotgun, but have considerded an upgrade someday in the future. Mesa Tactical makes some really nice stuff.

[scootle]

range report for lefties... sorta....

There is clearly a lot of interest from the southpaws about how feasible this setup is. I'm not a lefty, but I took the rig to the range today and put a few boxes of shells through the setup to see how it works out.

I tested with the following loads (loosely in order of increasing recoil)

#8 bird Federal Game Load (1oz, 1290fps)
#7.5 bird Remington Premier Target Load (1.125oz, 1235fps)
#00 buck Fiocchi LE Load (9 pellet, 1150fps)
#00 buck Remington Managed Recoil (8 pellet, 1200fps)

I don't have any full-load #00 buck or rifled slugs on hand, but I will see if I can test a bit more with the full load shells in the future. I need to make a Walmart run!

Please post a range report on how it is shooting left handed. Curious.

Do they or anyone else make one for lefties? I have one that holds 4-5 shells and it's awkward for a left handed shooter.

I'm pretty lousy with my left-hand technique, so please keep that in mind. I need more practice... When I switch to my off-side shooting I tend to have a little less control so the shotgun tends to yaw a bit to the left on recoil. This caused contact with my left shooting hand just above the knuckle of the index finger to the rear most shell casing (brass down). Nothing painful, but if you do this for repeated/extended periods, I could see why wearing gloves would be a good idea. With good technique/control, recoil straight back/up shouldn't cause any contact.

Honestly, to really test this, I'd want to have a strong left-handed shooter try it out to see how they fare.

Yes, we'd appreciate a range report on how that side saddle holds up during downrange use. I'm also curious as to if it hinders left hand shooting as well. Let us know dude!

We've talked to a lot of trainers, and from what they tell us no shell carrier can reliably retain shells brass down if you are doing a lot of running around. This is why we generally recommend holding the shells brass up (except with stock-mount shell carriers).

You don't really save much time with reloading brass down vs brass up, providing you practice your skills.

I fully loaded the side saddle brass down and shot several rounds of the #00 Remington MR rounds in quick succession (I had the range to myself tonight! ) and nothing moved out of the saddle. Granted, everything is still pretty new and tight, so ask me again in 6 months. If I can get into a shotgun class in July, I'll do more running and gunning to see how things fare with a bit more action. Range shooting kind of limits the options a bit.

You can't overtighten the Chicago screws used to secure the shell carrier at the rear. They were developed specifically to avoid pinching aluminum receivers.

True, the two-piece design of the Chicago screws will limit how much you can tighten everything. I suspect the concern is lateral movement in the plane of the holes/receiver though... he is referring to abnormal wear that might enlarge the holes in the receiver due to vibration/friction.

Hope that helps out a bit! I'm far from an expert, so I appreciate the insights and questions to think about.