Value guide

What is my Mossberg worth?

Mossberg has built affordable, hard-working guns for a century, which means most of what turns up is worth honest working money. The exceptions are early and unusual, and they are worth knowing about before the whole lot gets priced as a bundle.

No page can price your gun, and any page that offers to is guessing. What this one does is show you the things that decide the number, so you can look at what you have and know whether you’re holding something ordinary or something worth a proper look.

Working guns, with a few early ones that are not

The 500 and 590 shotguns are among the most-produced pump guns in the world and are priced as tools, which is fair. What families miss is the earlier material: the pre-war .22 rifles, the target models, and the military and law-enforcement contract guns, which have followings of their own. A box of Mossbergs is usually ordinary, and the occasional one in it is not.

The models that turn up, and what they mean

Model	Made	What it means for value
Model 500	1960–present	The pump shotgun made in the millions. Working money, and honest about it.
Model 590	1987–present	The military-pattern version. Contract and law-enforcement guns are worth identifying.
Model 44 and target rifles	1930s–1960s	Bolt-action .22 target rifles with aperture sights. A real following and frequently overlooked.
Early .22 rifles	1920s–1950s	Pre-war and early post-war rimfires, often in excellent original condition because nobody used them hard.
Model 800 and centerfire rifles	1967–1979	Shorter production runs than the shotguns and scarcer as a result.
Shotgun barrels and accessories	various	Spare barrels are worth real money separately and are routinely thrown in for nothing.

What to check before anybody makes you an offer

The model number, usually on the receiver, and whether a shotgun is a 500 or a 590.
Any military, prison or police contract markings.
On the older rimfires, the condition of the original blue and whether the sights are intact.
Extra barrels, which have their own value.

And the two rules that apply to every gun on this page:don’t clean it, and keep the box and papers. Removing original finish is permanent, and on the right gun the packaging is a real fraction of the total.

"Mossbergs are cheap guns"

They were built to a price and that is the point of them; a used 500 is worth what a used 500 is worth. But the pre-war rimfires and target rifles were carefully made, they survive in better condition than guns that were carried, and they are collected. Worth having the older ones separated from the pile before anybody prices it.

I have three or four Mossbergs. Is it worth your time?

Usually, especially alongside anything else. We buy the whole lot rather than picking through it, and a few working shotguns plus one older rimfire is a perfectly normal thing for us to look at.

Model by model

What is my Mossberg 500 worth? (1960–present)

Getting an actual number

Condition, originality and configuration decide it, and none of the three can be judged from a description. Send photos and we’ll make you an offer, wherever you are in the country. It comes itemized, showing what we’ll pay for each firearm, so you can see how the number is built instead of being handed one figure for the pile.

Worth reading alongside this

Police trade-in guns — department markings and what they do to the value. Engraved guns — factory grade or added later, and why the difference is most of the money. What determines value on any firearm.

Other makers

Winchester, Remington, Colt, Smith & Wesson, Marlin, Browning, Ruger, military surplus rifles, Glock, Beretta, Intratec, Savage, Ithaca, Walther and SIG Sauer.