Mossberg 990 SPX review: short-barrel 12-gauge home defense shotgun

Key points: Mossberg 990 SPX review

• The 990 SPX is essentially a 990 Aftershock with a Magpul stock on the back, but Mossberg went back into the gun and retuned the gas system and extractor so it runs correctly fired from the shoulder.
• Recoil lands close to a 940 with a little more pop and aggression from the 14.75-inch barrel — buckshot is comfortable all day, slugs are the one load he calls an exercise in masochism.
• Handling is the whole argument: lighter and better balanced than any other shotgun he has picked up, it goes where he points, stops when he stops, and transitions target to target quickly enough to erase the recoil penalty.
• The fixed stock and M-LOK forend put a weapon light where his support hand already is, fixing his standing complaint that on a folding shotgun you cannot reach the light you mounted — and identifying the target is the whole ballgame at 2 a.m.
• The factory ghost rings arrive zeroed, and pulling the rear ghost ring lets a red dot drop low into the receiver rather than sitting high over the bore.
• Controls he singles out: a big knurled charging handle, an oversized bolt release he finds without looking, a top-mounted safety, and a Magpul stock with real traction and length-of-pull spacers that fit his short arms out of the box.
• The cost is capacity and paperwork — six rounds against eight in an 18-inch gun, plus the NFA tax stamp and wait for a short-barreled shotgun — and his verdict is to do the paperwork anyway.

About this Gun Review video

Mossberg 990 SPX review: Colion Noir shoulders the 14.75-inch semi-auto 12-gauge short-barrel shotgun and asks whether it is the ultimate home defense shotgun. Recoil sits close to a 940 with extra pop from the short barrel, buckshot runs easy and slugs punish, and the handling is what wins him over — lighter, better balanced, and it stops where he stops. The trades are six rounds instead of eight and NFA paperwork with a tax stamp, and he takes both for a short-barrel home defense shotgun that fits his house and his arms.

Transcript: Mossberg 990 SPX