Mossberg's Story: A Swedish Immigrant and a Four-Shot .22 Pistol

From Värmland to Massachusetts

If you own a home-defense shotgun, there's a fair chance it says Mossberg or Maverick on the receiver. The name belongs to a real person, and his path to that receiver ran through half the New England gun industry.

Oscar Frederick Mossberg was born on September 1, 1866, near Svanskog in the Värmland region of western Sweden, according to the company history summarized on Wikipedia. He emigrated to the United States in 1886, at 19 or 20, joining the wave of Swedes who left for America in that decade.

He found work in the gun trade. At Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, he supervised revolver and shotgun manufacturing. He then managed the small factory of C. S. Shattuck Arms Co. in Hatfield, Massachusetts, which made breech-loading shotguns. Those are two names most shooters today wouldn't recognize, but they were the kind of shops where a mechanic learned every part of the trade.

A patent, a family and New Haven

Mossberg next worked for J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co., where he designed and patented a four-shot novelty pistol. He and his sons built about 500 of them between 1907 and 1909, by the company history's account. It was a small run, but it planted the idea that would launch the family business a decade later.

In 1914 he joined Marlin-Rockwell in New Haven, Connecticut. When that operation closed after World War I, Oscar and his sons Iver and Harold decided to stop working for other people. In March 1919 they founded O.F. Mossberg & Sons.

The Brownie

The new company's first product was a pocket pistol called the Brownie. It was a four-shot .22-caliber design, first built in a rented loft on State Street in New Haven.

It wasn't sold as a defensive gun. The company marketed it mainly to hunters and trappers "for the humane killing of wounded or trapped animals," as the history puts it. A small, cheap, multi-shot .22 that fit in a coat pocket was a practical tool for someone running a trapline.

The Brownie sold well for a startup: approximately 37,000 between 1920 and 1932. That success paid for the next steps. In 1921 the family bought a building on Greene Street in New Haven, and in 1922 Mossberg introduced its first .22 rimfire pump-action rifle, designed by Arthur E. Savage.

Growing up through the war

In 1937 the company built a third New Haven factory. Oscar Mossberg died that same year, and Harold took over running the business.

During World War II, Mossberg made parts for the Browning M2 machine gun and the Enfield No. 4 rifle, and produced the U.S. Model 42 and 44 .22 bolt-action rifles used for training. After the war, the company focused on affordable sporting long guns, mainly shotguns. In 1960 production moved to North Haven, Connecticut, where the headquarters still sits.

The Model 500 changes everything

In August 1961 Mossberg introduced the 500 Series pump-action shotgun, designed by lead design engineer Carl Benson. It was built for hunters, but law enforcement picked it up quickly, and Wikipedia's Model 500 entry credits its "reliability and low cost."

Anyone who has handled one knows its signature feature: the safety sits on the top tang, behind the receiver, where a thumb reaches it equally well from either side. A 16-gauge version followed in 1963 and was later dropped. By 2021, about 11 million Model 500s had been produced, which Wikipedia describes as the most of any shotgun model.

That's a big part of why this site keeps coming back to the 500. Our Mossberg 500 Special Purpose review covers the home-defense configuration.

The 590 and the military

The 500 wasn't an instant military success. In the 1970s it was submitted for military use and failed to meet the MIL-SPEC 3443E protocol, which, per Wikipedia, called for firing 3,000 rounds with no more than two malfunctions.

Mossberg answered with a purpose-built design. In 1987 it introduced the M590 specifically for military use. After a Navy request, the company thickened the barrel, extended the magazine, and added a barrel shroud and a bayonet lug. The result, the M590A1, "became the standard shotgun in the United States military." Wikipedia's timeline records the family's first combat use in the 1991 Gulf War.

Civilian 590A1s keep the heavier barrel and the aluminum trigger guard and safety. Ammunition Depot lists a Mossberg 590A1 Tactical with a 20-inch barrel and 8+1 capacity, ghost-ring sights and a six-position stock. The standard 590 is also sold in configurations like the 590 Persuader with a 20-inch barrel. Our 590 Tactical 6-shot vs 9-shot post helps choose a version.

Maverick and Texas

In 1989 Mossberg's corporate affiliate Maverick Arms opened a 40,000-square-foot plant in Eagle Pass, Texas. Maverick builds a less expensive shotgun, the Maverick 88, that looks nearly identical to the 500. The main visible difference is a cross-bolt safety behind the trigger instead of the 500's tang safety, which also means the trigger groups don't interchange.

The Texas operation kept growing. In 2013 the Eagle Pass plant added 116,000 square feet, and today more than 90 percent of Mossberg's shotguns and rifles are made there, while headquarters remain in North Haven. If you're shopping on a tight budget, Ammunition Depot lists the Maverick 88 Security with an 18.5-inch barrel, and our Maverick 88 Security review and 18.5 vs 20-inch comparison are good next reads.

Back to handguns, a century later

The Brownie was the last Mossberg handgun for a long time. In January 2019, a hundred years after the company's founding, Mossberg introduced the MC1sc subcompact 9mm, its first handgun since the Brownie.

And the family name still runs the company. Wikipedia describes Mossberg as "the oldest family-owned firearms manufacturer in America." The more recent Shockwave line, which began production in 2017, became the best-selling U.S. pump-action shotgun by 2020. Our Shockwave explainer covers what it is and isn't.

A timeline

Telling the family apart

Because the 500, 590, 590A1 and Maverick 88 look so alike, people often aren't sure which one they're holding. A few quick tells, all from the sources above:

• Safety location. The Mossberg 500 and 590 family put the safety on the top tang. The Maverick 88 uses a cross-bolt safety near the trigger guard. That's the fastest way to tell a Maverick from a Mossberg.
• Trigger guard and safety material. The 590A1 uses an aluminum trigger guard and safety and a heavier barrel, the changes the military asked for.
• Markings. The model is stamped on the receiver or barrel. When in doubt, read it, and check the owner's manual for that exact model before buying parts.

Because the trigger groups don't interchange between the 88 and the 500, order parts for the gun you actually own.

Why it matters for a home-defense buyer

History doesn't make a gun work. What it does tell you is that the 500 and 590 are mature, widely used designs. Parts, accessories, magazine extensions where legal, lights and stocks are easy to find. Gunsmiths know them. Training classes see them every weekend. That ecosystem is a quiet advantage when you're choosing something to trust for years.

If you've settled on a Mossberg-pattern pump, keep it fed with a good defensive load. Our buckshot buyer's guide covers the options, and Ammunition Depot's reduced-recoil FLITECONTROL 00 buck is a common starting point.

Editorial note: This is an independent editorial overview built from manufacturer specifications, retailer listings and published sources. We have not performed hands-on testing of the products discussed, and nothing here is a performance guarantee. Verify specifications, compatibility and the law where you live.

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