Good Christmas trip to the old country. Fished for steelhead on Elk Creek (got to use a nice Billy Pate Salmon direct-drive), shot deer off of a jet boat w/a muzzle-loader, chased ruffed grouse with a boyhood friend, and, yes....bought a Model 31. I sort-of had to, because I gave away the little Model 12 20 I brought to my buddy. Got to have something to shoot in the time remaining here. My first Model 31, and even uncleaned from the bargain bin at the gun store, it's amazingly slick to pump. Did they really use ball bearings?
Having owned two I would say it is vastly over-rated gun. Although not called Model 31 it's still made by Mossberg and company in Philippines. Although early ones had one the 500 is more advanced design with two action bars and the bolt locks into barrel extension. The Wingmaster with Light Contour barrel is far superior firearm.
Exactly why would you say that? The comparison would be more relevant if you compared the Express to the 500, since, you can almost buy two 500s for the price of the Wingmaster. The 500 usually works, right out of the box, something that is getting hard to be said about the Express.
The US military disagrees with your opinion, by the way, and did extensive testing to get to that decision.
Best,
Ted
