Ok, how hard or how easy is it to replace a stock and forearm on a shotgun?

I have a Mossberg 500 20ga shotgun with a wood stock that is getting pretty bad....Here's the catch. I got a Mossberg 500 20 ga Super Bantam two springs ago which comes with the coupon to get 1/2 off the price of a full size stock/forearm. So I emailed Mossberg to see how I use the coupon..finally, a month later, aka today, I got an email back on what to do and the options I can get the stock/forearm in: wood, black synthetic, woodland, HDG which I'm guessing is RT hardwoods green?, and MOBU.

I'm figuring the full size stock/forearm would be the same and would fit my full size Mossberg 500?

If I'm not mistaken the stock comes off easily. Remove the recoil pad and there is a recessed (hole) with a nut on a rod. Unscrew the nut and the stock comes right off.

Turkeygirl,
The butt stock removal and replacement is as Bugs said. The forearm requires a forearm stock replacement spaner wrench which will sometimes be supplied with the replacement stock, but usely not. A local smith would probably chnage the forearm out for nothing for you if you have one local? It can be done without the spanner wrench but I don't advise it. Feel free to e-mail me if you need further assistance and walked through the process.
Good luck.

It really is somthing that a gunsmith should do for you, special tools and possibly a cutting of the new stock for lenth of pull.

It's an easy swap, I just had my 500 apart to refinish the stock. Remove the recoil pad, just squeeze a #2 phillips head screwdriver in the little holes in the back of the recoil pad and take it off. The stock itself is held on with a slotted screw, you'll need a long common screwdriver to reach the screw head. As far as the forearm goes you'll have to remove the forearm/slide assembly from the gun. If you look at the front of your forearm you can see a ring of steel that holds the wood on the assembly. It's nothing but a big nut, you can see two slots on the front edge of the steel nut. You just need something flat that fits into the slots that's able to span the width and so that it's in both slots at once. I used the back edge of a butter knife to take mine apart.

I've seen some use all sorts of things to get the forend nut off. But I've also seen a few that wouldn't move at all with make shift tools. The spanner wrench is like $20 at Midwayusa. I'd get one and do it right. And you'll have the tool after that and can change the stock, or deep clean whenever you feel like it. Plus you can amaze all your friends that own 500's!

Actually, I wouldn't tell 'em you got it. You might not ever see it again.

I know that it all depends on the individual gun as to whether or not the nut comes loose easily, but my forearm has never been removed and the gun is 38 years old. Make sure that when you put it back together that you put some grease on the threads. Even though your getting a new stock you should fix the old one. Use a paint stripper to remove the old finish and just give the wood a little sanding. It really doesn't take much sanding, a light sanding with 180 or 220 grit is all you need. You probably have some dents in the wood and its easy to fix them. Spray the stock really good with water so it soaks in just a little. Then put a wet towel over the dent and then iron the towel. The moisture in the wood turns to steam when heated and the dent will iron right out. When your done with the dents just let the stock dry, it'll raise the grain in the wood so sand it again with the 220 grit paper. The finish that I prefer is Formsby's low gloss tung oil finish. It doesn't take any special techniques to put it on, you just wipe it on with a rag. Wait about twelve hours between coats and give it a total of eight to twelve coats.

Here's the one that I just finished.

Says it ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice stock work centuar!

Thanks, but to be honest the finish that I use makes it so easy. After stripping the wood with paint stripper it only took a light sanding with 220 grit paper. I use Formsby's tung oil finish, which contrary to its name contains no tung oil. It's a wiping varnish/soya oil/mineral spirit mixture. It's much tougher than linseed oil and it dries quicker. I use the low gloss, as you can see from the pics that it still has a nice shine without being too shiny. The high gloss finish would probably be too much for a hunting gun. I just finished this gun last weekend. It's a Marlin 17hmr and I decided to dye the wood dark green before finishing. Dye will color the wood without hiding any of the grain pattern like a lot of stains will do.