Readers of Taki’s Magazine may recall my adventures in disassembling the family shotgun, a Mossberg 500.  (I eventually got it all back together.  It works fine.)

That is some popular gun.  (In my TakiMag piece I called it “a sort of Model T Ford of pump-action shotguns: the basic item without frills.”) 

News comes today that the 10,000,000th Mossberg 500 has just been made, after 52 years of production.

To commemorate this historic benchmark, Mossberg will donate the heavily-embellished 10 Millionth 500 with serial #U500000 to the NRA® National Firearms Museum in recognition of the National Rifle Association’s unwavering defense of the Second Amendment. Mossberg has also produced ten additional “10 Millionth” commemorative shotguns with the unique serialization of U500001 through U500010 for the fundraising efforts of deserving industry partners . . .

These milestone-commemorative Mossberg 500 shotguns feature a matte-silver finished receiver with gold inlay; traditionally-styled, high-gloss Fancy Walnut stock and forend with fine checkering on the pistol grip and wrapping around the underside of the forend; and classic red recoil pad with white Pachmayr® line spacer. Distinctive jeweled bolt and elevator; gold trigger; 28-inch ported, vent rib barrel; and complementing high polished blue metal finish on exposed metalwork complete these classic pump-actions.

Hold me back, someone: I have a mighty urge to liquidate my assets and buy one of those commemorative beauties.

Warm congratulations from this fan to the manufacturers of a superb gun.

Founded in 1919, O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc. is the oldest family-owned firearms manufacturer in America, and is the largest pump-action shotgun manufacturer in the world.