There is a common misconception perpetuated with shotguns. “You don’t have to aim, just point and shoot”. Sadly, our current president made a very bad statement several years ago that has not helped the fallacy that shotguns do not need to be aimed. If you have ever shot a shotgun competitively, they most certainly need to be aimed. Otherwise trap and skeet would be easy. While shotguns do have a form of a sight, typically a bead sight, they are not great. It is 2021, let’s put red dots on our shotguns. Jawbone Tactical makes a red dot mount for the Mossberg 500/590 shotgun.

Mossberg 500 @ TFB:

• TFB Field Strip Mossberg 500
• 500 rd Mossberg 500 Torture Test
• Review: Tactaload Flash5 Stock For Mossberg

Jawbone Tactical Mossberg Shotgun Red Dot Mount

The Jawbone red dot mount is very straightforward. It works with any Mossberg 500, 590 or Shockwave that has a drilled and tapped receiver.

Drilled and tapped receiver of my Mossberg Shockwave

Remove those four screws and install the Jawbone Tactical mount with the provided four Torx screws. Then mount your optic of choice. Right now Jawbone Tactical only makes their red dot mount for Mossberg 500. So you will have to look elsewhere if you want one for your Remington 870. Also Jawbone Tactical only makes this mount for RMR footprint optics.

Photo by Jawbone Tactical

I took my dual illuminated Trijicon RMR off my 10/22 and mounted it to the Jawbone mount. You have to be careful with the length of the screws you use to mount your optic. The instructions warn you about this.

Photo by Jawbone Tactical

Below you can see the thickness of the mount. Due to the perspective of the photograph, it looks sloped but it is not. The mount is deceptive and not as thick as it seems so longer screws can hit the top of your receiver that’s why Jawbone recommends installing your optic first to see if the screws are too long before installing the mount onto your shotgun.

Not a fan of the tint and distortion seen in RMR micro red dots.

Shooting The Jawbone Equipped Mossberg

It was rather easy shooting my Mossberg. 50 and even 100-yard targets were easy to hit with slugs with a red dot.

Final Thoughts On Jawbone Tactical’s Mount

The red dot mount has recoil lugs to help relieve shearing stress being applied to the mounting screws of the red dot. This allegedly allows you to change out the battery on the RMR without losing zero. I opted for the dual illumination RMR since there are no batteries to change out and I do not foresee myself using this shotgun at night with night vision. The dual illuminated RMR is not great for low light use. Bright weapon lights can easily wash out the dot since it is illuminated by tritium and there is not enough ambient light to make the fiber optic work.

Jawbone prefers the Holosun micro red dots like the HS507C V2. This way you have solar backup and if you need to change batteries you do not need to remove the optic from the mount. I would like to see the red dot recessed a bit and not just recoil lugs. While it is not necessary and complicates shotguns, I would have liked to see a cowitness iron sight to work with tall front sights. Similar to my Remington 870 optic mount. I would like to see Jawbone make mounts for other red dots like the DeltaPoint Pro or maybe a generic one that uses optics plates from Glocks or something similar. The Mossberg shotgun red dot mount only retails for $69.99. For more information go to Jawbone Tactical’s Website.