correct me if I was wrong on this but I was led to believe that the Mossberg 500/590 was the ONLY gun to ever pass the U.S Marine torture test trials a bunch of years ago. There is a huge write up on it somewhere on the web. I love the 870 but there is no dought in my mind that the Mossberg is plenty tough just like it is. unless you are using it as a jack handel to jack up your car then there is very little chance of breaking it outside of abusing it.

as for the accuracy of it I know my friend -who I cant help but refer to on any gun topic , by now you all know who I mean-uses a scope on his 500 and by using some top of the line discarding sabot slugs can consistantly place shots in a paper plate from the kneeling position from 175-200 yards with ease. I havent hunted yet but from what I understand most deer are taken well under that range anyway. This is the solution for some of my other friends who hunt as well because in Alberta you are only allowed to use shotguns in certain hunting zones. usually the ones closer to towns etc. in fact some newer discarding shells say on the box that they can actually exceed the performance of some centerfire rifles.