Steel Cocking Bar Mod for the Matrix M500

The Matrix Mossberg (M)500... As for clones goes this one is freakin' sweet. The heavy weight feel, the five BB shot, that shiny look and that awesome pump action.... awe crap! One thing that all current Mossberg owners know or will unfortunately know is the cheap cocking bar will break with casual use -- rendering the gun nothing more than a $150 club. But rather than going medieval on the field, here is a quick tutorial on how to switch your stock cocking bar with a durable steel replacement.

Here is what you will need:

• Philips and flathead screw drivers 
• Set of Allen wrenches 
• Dremel or grinding tool 
• A hammer and...
• Shiny sparkly new cocking arms

1. Remove the handle with an allen wrench. Once the bolt is removed the handle should fall right off.

2. Remove the screw near the front of the trigger guard.

3. Once the screw is out you will need a hammer and a small screwdriver to pound the pin out.

4. Once you pound the rod out completely, pump the cocking handle all the way back. The chamber should come out effortlessly and you should left with this.

5. Lift up the heat shield to gain access to the 2 screws holding the outer barrel assembly to the main body. Use a flathead screw driver to lift the shield. You will need an allen wrench to removed the 2 screws opposite each other.

6. Once you have removed the screws, pull the outer barrel and loading chamber away from the main body. This will require a little extra force and wiggling to get it loose. I know that hammer seems tempting in learning that stubborn barrel a lesson, but be patient and it will eventually come apart and you will have something like this.

7. You can now slide the cocking handle and bars off the load chamber. Unscrew the cap on the cocking handle (located on the left in the picture) to remove the handle and gain access to the pins that hold the cocking arms.

8. Once the handle is removed, you will need a screw driver to slide the pins out which hold the arms in. These pins are very light and should require little to no force to remove them. Be careful not to lose them!

9. Now take that sorry broken pot metal arm and throw it out. Time to bring out the new steel one! Unfortunately these will not fit out of the box so you will have to bust out the dremel and grind away at the few areas marked below.

Here is the part of the arm that will be inserted into the body. It must be slim enough to fit into the body, so you may have to grind this down to size.

This next example is the piece that attaches to the cocking tube. The area circled in black will need to be ground enough for the arm to be installed. There is another arm included that you can also install, but I've found the old one is sufficient and will most likely be intact. If you choose to use the new one, you'll have to grind and fit it to size. I recommend saving the extra bar as a fail safe just in case.

10. If you haven't lost anything while dismantling this, you can now reassemble the whole thing. Be sure to add some lube to the new bar before reassembling. Also be careful when screwing the cocking handle on, as the cap has a very fine thread.

11. Lock-n'-load!