After 12 years of flawlessly faithful duty with hollow plastic furniture
I decided to give my trusty 500 some new furniture! I wanted the Bantam stock for the 12.75" LOP (synthethic was 14.25" and I just prefer them a bit shorter on a defense gun for quicker handling and shouldering).
Thing is, the factory finish on the buttstock didn’t exactly light me up as I much prefer the old style oil finish. The ribbed wood forearm I found was a military turn in that needed new finish anyway. So they both got Minwax Red Mahogany oil finish. I’m really liking how they turned out. After refinishing the butt stock, I found much more character in the wood than was apparent with the factory finish.
Tried the stock set on my 590 also and decided to order up another Bantam butt stock & ribbed wood forearm to so-equip my 590 as well. I’m quite happy to be ditching the plastic furniture on both of these guns!
Here’s how the Bantam wood stock set looked before refinishing: (slick but boring) Surprisingly, this is the same buttstock!
The 20" 590 is a great gun and I like the nine-shot capacity, but there’s something about the size, weight, balance, and handling of the 18.5" 500 that I still much prefer.
It blows me away how the character, looks, and feel of the gun has so dramatically changed. It’s like I just got a brand new, but well worn-in, 500! After years with the hollow plastic, the wood feels really solid and substantial. It’s like the gun has truly “grown up” to be a solid, mature adult. 
Still waiting on the owner. Hahaaa. 
