The Mossberg Blaze 47 for Home Defense

by Joshua Gillem

The surprisingly accurate Mossberg Blaze 47 is nothing more than an AK styled rifle chambered in .22LR. The rifle can hold 10 or 26 rounds, depending on the magazine chosen, and comes with a few options to help you customize it further.

Accuracy:

The gun is accurate up to (and probably past) the 50 foot mark. Most of my shooting took place at 15, 25 and 50 feet, where I was able to hit center mass each time I squeezed the trigger. This is mainly due to a set of fiber optic sites that allow you to get onto target quickly. The rear sight is adjustable for windage and elevation with just a few clicks of the knobs.

I have more than 500 rounds through this gun with most of them being fired from the standing position. Front sight wobble was left to a minimum because Mossberg lessened the weight of this rifle as much as they possibly could by making it out of plastic.

Quality:

Unfortunately, having a very light weight gun comes at the compromise of not having a high quality metal receiver. Most of the gun is polymer, which makes it feel very cheaply made. To make matters worse, the gun feels like it may even come apart a few spots, such as the grip which only seems to be held to the receiver with a single screw.

The Blaze 47 has an AR style mechanical flip safety that seems to do its job well. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it to fire with the safety engaged. However, the safety does feel flimsy and weak. I have a bad feeling that at some point in the rifle’s life, the safety may not work properly. After all, plastic doesn’t usually get stronger as time goes on. In fact, it tends to wear out and get weaker.

 Options:

There are a few different ways you can get this plinker. You have the ability to pick which size magazine you want, which is great if you live in a state that restricts the amount of rounds your magazine can carry.

You can also choose the fully adjustable butt stock, or the more authentic looking “wood” butt stock and fore-grip. Personally, I’m happy I chose the adjustable one because I’m bigger than the average shooter, and it took some time to fool around with the stock to get into a comfortable shooting position.

Pros:

While cheaply made, this rifle does have a few things going for it. It is an absolute blast to shoot. I found myself not wanting to put the thing down, and wound up running through a monster box of ammo in just a couple of hours.

The gun does look like an AK-47. Well, mostly. You could tell that it is a tamer version of the famous rifle, but without all of the extra costs associated with a “real” AK-47.

Furthermore, this gun is made in America. This is great if you want to support our country and the hard working Americans who put it together. But as stated above, the quality isn’t all that great, which just makes the people who made the rifle look bad.

Finally, the price is low enough that if you’ve always wanted to buy an AK, but didn’t have the extra $700 laying around, you could have one chambered in .22LR at a much lower price point.

 Cons:

Unfortunately, Mossberg decided to make an AK style rifle in a cartridge that is almost non-existent by today’s standards. As of late, whenever you go to the store for a brick of .22LR it can cost upwards of $80 per box – simply astounding.

I’m fortunate enough to say that I’m friends with someone who owns their own gun shop that isn’t into price gouging. So, I was able to find a big box of ammo for it for just $35.

At some point, someone will have to wake up and realize that most shooters aren’t into the .22LR AR or AK style rifles anymore. It is just too hard to find ammo for them at a good price. And, to be honest, most people would like something with a bit more power.

Some gun manufacturers are catching on. For example, Definitive Arms just went to production on an AK chambered in 9mm. Personally, that is something that I can’t wait to get my hands on. What could be better than an AK chambered in an extremely abundant and defensive, not to mention cheap, projectile?

The Mossberg Blaze 47 is an affordable option for anyone who has ever wanted to get their hands on an AK-47, but never wanted to pay full price. Unfortunately, the ammo is hard to find and doesn’t really work as a defensive round. That, in addition to the overall cheap feeling of this plastic gun cause me to wonder if the MSRP of $329 is low enough. Then again, your opinion changes after firing it, and seeing just how fun this little gun can be.

 

Photo credit – Joshua Gillem