Overall they are very similar. Same dimensions, same 18" barrel length. Similar cylinder bore slug barrels. Both have plastic furniture though the 500 originally had wood and was replaced with a Maverick 88 stock/forearm. The Escort's stock is thicker and a bit heavier. The Escort is listed @ 6.4 lbs, the 500 @ 6.25. Both have aluminum receivers and both utilize two rail slide mechanisms. Both hold 5 in the tube. While I've not shot them side by side they both shoot the same. Handling, recoil is the same as configured. The 500 may have a little better recoil pad but it's hardly noticeable.
As you can see they are set up the same...sling, shell cards on both the receiver and stock.
I had to cut down the fore stock to clear the shell card on the receiver, makes it look funky but doesn't hurt function.
The controls are different. The Escort has the slide release in front of the trigger, the 500 behind. Safety on the Escort is a cross bolt button behind the trigger, on the 500 it is a sliding button on top of the receiver. My understanding is that the Escort is based on the Remington 870 design. Internals do look very similar to my 870 Wingmaster
I bought the Escort new last fall (2021) for $136 OTD last fall. I paid $20 for the 500 at a police auction back in the 80s. I refurbished the 500 with new stocks and barrel and painted the receiver with baked on grill paint about 10 year ago.
Old Mossberg
I bought the Escort to replace the 500 as my truck gun and restore the 500 to use more for hunting.
How well this Turkish Escort will hold up is anyone's guess. I don't really plan on getting into an extended running gun battle with it so it really just needs to go bang when I pull the trigger. It doesn't really need to last for thousands of rounds. I've had my 500 for 35 years and probably don't have much more than 200 rounds through it so I expect the Escort will do the job it's intended for. So far I've put 27 rounds through it, 5 slugs, 5 buckshot and 15 birdshot and a couple 3" magnum turkey rounds. I will not be shooting 3" magnums through it ever again.
Being close in design to the 870 led me to believe that an 870 mag tube extension might fit. I tried one and the threads are different. Some of the Turkish semi autos can use Franchi, Benneli extensions made by Choate. I assume the Turks use the same tubes on the pump guns but I've not been able to confirm online and it's not worth $50 to find out. A +2 mag extension would be kind of cool, though probably never needed.
