Maverick 88 Worth It?

mosinmaster

mosinmaster

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I'm looking for a light weight bush carry/fishing/camp gun. I've previously owned a M500 for duck hunting and it was pretty lightweight and reliable, hence I'm looking at the Maverick. I like the lightweight aluminum receiver and that it's inherently corrosion resistant. Other than the crossbolt safety, lack of D&T receiver, and pinned foreend, how are they in stock configuration? Is the cross-bolt safety easy to use like on an 870, Nova, or SXP? How's the smoothness of the action and reliability? I think it should be the same as a regular M500? Any issues with the pinned polymer foreend vs the M500 with an action tube?
 
smoothness of the action is so so out of the box.. lube her up and cycle rounds through it.. gets much better with age!

the cross bolt safety is a little tough to push through..
 
Maverick 88 is a great gun, and a fantastic value.
I have a few of them in different configurations.

All barrels and stocks that fit a 500 will also fit the Maverick.
And that includes the 14" barrel kits that are floating around.

The safety location is better (for me) than the 500 and the 870.
(It's in front of the trigger-guard, not behind the trigger like the 870.)

Cabelas has them right now for $299. That's with the 28" barrel, with screw in choke.
ht tps://www.cabelas.ca/product/3819/maverick-88-3-12-gauge-pump-shotgun
 
D-Leach said:
I just bought a mossberg 500 with both barrels for 180 the other day
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That's a crazy good deal. Can't get a single barrel for any less usually.


As for the OP, Yes, Yes, and YES! I love my maverick 88, the only major difference is the safety between it and the 500 and not being drilled/tapped for a scope mount.

Mine (and my friends) have both been nothing but reliable, taken many a ditch chicken and clay Pigeon.

Edit to add that the 500 has been sold with the pinned forend for some time now as well, it's not exclusive to the maverick anymore.
 
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If you pick up a used one, make sure it's not the older maverick. You can tell, as they come with only a SINGLE action bar. The newer ones have 2 action bars. The guns with only One will occasionally bind if the gun is dirty, and if it gets bent at all. Just something to look at when buying. They won't be a difference in price, but there will be a difference in performance.
 
Do you like long term reliability? Does light weight appeal to you? Do you like inexpensive, quality stuff? If you answered no to any of these questions then avoid the Maverick 88 like the plague.
 
I love my Maverick 88. Never jammed on me. Cycles nice and smooth. I never clean it, I abuse it with all sorts of ammo, and I finally had 2 misfires shooting skeet yesterday and I'm pretty sure it's only because it's dirty. Great bang for the buck, I own other shotguns but this one is by far the best "abuse it and put it away wet" one
 
mosinmaster said:
Thanks for the input everybody! Do you find the "pinned" fore-end solid or does it flex and feel cheap under harsh use?
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I bought one years ago as my first gun. Plastic fore-end broke off at the single slide bar contact point while hunting in cold weather for the first time. Had to replace it with a Mossberg fore-end assembly. Don't know if they are still made that way but single slide action bar created a lot of binding.
 
great value only shotgun i have ,,have both the vented choke barrel and the 18.5
can dress for the occasion ,,figured start with it and cant loose money to sell it but never needed anything else
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I bought my mav 88 in 2012 (dual action bars) and it’s done more field work and clay bustin’ than any of my other shotguns... oh wait, I have no other shotguns. Ive never needed another. I think I’ll just stick some Magpul furniture on ‘er and let’er buck.
 
I prefer my 870's but I can say the Mav 88 has been reliable for the 6 months I've had it, and not afraid to do the dirty work and travelling that my 870's don't do.
 
I bought a 20" model recently. Have gone through about 300 rounds of target and game loads. Really like it so far! It's cheap but reliable and so far it's holding up.
The only drawbacks are:

1) LOP is longer than my old 870 (I don't have it anymore), but not a showstopper, I can adapt

2) I can't seem to fit 8 into the tube, so it's 7+1 most of the time, although have only tried Win #4 High Brass and Fed #5 High Brass and Rem #7.5 so far

Did I tell you it's a fun gun?? :cool:

 
I had one for 16 years and used it for bird hunting, skeet shooting, predator protection and shooting at the range. I recall one hard extraction that required me to push the stock onto a wood block to eject the spent shell. I probably put 500 shells through it of 8-2 shot and about 5 slugs. I paid $100 for it in 2001 when Canadian Tire was getting rid of their guns. It is a solid shotgun and the price is very hard to beat.

What it looked like when I sold it:
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