Mossberg 88

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BlackWatch

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I have been looking for a cheap 12 guage that I can strap on the 4 wheeler and blast away back in the woods. I see Frontier has the mossberg 88 on for $249 with free shipping.

Is this a good shottie and is it made in the States?

Anyone with one for sale feel free to contact me...thanks
 
I just sold mine to another CGNer but to clarify, it would be the Maverick 88. Its a mossberg 500 with a gloss reciever and blued steel barrel/mag tube. They also use a crossbolt safety in place of the 500's tang safety. All in all a great shotgun. Very lightweight and tough. They are a good value. I had zero problems with mine but one complaint. The 18.5" security barrel has the bead sitting a bit low, you practically need the tip of it visible above the reciever for proper POI, or aim very low.
 
Got a Maverick 88 Security (18.5" bbl 6-shot) with full stock and pistol grip, a few weeks ago from Ed at Moving Target. Came to $254.00 with tax and shipping from Edmonton AB to Vancouver BC. Some of its parts are made in Mexico then assembled in Texas. The pump handle is different than the 500's and some say it is less durable, so I'll fix it if and when it breaks.

Love it.
 
The Maverick is a good gun. They're basically a Mossberg 500 but with the aforementioned crossbolt safety (less machining and parts than the top safety on the M500) and usually with a one-piece plastic forearm ass'y. They basically made a few changes to the Moss500 platform in order to reduce manufacturing costs. AFAIK the entire gun is made in the US except for some of the small parts which are made in Mexico.
 
kingarmory said:
The Maverick is a good gun. They're basically a Mossberg 500 but with the aforementioned crossbolt safety (less machining and parts than the top safety on the M500) and usually with a one-piece plastic forearm ass'y. They basically made a few changes to the Moss500 platform in order to reduce manufacturing costs. AFAIK the entire gun is made in the US except for some of the small parts which are made in Mexico.
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X2 the important stuff is made in the states, the rest is good enough for the price you pay
 
I love mine. I did replace the recoil pad though with a Pachmayr deccelerator slip on and added a fibre optic front sight. Great value and you dont have to worry about bangin it up.
 
Differences are the safety position and the furniture, but no big deal for me!

I bought it to beat the hell out of, and it has run thousands of rounds!

I have 3 Mossberg 500 barrels, a 28 inch vent ribbed with chokes, a 24 inch slug barrel, and an 18 inch security, and they are all flawless!

I have spent the last week in the snow and rain, pushing some thick bush for deer, and no signs of rust or any issues.

It has been 100% reliable, and I would, and do bet my life on it!
 
I played with one at the gun shop a few weeks ago and its a good piece of the price man!

Its like the norinco/grizzly 870 clone but made mostly in the US for the same price. (obviously not an 870 clone either just using that as a comparision)
 
we bought one for my Dad a couple years ago and the only complaint I found was that the spent shells from 3 inch slugs failed to extract properly (it seemed like OAL was too long after the firing). Thats ok with me the 2 3/4" are more fun to shoot anyways. I love it and intended to buy one but spent that money on a scope instead.
 
Comil_1983 said:
we bought one for my Dad a couple years ago and the only complaint I found was that the spent shells from 3 inch slugs failed to extract properly (it seemed like OAL was too long after the firing). Thats ok with me the 2 3/4" are more fun to shoot anyways. I love it and intended to buy one but spent that money on a scope instead.
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The chambers are a little rough on new Mossberg/Maverick shotguns and tend to cause shells to stick/drag until you get a few hundred rounds through it. The 3" shells burn longer and hotter and tend to really squish the brass and plastic into the surface roughness. I usually do a little polishing work on any new Mossy shotguns I get just to keep from having that problem.
 
kingarmory said:
The chambers are a little rough on new Mossberg/Maverick shotguns and tend to cause shells to stick/drag until you get a few hundred rounds through it. The 3" shells burn longer and hotter and tend to really squish the brass and plastic into the surface roughness. I usually do a little polishing work on any new Mossy shotguns I get just to keep from having that problem.
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Do not polish the chamber! The hull is supposed to "hold on" the chamber. Reduced friction will cause undue stress on the bolt.
 
legi0n said:
Do not polish the chamber! The hull is supposed to "hold on" the chamber. Reduced friction will cause undue stress on the bolt.
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Common misunderstanding. The only application where that is fairly correct is with blowback firearms and the surface roughness (or smoothness) isn't as critical so much as not having any lubricant in the chamber. Blowbacks benefit from a little bit of initial delay at the moment of firing and during the first part of the extraction process. However, as the pressure increases the breech starts moving rearward despite the chamber/casing friction.

Polishing the chamber of the shotgun simply saves you the FTE issues encountered while polishing the chamber with a few hundred shotshells. Bolt thrust when a 12ga shotgun is fired can approach 3 tons of force, the shell would tear if it was holding back that amount of force. The friction between the chamber and cartridge is due primarily to dissimilar metals creating a small amount of friction (such as a Blish lock in a Thompson) and doesn't vary much unless you were to polish the surface up until it was shiny and had a nearly impossible level of surface smoothness. Even then the change in bolt thrust would be fairly insignificant. What I am talking about is knocking down the rough reaming marks that are causing cases to mechanically lock to the chamber. Even a well polished metal surface still has a very high amount of roughness on a microscopic level.

With use a shotgun chamber will get very smooth and polished, shotgun manufacturers just cut chambers as quickly as possible and that leaves a less than desirable surface roughness. Newer Remingtons are also starting to come with poorly finished chambers as well :(
 
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On rifles it is a little more of an issue, the operating pressure is much higher and the friction between the full length brass casing and the chamber is higher. Even on a rifle, polishing of the chamber will have negligible change on bolt thrust.
 
I could spend a few days a week now just polishing chambers on shotguns, got the local gun shop to semd the work my way.
we allso just got a shipment of norinco 870 barrels so ill be spending all weekend polishing them before i dura cote them.
The sticky chambered in the newer remington express guns are very disapointing, its costing them money.
When i worked in a gun shop, we would hear everyday people having this issue.
bbb
 
supernova said:
I'm curious what process is used for polishing the chamber? Is it something a guy could do at home, or best for the pro gunsmith?
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Do a Google search for "polishing mossberg chamber", this has been a long-running problem and there are plenty of methods to correct it. We use oil and a 3ft long hone here, usually we polish the chamber and the bore of the gun as well just to smooth out any irregularities.
 
We allso offer polishing service, if anyones in need.
i just did a bunch of norinco 870 chambers and bore, man what a difference it makes!!!
bbb
 
I've got the 88 also. It gets sh*t kicked. It looks like sh*t, rusty, and scratched to sh*t. Some how a bottle of wine broke amd seeped into it's case and it stiripped the finish to bare steel on most of the barrel, which has been replaces by surface rust. It's been submerged in mud, and ran over by a quad. Unplugged the barrel with a stick and it still functioned just fine, a bit gritty but fine. It has never had any kind of issue what so ever. I love the position of the safety, for me it's much safer to carry loaded than a tang safety. It's got well over 1000 rounds through and half being slugs, mine runs 3" just fine. Can't go wrong with one of these for a utility gun.
 
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