First gun

Z

zopperman

Inactive
Hey everyone --

This is my first post. I just bought a Mossberg Maverick 88 12 g. last week. I got the gun with a 28 in barrel, two chokes, a 24" rifled barrel with a scope, a case, a trigger lock and a cleaning kit, a box of 5 buck shot shells and a box of 25 bird shot shells all for about 320. Does that sound liek a good deal? Also, I know it's a cheap gun, but do they have any known problems? Are most accessories (i know the barrel is) interchangeable with the 500 series? I plan on using the gun for home defense as well as trap. I started shooting trap and I really love it. I've watched a few videos on how to clean the gun and cleaned it meticulously after each use. i'm only 20 and was never raised with any guns in the house ETC, but started shooting when I was 16. Any tips on proper maintence... cleaning... shooting in general? Also, I was thinking of getting either a pistol grip of one of those fold-up stocks that also have a shell holder integrated.. All suggestions welcome! :D
 
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sounds like a good deal it being a pump the only part of the gun that really is going to need cleaned reguraly may be the barrel ive never had the receiver even apart on my mossberg 500 in the 18 years ive owned it but it does get oiled occasionaly.
might want to pick up some slugs and use it deer hunting.
 
The Maverick 88 is basically the Mossberg 500 with a different safety and a different method of attaching the forend (or at least this used to be the case). It's the economy model 500 and all other parts are interchangeable. And, like the 500, it's a solid shotgun.
 
The most important accessory your new gun needs is a pile of empty hulls at your feet and some wear marks. Forget pistol grips and folding stocks and anything else except training, practice and ammunition. If you planned on using the 24" rifled barrel for HD, I'd suggest saving that barrel for deer hunting with sabot slugs and (since you seem inclined to spend some more money :D) buying an 18.5" SMOOTHBORE barrel to use for HD and HD range training/practice. Start out watching this preview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhJ-p-72p8Y . You could do worse than to invest in Clint Smith's video, too.

Rifled barrels do great with sabot slugs but tend to throw wide open patterns with shot loads including buckshot. And they usually throw those patterns in the shape of a donut, with a hole in the middle. Thus the suggestion to get a short smoothbore barrel for HD.

Cleaning and maintenance? The more you drag the gun around in the mud and rain, the more attention it'll need. Just shooting it in good weather, take off the barrel, clean the bore and chamber, wipe down the outside and you're good to go. Don't obsess over it. And DON'T disassemble any further than field stripping.

Stay Safe,

lpl
 
Mav 88

I had a Maverick 88 up until about a year ago until one of my grandsons out grew his youth 20 ga. I replaced it with a Mossberg 535. I thought enough of the Maverick 88 that I purchased one as gift for my son in CO.
The only difference between an 88 and a Mossberg 500 is the location of the safety. I personally prefer the location of the safety on the Mossbergs. Just doesn't seem natural to me to have to take the safety off with my trigger finger, plus with Mossberg's safety location the gun would be easier to use for a left handed person. Of course I grew up on an old 12 ga double w/ rabbit ear hammers so I guess I feel the need to have something to use my thumb for.
You will find that the Maverick 88 is a very tough gun that will give you years of service and take a lot of beating and won't make you so upset when it gets beat up as you might with a more expensive gun.
 
I was thinking of getting either a pistol grip of one of those fold-up stocks​
Don't, spend your money on ammo or trap targets.
 
Don't let anyone pee on yer leg and call it rain...
I did a post of 10+ years of uncleaned 500 mossberg...

After that, I had a post asking if it was okay to boil the "mung" out of a plastic mossberg trigger group assembly...

My trigger pull had climbed to well over 10 pounds... You cannot hit the broad side of a barn if yer inside nor could you hit the ground from the roof unless you threw the gun off the roof with that sort of trigger pull.

After a little swim in the hot miniature jacuzzi and it was back to like new!

The faster you shuck the action after a trigger pull, the dirtier it gets. But no matter what, some firing related debris will always find your action...

Brent
 
The faster you shuck the action after a trigger pull, the dirtier it gets.​
Interesting.
Being a hinge gun shooter, that hadn't occurred to me. It makes sense.
Thanks for the enlightenment.
 
Zip, I cannot prove it on my own dime but over the years I started watching the buddy who could "shoot as fast an an auto loader..." i noticed nearly as much smoke out of the shell port as out of the muzzle... I started gettin' a "well I'll be dipped..." moment watching this... Then I realize that even when "speed shooting" a single shot, Most of my smoke (oily, greasy, nasty smoke) was exiting the open chamber end of the barrel.

Now, I had this one ol' rabbit shooting buddy when I was a teen.

This ol' cajun feller, never opened his single shot until the rabbit was gutted... He also had the only single shot I ever seen "munged" up. He would open a pocket knife to drag out fired shells. His gun felt tighter than a nun's knees as he opened it and I always thought it was a high quality make.

Once a buddy of his squirted Zippo fuel on the ejector and manipulated it by hand and told the old feller it was "just nasty dirty" and once his firing pin got so sluggish, it wasn't fully setting off primers... Same guy and likely the same Zippo fuel and a "Marlin Spike" on a pocket knife had it working again...

Funny I never remembered these things when my trigger pull was fouled and I thought my safety button was engaged...

Brent
 
It's possible to be as extreme on the side of negligence as on the side of obsessive cleaning. The Middle Way is usually best. It the gun lives indoors, only goes to the range in nice weather, doesn't get ridden around in the bed of the pickup for the dogs to track mud on, doesn't serve as a substitute for a boat paddle when the john boat motor quits... you get the drift here- then the clean the bore and chamber and wipe down the outside approach will do for six months or a year.

Then, field strip and clean the gun, wash out the trigger plate assembly if it needs it with a soak in hot tap water and dish soap, toothbrush scrub as needed, rinse well with lots of hot tap water, gently blow dry (a hair dryer will work) and re-lube. If the gun gets abused in the field, dropped in the ditch, rained on etc, then deep clean it - take off the stock too, and get into all the nooks and crannies. STILL NO NEED TO DETAIL STRIP THO, and no need to obsess over every carbon speck, lead streak and dust mote.

Clean as needed. No more. No less.

lpl
 
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