[GO!!!!!!!]

I just bought one these shotguns yesterday. I went with this one because I couldn't pony up the dough for a Benelli Supernova :rolleyes: and I still wanted my own 12 gauge for skeet, trap and hunting. I got it home last night and jumped right in and took it apart. Came apart real easy.... getting it back together required a video on youtube. I finally got it put back together and I'm ready to let the good time roll, so to speak.


I do have a question though. Do I need a different barrel for slugs? What I mean is, will the 28" barrel that came on the gun be okay for slugs or is there a difference between a barrel for shot shells and slugs.

[Onmilo]

You can shoot standard Foster type slugs, Winchester Super-X, etc.
You can shoot standard Brenneke type slugs.
Both will work best with the improved cylinder choke tube installed.

What you cannot shoot are Sabot type slugs, you know, the ones that have the slug encased in a plastic sleeve.
These require a rifled barrel to perform properly.

Having a scope and mount installed while shooting slugs will improve your groupability downrange. HTH

[GO!!!!!!!]

I'll start looking for a rifled slug barrel then. Thanks for the feedback. BTW I took it apart again and gave it a good cleaning. It was much easier to get back together this time. Here are some pics of it all shined up. You may not be impressed but I'm excited about it. Also put my PX4 and Winchester .410 break action in there :D

91550

91552

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[Starter52]

A slug barrel is your best bet.

Your bird barrel will safely shoot slugs, as Onmilo said. The problem you'll encounter is hitting your target using those shotgun sights. Bird-hunting sights just aren't designed for slug shooting.

Mounting a scope onto the receiver would help, but buying a Mossberg slug barrel with adjustable rifle-style sights is my suggestion.

[GO!!!!!!!]

I have been looking around at a few rifled slug barrels for the 500 and 88. I've seen the one your talking about with the scope mount Its funny, but they cost almost as much as I paid for the gun. 2 questions...

1) Is a 24" barrel the longest available or at least the standard for a slug barrel?

2) With a rifled slug barrel what would you estimate to be the furthest distance in which I can be accurate? 75 yards, 100 yards?

[Starter52]

Slug barrels generally run from 20"-24". Yes, the price of new barrels is nutz.

You can expect 6" or better groups at 100 yards with a rifled barrel and good slugs.

[Fred Fuller]

Some folks with some guns get 6" groups at 100 yards with smoothbore barrels and bead sights. More depends on the shooter than the hardware a lot of the time, and fancy hardware will not make up for shooter shortcomings.

Shotgun barrels tend to be laws unto themselves, some do better than others at patterning birdshot, or patterning buckshot, or shooting slugs. You can't know what your gun/barrel will do without trying it out on paper at the range, and IMHO it's foolish to go spend money on a different barrel before you know whether you really need one or not. Buy a few boxes of different brands of rifled slugs (no need to waste money buying sabots to shoot in a smoothbore) and take them to the range. Try a few groups with different brands at different ranges and see how they do. Just use a fairly open choke tube for slugs (ImpCyl usually works pretty well).

One thing you will quickly learn is that shooting slugs out of a light weight shotgun is no picnic. Rather than tying to bench it like a rifle, stand up and shoot from a post or some other vertical rest. Don't work yourself into a flinch, follow through on your shots just as with a rifle or pistol. If you find you cannot hold at least a minimal group, then STOP. No need to punish yourself when you aren't learning anything about how the shotgun groups different brands of slug. And there's nothing a new barrel will do to improve your ability to cope with recoil. Slugs kick, no way around it. Reduced recoil slugs will kick less but you pay a price in either weight of the projectile (lighter) or velocity (slower)- no such thing as a free ride where physics is concerned.

Oh, and quit taking it apart when it isn't needed- you're gonna wear it out. My dad always told me that sunshine was the worst thing in the world for an automobile engine, so I should keep the hood closed as much as possible. Same thing goes for shotgun innards. :D

hth,

lpl

[Dave McCracken]

Like Lee said, try the barrel out and see.....

[Onmilo]

Good point made.
If you mount a scope on the receiver, don't take the barrel off once the gun is zeroed.
Pull the barrel and you will have to rezero the gun for slugs.

Cantelever mounts which place the scope on the barrel assembly instead of the receiver correct this little problem.

A cantalever scoped barrel can be pulled from the receiver and reinstalled with very little shift in the zero.

I know people who use cantalevered, scoped, rifled barrels with sabot slugs that shoot 1.5" three shot groups at 100 meters and 3" three shot groups at 150 meters.
These are serious slug gun shooters!

[Slade797]

I snagged one of these in matte black on Gunbroker for a hunnert bucks, and I have to say I like it a lot. I managed to find a matte 18.5-inch barrel and bolt for $99. I like the gloss finish, but I prefer matte if I can get it. I also have a Mossberg 500A, and the only difference I can find between the two is that the 500 has the tang safety, and the Maverick has the trigger block.

[zombienerd]

I love my Maverick :) I've also got the 28" smoothbore, and I've put over 100 rifled slugs through it so far.. My range is only a 25 yard setup, but I was able to shoot a 7 shot 1" group using only the bead sight, so it is more than acceptable for me :)

Got it on gunbroker brand new for $160 :)