Maverick 88 experience?

I think they are a great bang for the buck shotgun. I own a maverick 88 and a mossberg 500. As far as I can tell there is no difference other than the safety. I haven't tore them down and compared internals or nothing but they are very very similar. I think the 88 would be better suited for a pistol grip than the 500 because of the safety location. I don't like PG on a shotgun so it doesn't really matter to me.

When you buy a barrel for a maverick 88, it is the same barrel as the mossberg 500. They both use accu-choke. They get a thumbs up from me.

Not a lot of re-sale value though, if you like to turn over guns alot. I bought mine used for $125 out the door.

With bulk ammo from Wal-mart, the Federal 100 round packs, the action tends to stick a little. That's the only issue I have had and I have seen it on multiple Mossberg pumps, but other than that it ran great.

I have a few hundred rounds through mine so far. It sits under my bed with an 18 in. barrel most of the time, but I put a 28 incher on once or twice a month to shoot trap. Sticky ejection once or twice with bulk ammo, but very happy with it so far. Can't beat the price/quality.

Mine's sporting an 18" barrel at the moment, and a pistol grip. Never had any issues with it at all. Put about 50-100 rounds through it. Nice home defense shotgun!

I've had my maverick for a few years now. It is my only shotgun, and as a result has been shot a LOT. I've never had an issue.

Well wait... I DID have to screw my own sling swivel into the stock. Other than that, no complaints.

i have had one as my only shotgun for several years now. i have used it for clays in the past bt currently it is serving as my slug gun with a 24" rifled barrel and a low powered scope. i have put a few thousand rounds through it with not a single malfunction to date. i have torn my 88 apart next to a buddy's 500 and as far as i can tell there is no difference between them. BTW; with my slug set-up, im getting 1-1 1/2" groups at 100 yards. not bad for a less than $200 shotgun!

I once owned a Maverick 88 and a Mossberg 500 at the same time. Both guns were purchased new. The differences are:

Finish: Receiver on the Maverick tended to look a little purple in certain lighting. The Mossberg's always looked black. No issues with either finish though.

Safety: Maverick has it on the trigger guard, it's kinda cheap feeling. Mossberg has it on the rear of the receiver. Neither mattered to me because I don't ever engage the safety.

Barrel: Mossberg 500 barrels are ported, which makes a little more noise. Maverick barrel is un-ported (28" gun). Both take the same chokes. 18" barrels are identical.

Fore-End: Mossberg 500 can accept aftermarket fore-ends. The Maverick CAN NOT without replacing the entire action bar/fore-end assembly.

Drilled/tapped: Mossberg receiver is drilled and tapped for ghost rings or scope mounts, Maverick 88 receiver is not.

Reliability: Both guns function with equal reliability. I actually think that my Maverick has a slight edge here because my Mossberg has dropped a shell from the tube a couple times. Action smoothness seems about equal. IMO there's no difference between the guns that would make one smoother or rougher than the other.

IMO if you trust Mossberg quality, then you can trust the Maverick.

While I agree with Rugerdude, the ported barrel is an option on any Mossberg.

That said:

I own multiple M500s and Mav88s. Originally the Mav88 was a lower priced gun with lesser finish and plastic furniture, compared to the M500's wood furniture and high grade finish. Nowadays there is so much bleed-over to cheaper M500s it is hard to tell without looking at the receiver to see which is which.

The guns are parts interchangeable. This includes barrels.

The differences are of course the trigger group assembly (Mav88 has the cross-bolt safety on the triggerguard and the M500 is a tang safety on the back of the receiver) and the receiver- however a Mav88 receiver could be cut for the M500 safety and it would work fine.

In the past, the Mav88 utilized a different fore-end than an M500 did.
The M500 used to have the action bars pinned to an action slide tube, and the fore-end wood or polymer slipped onto that tube and was retained by a large castle nut.
The Mav88 fore-end has a polymer fore end with the action bars pinned directly to it. You can't use traditional add-on M500 fore-ends because of this.

I say "in the past" because I have seen quite a few new M500's where Mossberg has now gone to the Mav88 style fore-end on the lower priced hunting guns.

Either way, with ordering the proper parts from Havlin Sales, you can convert it to take the slide-tube system and aftermarket fore-ends.

At any rate- both are good, time tested designs. With tens of thousands of rounds through them they just get buttery smooth.

Go for It!

I have 1K of Trap shoot through mine and not a single problem to report (outside of a sore shoulder). It's not a competition piece or "above the mantel" gun but it is well worth the price absent any doubts.

Barrel: Mossberg 500 barrels are ported, which makes a little more noise. Maverick barrel is un-ported (28" gun). Both take the same chokes. 18" barrels are identical.


How big a deal is this? My son is "graduating" to a 12 gauge this year for pheasant. I don't hunt pheasant, and assumed he'd wear earplugs. The locals claim they don't wear earplugs... (He'll do what I tell him to do, or he won't hunt). Other than the noise, other cons of the porting? Vision issue with the visible flash? (Maybe at night shooting a skunk or something more than hunting during the day)?

We have a couple of Mossbergs, with the safety on the tang (mine as well as his Mom's 20 gauge which he used last year). His deer rifle is a Savage, w/ the safety on the tang so I was trying to decide on picking up another new Mossberg ($250 ish) or a used Remington 870 ($210 ish) for "his" gun. If not for the ported barrel on the new Mossbergs I would have bought one already. I saw the Maverick and wasn't sure what the differences were, so maybe I'll consider that also.

Thanks,

I have a few hundred shells through my Mav 88. It has functioned flawlessly from the first round to the last. I have made a couple alterations, like installing M500 action rails for interchangeable fore ends and installed an over the receiver saddle style optic mount. Oh and a slip on butt cuff for extra shells.

I have both the 28" ribbed barrel which I use for birds and clays, and the 18.5" barrel for HD. I also went with a heat shield and ghost ring sights on the 18.5" bbl.

Eventually I will probably get a rifled barrel for it as well, and have 3 guns in one.

As for the made in Mexico parts, that is true. They ship materials from the US to factories in Mexico, then ship the parts to Texas where they are assembled. Only some of the parts are made in Mexico, the rest are made in the USA.

Texaszach said:

How are the recoil pads on these?
I just glanced at it the other day not really noticing how much give it had to it.

If they are rather hard, are limbsavers and whatnot available for them?

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Honestly for frequent shooting like I used to do with it (kinda of amateur trap for a couple of very fun falls few years back) it was not sufficient. So a buddy recommended a "Limbsaver Precision Fit " recoil pad that really improved my shoulder issue. I will qualify this by saying once again this problem was with hundreds rounds in a short period of time so if your not shooting it all that much I think the factory recoil pad will suffice.

-Cheers
Go Cards!

I've had an 88 for a few months and it does lack a bit in fit and finish compared to the Defender and the 870 I was griped into selling. That being said, its function has been 100%. A good value, IMO.

I have had one for almost 10 years. I shot around 2000~2500 shells through it during the first 6 months of ownership. It has gone underwater in a hurricane (Hurricane Katrina), been exposed to salt water for days at a time, and has never given me a problem (other than cheap walmart ammo that never fed/extracted worth a dang).

Go ahead an buy one, they are cheap, reliable, and good beater guns for keeping in a truck/tractor/etc.

Texaszach said:

Hey guys

I went and checked this gun out again yesterday and the idea of owning it has really grown on me. They also said it came with two extra chokes so there's another plus.

My question is: does the safety loosen up a bit with use?

I would probably prefer the location of the 500 safety, but am willing to deal with it if it loosens up a bit.

What do you guys think and how do y'all use it while hunting?
As I said earlier I have always had an over under

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I don't hunt with it so I can't speak "directly" to that but I can't see a why not...? As I mentioned before, however, I have lots of rounds shot with mine for trap and I have had no problem with the loosening of the safety whatsoever.

I much prefer the tang safety on my 500. If that isn't a catch for you, the Maverick is a decent gun compared to a lot of the imported stuff coming in. There are some corners cut in the design. For instance, my Mossbergs have a nut that holds the fore end on, can remove. I hear the Maverick action bars are cast in or riveted on or something, but I think Mossberg's doing that with the polymer stocks on 500s now, too. My polymer 500 isn't, but it's 20 years old.

Anyway, seems like a good deal and made in Texas is always a bonus. I don't personally own one, though. I have a 500 camo finish and a 535 wood stocked and blued Mossy for hunting. Both guns are baby butt slick, broke in over time. I don't think your sticky safety will stay sticky after some use.

Texaszach said:

I'm actually hoping it loosens up a bit. It took a considerable effort to take it off safety to fire and I could see this being a problem bird hunting specifically.

If not I suppose I could just keep it hot and be careful as usual but id still feel better with a safety that wasn't as hard to engage due to stiffness

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Yeah--I thought about that initially as well (compared to its Big Brother 500) and the only thing I can think of is that it has to be like that (very snug) in that it could be a problem in terms of the vibrations. I think as a result of the design they had to ensure no play in that area for fear it might fly off...? Not sure though (if anyone knows I would like to hear). It's not a deal killer but it is much less desirable than the 500's safety location.