Maverick 88 problem? was it the ammo?

[Russianspy77]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum, name's Tony. Had a question about my gun maybe someone can help. I shot my brand new Maverick 88 today, and had quite an alarming malfunction happen twice.

I was shooting #4 birdshot, they were cycling ok, with one small exception, sometimes I would pump it, and a new shell wouldn't chamber, it would just sit there in the mag tube, I would pump it harder and then it would chamber, I don't know if that's from me not pumping hard enough, or what, any ideas?

But anyway that wasn't that malfunction. I had with me two rounds of 00 buckshot (the brand is sellier and bellot) I put one shell in the chamber, as soon as I fired it, I went to pump it and the action was basically locked shut, I had to try and pump it several times, and finally got it on the fourth attempt and it ejected the spent shell

I tried the second shell and the same thing happened.

It was pretty alarming to have a brand new gun jam like that. Everything I read says Mavericks are pretty reliable.

Anybody know what happened? Thank you.

 

[FFGColorado]

Sorry, I have no answers for you other than I have a Maverick and it has worked 100% since day one with any loads I have tried..bird-buck shot, various manufacturers..Might be a reason for a send back to Mossberg if it persists.

 

[buck460XVR]

Doubt if it's the ammo. Did you clean the gun? Could be something in the slide/receiver area.

 

[ericuda]

Not necessarily cheap but grab 100 rounds of the cheapest bird shot from walmart and shoot it. I know my pumps loosen up with use.

 

[troy fairweather]

Ya I agree it could just need some break in, check nothing is in there catching them up.

Welcome to thr

 

[joed]

Put a couple boxes of birdshot through it like said above.

 

[Hillbillyz]

Don't be gentle with it. When I was a new shooter with my first shotgun I had some issues with it not locking up, shells not ejecting properly. I was told don't be afraid to ram the sludge forward and back, I wasn't going to break anything. When I started doing that, problems solved.

 

[Hartkopf]

I would clean, inspect and oil it. I bought a Maverick and disassembled and polished everything that moved. It’s considerably smoother now but is a lot of work. Or you can just shoot the heck out of it as mentioned above.

 

[shoobe01]

Yeah... they are pretty dead reliable guns. My Maverick/Mossbergs have:

• Had 1 in about 20 rounds fail to ignite. Could not get the bolt apart (it's the one hard thing to do) and when a gunsmith did: THREE pieces of firing pin rattling around in there. Still mostly worked.
• Accidentally was given 16 ga by the range. Gun sounded funny, but didn't just load, feed, cycle, but was accurate, knocking down plates at 20 yds. Only noticed after half a box when someone asked why the hulls were all deformed.

Take it apart, and get to know it. If not coming out of the mag tube /maybe/ you just aren't cycling, but these don't seem to need much run in, it should work out of box. Maybe it has a bit of stickiness or a burr or something. The Cartridge Stop and Cartridge Interruptor (https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/mossberg/500-moss/parts-list-mos-500) sit in fairly specific places in the receiver, and slide or rotate... or else. Make SURE they move properly once the gun is otherwise apart, and oil them lightly. No WD40, froglube, etc that could possibly gum them up.

Then just slowly assemble the thing, learn how it all works. Learn how to poke those two levers to unload without pumping all ammo through the gun, for example. Nice trick, safer by far.

I'd also remove the mag tube. This may take heat or something as they tend to loctite them now. Use hand strength, maybe a grippy rubber piece. I'd avoid even a strap wrench as they are sheet metal. This SHOULD be a service part so you want it hand tightened only. Think about a better follower and spring. Not likely your issue with a new gun, but sometime you will want to replace the mag spring, and bright/tactile followers make life easier (this one https://www.brownells.com/shotgun-p...cal-response-magazine-follower-prod25278.aspx for reasons I can explain if needed). Clean and inspect the inside of the tube to make sure, again, no terrible lube or burr or something that might be hanging up the follower or shell and not providing enough rearward pressure.

 

[DocRock]

Could be slightly out of spec hulls but more likely with a new gun, it wants a jolly good cleaning, followed by a bit of abuse, and another good cleaning, after which, should be good.

 

[bersaguy]

My Mossberg 500 used to gum up and jam when it was new after every 75-100 rounds or so. I got pretty efficient at stripping the bolt out for cleaning and lubricating. Usually when it would jam up I could just smack it down on the butt while holding the forend to pop the spent shell out, but a few times I needed to remove the barrel to get it unstuck
That was many moons ago, and many rounds ago...haven't had that issue in a long time. I never did identify what was actually binding up, I just continued shooting it with Winchester target loads (dirtiest ammo I've found) and run it till it jammed. After doing 3 or 4 cycles of that, now it will go several hundred rounds without having to be cleaned.

 

[12Bravo20]

Like others have said: Clean it good and rack that sucker with authority. Even on a broke in pump, working the action slowly/softly can cause feeding issues. After all that, if you are still having problems contact Mossberg. Trust me, you will not hurt the shotgun by racking it hard. This goes for pretty much any brand of pump shotgun.

 

[Russianspy77]

UPDATE: thank you all so much for your replies.

I stripped the gun and gave it a deep cleaning and oiled it, put everything back together and took it to the range.

Was cycling the buckshot just fine, only one shell out of what I shot felt a little "sticky" while trying to eject. Other than that it feels a lot smoother.

I think I need to keep cleaning and using it and I should have it broken in soon.

Thank you everyone.

 

[George P]

Any quality gun, especially a basic pump should not need to "broken in: nor handled "with authority" to properly work. Most of these problems are from folks using cheap steel based ammo where it expands, does not retract its shape and grabs the chamber wall

 

[herrwalther]

I was shooting #4 birdshot, they were cycling ok, with one small exception, sometimes I would pump it, and a new shell wouldn't chamber, it would just sit there in the mag tube, I would pump it harder and then it would chamber, I don't know if that's from me not pumping hard enough, or what, any ideas?

I had a similar issue on my Maverick 88. Mine was caused by a burr on my shell stop, it is a lever about 5 inches long that pushes against the left side of the shell in the magazine tube, keeping the rounds in. You might be able to see the burr make marks at the edge of the brass if they don't load smoothly. Look closely at the lip of your shell stop, it might need some very light passes over some 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the edge.

But anyway that wasn't that malfunction. I had with me two rounds of 00 buckshot (the brand is sellier and bellot) I put one shell in the chamber, as soon as I fired it, I went to pump it and the action was basically locked shut, I had to try and pump it several times, and finally got it on the fourth attempt and it ejected the spent shell

This one is pretty interesting. Did it only happen on S&B ammo, nothing else? You might have gotten some out of spec ammo for the gauge or maker that caused the shells to stick in the chamber. If your shotgun worked with other brands and types of shells, I would just avoid S&B ammo. If the problem happened with others, that usually indicates a more pressing issue.

 

[BlueHeelerFl]

I recently bought a Rossi Circuit Judge and had a similar issue with S&B buckshot. I had to use a punch to get them out of the cylinder. It didn't take a lot of effort, but it was more than the ejector star could handle.

45 Colt elects fine. I've fired some Hornady and Winchester 410 SD shells and they eject fine as well.

The local range that's open only allows buck shot, so I haven't had a chance to check bird shot with it.