Home defense shotgun

Axe

Greetings everyone! I just picked up a Mossberg maverick 88 12ga for home protection and bear protection. I picked this gun up for $200 new and plan on modifying it a bit. Anyone have experience with this shotgun? I have a favorable opinion so far, but furniture feels rather cheep and it kicks like a mule with 3” mag loads. Putting a KickLite 6 position stock on it this week sometime to shorten stock length for tactical applications such as clearing rooms as the traditional shotgun is cumbersome inside a dwelling. Any input would be great.

earlyagain

I have one. Quality gun. The internet commandos on youtube inform me the trigger group is a weakness at the front corners and can sometimes break. Mine hasn't yet, but its not used hard or even very much. Mines bone stock, runs fine. No complaints.

GunNut

HEY!!! Good to have you back buddy!  How's your foot?

IIRC, the original Maverick only had one bar attaching the forend and it tended to flex when you pumped forcefully and wear out the frame in the original design.  The new ones I believe corrected that issue with the two bar design of the Mossberg 500.  Other than that I believe they are pretty solid guns from what I've heard from others.

Jayhawker

It's pretty much a Mossberg 500..No need for anything fancy...it will get the job done....No need for for 3" fodder in a home defense shotgun and remember...you still need to aim the thing. What size shot are you planning on using?

Axe

GunNut said:

HEY!!! Good to have you back buddy!  How's your foot?

IIRC, the original Maverick only had one bar attaching the forend and it tended to flex when you pumped forcefully and wear out the frame in the original design.  The new ones I believe corrected that issue with the two bar design of the Mossberg 500.  Other than that I believe they are pretty solid guns from what I've heard from others.

Foot is ok, having issues with it still, but aside from minor pain not bad at all. The gun seems to be very solid and feeds everything I have given it. At 6 pounds though, it is rough with hot loads.

Axe

Jayhawker said:

It's pretty much a Mossberg 500..No need for anything fancy...it will get the job done....No need for for 3" fodder in a home defense shotgun and remember...you still need to aim the thing. What size shot are you planning on using?

It’s basically a 500, what I like about it. As far as loads go, just planning on 00 buck defense rounds w/ low muzzle flash. Hornady and I believe Remington make such a beast. I picked up some 12ga shorts as well but have not tried them.

Bigslug

1.  Remove from box.

2. Add sling.

3. Add forend light.

4. Load.  Federal Low Recoil Flight Control 00 for the house; 2.75" 1.25 ounce magnum slugs for your bear problem.

Diver43

Welcome back, glad that you are doing well.
I actually handled one of those recently and my thought was, this feels exactly like my Mossberg 500.  I would go 2 3/4 for home and save the big stuff for bears, like already said.
Hope you stick around

snake284

I don't have a Maverick, but I have a 500. The 500 was designed after the old Remington 31 which was the forrunner to the 870. The 31 only had one bar on the pump action. The 500 took the good points of the 31 and improved it. The difference is the 31 was a machinists heaven but I believe the 500 used stamped parts to get around all that machining in a day when machine work added significantly to price. Hence the 500 doesn't feel near as slick as the old 31. The 31 was one of the smoothest, slickest pumps. Not even the 870 could touch it in that respect. Neither the 500 or the 870 are near as smooth as the 31. They were made to circumvent the expense of a lot of machine work.

Axe

Having a hell of a time finding defense rounds for the Mossberg. I have Winchester super X 3” 00 buck that is also rated for personal defense. I’m going to suck it up and pick up the 500 rounds of Hornady Tap 2 3/4 for $300 on gunbroker. Any recommendations from you guys on who has shotgun ammo? Everyone is out of stock with specialty ammo.

earlyagain

I just run generic 2 3/4 9 pellet 00 or slugs in mine. Some years ago I tested a hand full of different ammo. The buffered shot patterns significantly better than un buffered. The polymer filler minimises pellet deformation during firing. 

Don't matter much for HD unless you live in a castle. But I've read about enough failures and limitations with buck shot at distance in recorded SD incidents that I always run some slugs in the mag when Im camping. About the only time I use mine for SD..

Axe

The shotgun will be more SD while camping and will definitely load slugs for that, but the layout of my home is pretty open. If I need my shotgun inside my residence, I would most likely be engaging from the staircase where I have a ton of cover and not overly concerned about over penetration...... aside from not wanting to replace the siding on the house. We are in the woods and can’t see the house from the road. I am definitely taking recommendations seriously. I’ll find what I like eventually.

earlyagain

Mine will easily nail a paper plate at 50 yards with slugs. Assuming I do my part. Surprised me. Im not a shotgun guy, and didn't know that was possible until I gave it a run.

Jayhawker

I have loaded 2 3/4" Mag #4 buck in SD shotguns before and not felt underfunded...works great on Coyotes too...

10canyon53

earlyagain said:

Mine will easily nail a paper plate at 50 yards with slugs. Assuming I do my part. Surprised me. Im not a shotgun guy, and didn't know that was possible until I gave it a run.

This is a 5 shot group of Winchester PDX-1 Defender 1 oz. slugs at 50 yards out of a smooth bore.

earlyagain

The proof is in the picture.

Diver43

Good shooten

Axe

Definitely nice shooting. The old scatter gun is highly over looked for its versatility and accuracy. 

10canyon53

Might surprise some people that I shot that group with my AK platform scatter gun.

tennmike

Mossberg 500 and Rem. 870 here. Both loaded with 2 3/4" slug loads right now. Both with 20" barrels. I find the 3" slug loads abusive to my shoulder. Both now have flashlights that clamp on the barrel, and have the switch adhesive mounted on the forearm. They both also have wood stocks.

Why 1 oz slugs? I've used them on deer and seen the damage they cause. And I don't have to worry about over penetration or endangering my neighbors.

tinytank1

So happy to see this forum pop up! I recently got a Glock 17/19 to keep for home defense. It took a lot more than simple research to come to this conclusion. I haven't tried it out yet but it looks super good!