I just got an mossberg maverick m88 12ga shotgun?
February 15th, 2010 by eranio
I bought this gun for deer hunting, but the question is can this gun shoot slugs without anything special needed. And if so what kind (brand) slug. And can a buckshot do the trick. Thank You
Posted in mossberg shotguns
February 15th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
If yours is a rifled barrel, use any brand of sabot slugs. They’re expensive, but they’re the best you can shoot out of a shotgun. If yours is a smoothbore, use rifled slugs such as Fosters or Brennekes.
If your barrel has a changeable choke tube, go for a cylinder bore, improved cylinder, or modified. A rifled choke tube, if you can find one, works well and allows you to shoot sabots out of a smoothbore.
Buckshot, contrary to the name, don’t work well on most game. The range is just too limited and the knockdown power of a few pellets is nowhere near that of a slug. Buy some buck for home defense or watermelon busting on the weekend, but don’t use it on deer.
Later on, if you want to customize your gun and get particular, all Mossberg barrels such as rifled, black powder muzzle loader, water bird barrels etc fit your gun perfectly.
Be sure to pop off a couple of boxes at the range before using them on game. Be sure where your gun will hit with them. Scope mounts for your Mav are common and cheap and makes 100 yard shots far easier than without one. Yours is a Mossy. It uses the same mounts.
Good choice in firearms, Noodle! Congrats, bud!
February 15th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Mossberg sucks, but it will shoot 12 guage slugs as long as the gun is a 12 guage
February 15th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
If you have the rifled slug barrel, or an open-choked smooth barrel, you should be good to go. Just buy some ammo and take some target practice. Buckshot may work, but you’ll get much more range with slugs.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
A regular rifled slug will shoot out of a smooth bore just fine but you can only get 30 to 50 yards out of it. It best to shoot slugs from a imp.cyl. choke and do not shoot it in anything smaller then mod.I use Remington and Federal rifled slugs. 1oz. 2 3/4 they do the trick for me every time. If you are going to do a lot of hunting you should think about upgrading your shotgun in a year or two to a Remington 870 combo. you will be far better off then a mossberg.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
I used 00 buckshot in the same gun you’ve got last year and killed three deer in three shots. I’d recommend buckshot over slugs if you’ve got a smooth barrel. You can’t miss with buckshot. Use a full choke and you can kill anything out to 40 yards.