Review: Mossberg Maverick 88 Security 12 Gauge Pump Shotty

Welcome to my take on “The Best Prepper Buy I Know Of.” I often review guns that I think are great, but my gun choices leave some scratching their heads. “OK,” they say, “but I’ve never seen one of these on sale anywhere, what about reviewing a gun they sell at WalMart… you know, something I can actually find?” The Maverick 88 Security is that gun, my friends… this gun is everywhere.

The Mossberg Maverick 88 is a low dollar prepper’s “perfect choice” gun, a reliable, rugged, inexpensive and powerful gun that’s perfect for home protection/defense. The model I am reviewing, the 18.5 inch barrel security 12 gauge pump (commonly known as a “riot gun”) holds 8 rounds (7+1) and works exactly like you would expect it to.

The Mossberg Maverick 88 is available in several configurations, and I will review another model (the slug configured gun with rifle sights) at a later time.

Maverick 88 Philosophy of Use:

As an experienced firearms owner and long time prepper, I’m just going to come out and say it. Every prepper needs at least one 12-gauge pump shotgun for home defense. There are many other reasons to own 12-gauge shotties, but there’s just nothing quite like the “shick-shick” sound of a pump shotty to announce “you have made a bad choice, Mr. Home Invader” to somebody who really should not be in your house with you (and yes, I know, there’s a valid argument to leave a round chambered… in fact, as I will explain later, I leave a round chambered…)

Shotties are exceedingly powerful, devastating at the range one would see inside a house, and lighter shotgun rounds like bird shot won’t penetrate 4 walls and kill the neighbor’s kid playing in their yard.

The Maverick 88 shotty is a specific-use weapon, it’s designed to do one thing and one thing only… provide security and a $200ish price level.

My personal home defense shotty (with after market stock)

Maverick 88 Design:

The Maverick 88 series is basically a slightly different version of the venerable Mossberg 500. There are a couple of minor differences, but most parts are interchangeable. The biggest difference between the two that an operator would notice is the location of the safety. It’s up on the back of the receiver on a 500, whereas on an Maverick 88 the gun has a cross-bolt safety.

The Maverick 88 is manufactured in the USA using American and Mexican manufactured parts (unlike the 500 which is completely domestically produced). The only part commonly upgraded that is not interchangeable with the 500 is the front grip.

Snap cap training rounds keep tactical in-residence training safe!

NOTE: The model shown above is NOT stock, it is my own personal home security gun and it features a collapsible after-market stock.

Flexible by design

The design is pretty strait forward. The Security 88 (the one I own) features an 18.5 inch barrel, plus a long 7 round magazine tube. The sighting system is the simple and traditional bead and groove system. The action release lever (to allow the action to cycle without having fired the gun) is located on the left side of the trigger, in a very convenient place with the normal polymer stock.

However, with a pistol grip stock, it is exceedingly difficult to operate when the gun is shouldered for firing. Because my gun has one of these aftermarket pistol stocks, I leave a round chambered and use the cross-bolt safety (we do not have small children in the house, ever, and the gun is kept locked up when we are not home).

There’s nothing wrong with the stock that comes on the gun, it’s perfectly serviceable and comfortable to shoot. I changed our stock out not because I wanted to be “tacti-cool” but rather because this gun could be grabbed, in an emergency, by either the wife or myself… I am 6’3, and she’s 5’4, and since this is a home defense gun, we like the after market stock because it can be easily and quietly adjusted for comfortable use by either of us.

Load it up or leave it stock? It’s good either way.

There’s virtually no end to the aftermarket stuff you can put on this gun to “tacti-cool” it in the extreme… rail front ends, optics, lights, lasers, pistol stocks, cats and dogs living together in sin, you name it, this gun can have dang near anything bolted to it.

You can also increase the versatility of your 88 by changing out the barrel… barrels available for the 500 series (and there are a TON of them) fit well on the Maverick 88 Security. By purchasing extra barrels, you can turn your shotty into a turkey gun, a duck gun, a general purpose shotty, a deer slugger, you have many options.

Having said that, I think I would rather buy a second Maverick 88 and the extra barrels for that gun, and just leave my security gun set up to deal with home invasions. I mean, how would it be if you hear the breaking glass and have to shout out “Wait a minute, intruder, I still have my rifled barrel on, I need to switch back to my smooth bore 18.5 so I can shoot your ass with 00 buck without damaging my firearm!!!” Then again, that’s me… a man who is not afraid of owning more than one of each type of gun.

Tale Of The Tape:

Barrel length: 18.5″
Overall length: 39.5″
Weight: 7 pounds, empty
Frame: High-impact polymer
Finish: Blued
Capacity: 7+1
Sights: Bead & groove

Magazine:

Like all pumps that I know of, it just works. Put in 7 rounds, chamber a round, then top the magazine back off and you are good to go. The ejector is strong.

Shooting the Maverick 88:

Felt recoil is… a lot… but this is a short barreled pump shotty, so that’s kinda what they do.

Trigger pull is nice, mine breaks crisply right at 7 pounds.

Pump action is smooth and easy, shells eject nicely. The gun can shoot 2 ¾ an 3 inch shells, I generally use 2 ¾’s although I do have some 3 inch high brass 00 Buck.

Shooting 3 inch 00 Buck though this little beast is something best done by those not faint of heart, ‘cause you are going to feel it the next day.

The Bottom Line:

Honestly, this is such a short review because there’s not much to say other than I highly recommend this gun, this particular model, to any prepper short on cash. I like mine very much.

Are there better guns/choices? Yes, but not at this price range.

I paid $188 for my gun about 4 years ago (more or less), they mostly run now about $229 or less, depending on where you find them.