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Budget Mossberg for home defense


KSdefender

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Several months ago I decided that the AR-10 MIGHT not be the best long gun for defending the castle.  My neighborhood is fairly dense so I was concerned about where and how far rounds would go...even if I did strike an intruder. 

SO, I took advantage of a great price on a Mossberg Maverick 88 12-gauge with an 18.5" barrel. 

IMG_5326_edited-1.thumb.jpg.c7621f9f79c841ca5f2cc1604ecbb038.jpg

Since getting this I've added a simple sling and an Esstac velcro side saddle for extra shells.  Next up is a light.  Found a great mount for this model Mossberg at Defender Tactical. 

I realize that even with buckshot one has to be concerned with where all the pellets end up, but handling a 6lb shotgun in the house is definitely easier than a 12lb AR-10. 

Just wanted another long tool for the box.  Summer's coming.  😉

Edited by KSdefender
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I've got an assortment of shells stocked:  00 buckshot, 0000 buckshot, two different levels of bird shot and slugs.  Plain slugs and a Federal load with a slug + 3 00 pellets. 

0000 Buckshot was recommended for general home defense; with 00 and slugs if things have really gone south. Like most, I hope that my only shooting is either at a range or a hunting excursion. 

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I like the Mossbergs, great gun for a reasonable price. I bought a Shockwave for my 'RV' gun. I use the 1&3/4" 'mini' shells in it with #4 buck loads. I figure it's a great option for the confined spaces in an RV and overpenetration in an RV park probably wouldn't be an issue.

mossberg.thumb.jpg.74e2cb40d3f535412692d39ea5bc6464.jpg

Edited by 392heminut
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Even though I have the Maverick 88, I'm probably going to get one of the shockwaves for vehicle use when traveling - like to the gas station at night. 🥸  Being an older guy, I would likely go with lighter loads as well.  Slugs in an RV park would really upset the neighbors!!!

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6 hours ago, KSdefender said:

Being an older guy, I would likely go with lighter loads as well.

The Aguila MiniShells are reduced loads, just by their nature, at 1 3/4" long.  They make 4 Buck and 1 Buck.  I think they still make birdshot and 1oz slugs (they used to, I still have some).  Federal also makes the shorties, in 4 Buck, No. 8 Shot, and 1oz rifled slugs.

If you run them in a Mossberg pump, you will HAVE to have the OpSol mini-clip adapter.

https://opsolmini-clip.com/

image.thumb.jpeg.eb527f3267eefb28d813d40601e907dd.jpeg

 

Edited by 98Z5V
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40 minutes ago, 98Z5V said:

If you run them in a Mossberg pump, you will HAVE to have the OpSol mini-clip adapter.

I believe the newer Shockwaves are designed to cycle the short shells without an adapter. 

They still make the original one that needs the adapter, but from Mossberg's site...

"For the ultimate in shooting flexibility, the all-new 590S Series cycles 1.75″, 2.75″, or 3″ shells."

https://www.mossberg.com/590s-shockwave-51601.html

But they are double what I paid several years ago. 🤑

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1 hour ago, Armed Eye Doc said:

I believe the newer Shockwaves are designed to cycle the short shells without an adapter.

That means they had to narrow the width of the shell lifter at the front, all the way back to beyond 1 3/4" from the rear of it.  I'd like to check out one of the new ones and see if that's the deal.  Gotta be the case.  I'll get Gun Pusher John to get one on order - he'll sell it, no worries, but I wanna check one out and see what's up.   :thumbup:

EDIT - This also means you could pick up the new shell lifter, and install it in an older gun.  I'm on this one...  

Edited by 98Z5V
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On 3/25/2024 at 7:18 PM, 98Z5V said:

The Aguila MiniShells are reduced loads, just by their nature, at 1 3/4" long.  They make 4 Buck and 1 Buck.  I think they still make birdshot and 1oz slugs (they used to, I still have some).  Federal also makes the shorties, in 4 Buck, No. 8 Shot, and 1oz rifled slugs.

If you run them in a Mossberg pump, you will HAVE to have the OpSol mini-clip adapter.

https://opsolmini-clip.com/

image.thumb.jpeg.eb527f3267eefb28d813d40601e907dd.jpeg

 

Yup! I put one in mine as per your advice, the shorties feed great!:thumbup:

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On 3/22/2024 at 10:06 PM, 98Z5V said:

Someone has to make something, brother.

 

By the nature of how the Maverick series are designed,they don't lend themselves to extended tube add-ons.  The Mossbergs are another story, much like any other manufacturer.

 

By the time one gets done buying the new barrel, mag tube, and spring.....you would be just as well off (if not better) to just buy the larger capacity version.  I looked at much of this years back, and chose accordingly when I purchased the Maverick I have.  If you do this, then you will have 2 shotties to deal with things, and have them staged accordingly.

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Shotgun-legal barrels need to be 18.5", anything under is classified "SBS" - Short-Barreled Shotgun.  Take that 20" kit with the extended tube, lop off exactly 1.5" of it, make it an 18.5" barrel with an extended tube.  Chamfer it inner and outer, deburr it, cerakote it, done.  I'm not seeing how this is impossible, here.  And completely legal.  It's not like it was a choked barrel, and you cut the choke threading out of the end of it.  I'm not seeing the issue, apparently.  Maybe I'm different. 

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It's how the barrel attaches to the mag tube that's the problem. You can't extend the mag tube without replacing the entire mag tube and barrel. It's not like a 590 or 870. The mag tube is drilled and tapped for a bolt that holds the barrel on. 

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On the Maverick magazine system, the magazine cap is actually a threaded "bolt" that is attached to the barrel lug.   This then is threaded into the sealed end of the mag tube.  The magazine tube is completely sealed, save for the threaded "bolt hole" in the end where the cap screws in.

 

On any other modern manufacturer of shotties that I have seen, the magazine tube cap is just threaded onto the outside of the tube, with the lug basically being a really thick washer under the "nut" of the magazine cap.  That is why it is to easy to swap out different barrels, put on  extended mag tubes, and such.

 

Here is the why of this changing of parts isn't really easy/inexpensive/non-machine shop work.....the work needed to be performed to just change out parts on a Maverick shotgun far excedes the cost of just buying another one; whereas this would easily work on a Mossberg, Remington, Winchester, and imports (if made like the previously mentioned brands) if one would just buy the parts and swap them out.

 

 

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mossberg_maverick-88-91_01.jpg

 

Look at part #12, and see the difference in how that is from any Rem/Win/Mossy shotgun assemblage.

 

 

As a side note, the 20" home defense Maverick 88 is very nicely done for the money, and I really don't notice the 1.5 inch difference in handling within my house.  I will take that extra length for the extra magazine capacity that it offers. 

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Please tell me how you guys are explaining that there's a 20" barrel with a longer mag tube on it, FOR the Mav 88, and why I can't cut that 20" barrel down to 18.5".

PLEASE explain that specific part of what I'm trying to get across here. 

Am I the dumbass, and that's completely impossible?  I can't cut a barrel from 20" to 18.5"?!!? 

Get to that exact point, already, and tell me that's UNPOSSIBLE.  Can't be done.  No WAY, no how, you can't do that. 

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Not sure what I'm missing here, but did this guy NOT take apart a Mav 88 and fix it back up?  Am I crazy here?  Is his video wrong?

Someone that already know better here in this thread tell me that this guy is completely wrong, he didn't really take that Mav88 apart, and then configure it like he did in his video - that I just watched....  I'm waiting...

Here's the vid again - WHAT am I missing?!

 

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7 hours ago, 98Z5V said:

Not sure what I'm missing here, but did this guy NOT take apart a Mav 88 and fix it back up?  Am I crazy here?  Is his video wrong?

Someone that already know better here in this thread tell me that this guy is completely wrong, he didn't really take that Mav88 apart, and then configure it like he did in his video - that I just watched....  I'm waiting...

Here's the vid again - WHAT am I missing?!

 

By the time one gets done buying the new barrel, mag tube, and spring.....you would be just as well off (if not better) to just buy the larger capacity version.  I looked at much of this years back, and chose accordingly when I purchased the Maverick I have.  If you do this, then you will have 2 shotties to deal with things, and have them staged accordingly.

 

Like I had posted this previously, sometimes the juice isn't worth the squeeze.   It can be done, I didn't say it couldn't, just that the cost benefits outweigh the end result. 

 

 

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7 hours ago, 98Z5V said:

Please tell me how you guys are explaining that there's a 20" barrel with a longer mag tube on it, FOR the Mav 88, and why I can't cut that 20" barrel down to 18.5".

PLEASE explain that specific part of what I'm trying to get across here. 

Am I the dumbass, and that's completely impossible?  I can't cut a barrel from 20" to 18.5"?!!? 

Get to that exact point, already, and tell me that's UNPOSSIBLE.  Can't be done.  No WAY, no how, you can't do that. 

https://www.mossberg.com/firearms/shotguns/maverick-88.html

 

I you go through the models of the Maverick 88's there are only the 5 round capacity and 7 round capacity versions available.  The end result of doing the mag tube/barrel exchange is this:  for the cost of the time and machining, you just go buy another Maverick 88 in the configuration you are trying to get to.  The parts to make the 7 round capacity tube fit with a 18.5 barrel don't exist in the Maverick world.

 

The Mavericks are $250ish shotguns off the rack, try finding the barrels/tubes/springs for that nowadays and making the checkbook work on the end result.  I guess if you really wanted the extended tube sticking out from under the barrel, like some of the race shotgunners have, then putting the extended tube under the 18.5 will work....you just need to figure out how to retain the barrel in  place.....and here goes any "savings" attempted with parts swapping.  

98, with the 7 round mag inserted, tell me where the 1.5 inch of barrel is coming off the installed barrel that he put into his receiver?  All he did was make up the same "model" as mine is.....nothing more.  His furniture is different, that is all now.  There is no where to take off barrel length with the 7 round tube.....and the work needed to accomplish this is beyond the worth of the shotgun.

 

Give me a minute, and I will have pics with tape to show what I mean.

 

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