[ShotgunPro]

Hi All,

Took the Mossberg Mavrick 88 (Field/all purpose) out to the range today and fired 3 Winchester superX slugs though it. Went to switch to birdshot and noticed Something wrong with the end of the barrel. Look down and see this.

Took the gun down and set it aside for the rest of the range trip. I'm really glad I noticed it before I put the birdshot down it. I don't really want to think about what shot ricocheting down into my legs/feet would have felt like.

Now I'm trying to figure out what happened. All three slugs hit the target, so there was no obstruction from there. I couldn't find three wads after finding the issue because there are hundreds of wads/shells out where I was shooting. Nothing during the 3 shots felt out of place(extra weak, extra stong, squib, ect) The gun is bone stock, and according to the mossberg site had a modified choke, which should be fine for rifled slugs, correct?

Did I miss something, and I shouldn't have been shooting slugs out of the barrel/choke, or am I looking at a defective barrel/choke or slug?

 

[ShotgunPro]

what choke did you have in the gun?

 

[ShotgunPro]

The choke that came in it from the factory. According to the mossberg site It's a modified tube.

88 Field

 

[ShotgunPro]

Looks like the slug somehow caught the accu-choke. Was the choke screwed all the way in? Stick your finger down the barrel, and feel where the choke meets the barrel. Is there a gap?

 

[ShotgunPro]

I can feel the edge of the choke, but I don't feel a gap. Looking through the blown out spot it looks like there's a TINY space, maybe a human hair wide. My phone can't focus close enough to take a picture of it.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Glad no one was hurt.

 

[ShotgunPro]

I can feel the edge of the choke, but I don't feel a gap. Looking through the blown out spot it looks like there's a TINY space, maybe a human hair wide. My phone can't focus close enough to take a picture of it.

I can actually see a line on the barrel in the second pic. The line looks like it's where the barrel meets the choke. Are you sure you can shoot slugs out of this gun? I know there are a couple of chokes that Mossberg prohibits shooting slugs out of.

 

[ShotgunPro]

I am glad it was at the muzzle and not the breach. My Pop had a Remington Burst at the breach. Glad you are okay..

 

[ShotgunPro]

I can think of a couple possibilities. They may not apply to you.
1) You had an obstruction in the barrel, like mud or A cleaning patch.
2) You were shooting 3" shells in a 2 3/4" chambered barrel. What did your fired cases look like after the shot? Were the folds missing?
3) You had a extra full chocke tube in the barrel.
4) You tried and fires a "cut shell" in the gun.

 

[ShotgunPro]

IMO, it probably had the wrong choke sleeve installed or it wasn't screwed in all the way or there could have been something in the choke threads causing it to bulge.

My 88 has a modified choke sleeve and I've fired slugs with no problems.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Are you sure you can shoot slugs out of this gun? I know there are a couple of chokes that Mossberg prohibits shooting slugs out of.

From The Mossberg site.
O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc. - Firearms, Shotguns, Rifles, Accessories, and Precision Machining

"Can I shoot slugs or buckshot through a "smoothbore" field barrel with Accu-Choke™ tubes? (500/505/535/9200/88/930 models)
Yes, and with sabots or rifled slugs, the more "open" the choke tube, the better the accuracy ("Improved Cylinder" recommended.) The "full" or "modified" choke tubes are preferred for buckshot loads. Slugs, buckshot and steel shot loads are not recommended for use with an extra full "turkey tube" installed, due to the tube's tight constriction. Do not fire any load without a choke tube installed, doing so will damage the internal choke tube threads. "

I'm thinking that's a yes (Model is 88 )

 

[ShotgunPro]

I can think of a couple possibilities. They may not apply to you.
1) You had an obstruction in the barrel, like mud or A cleaning patch.
2) You were shooting 3" shells in a 2 3/4" chambered barrel. What did your fired cases look like after the shot? Were the folds missing?
3) You had a extra full chocke tube in the barrel.
4) You tried and fires a "cut shell" in the gun.

1) No obstruction as far as I can tell. Gun went from being checked safe/assembled to being fired. It's possible one of the previous shells left something (wad?) in the barrel.

2)Gun is listed as a 3" chamber, shells are 3".

3)I'm not familiar enough with shotguns to see the difference between an "extra full" and a modified choke. The choke is still in the gun, as shown in picture #1. Does it look like something other than a modified choke?

4) Looking at the youtube videos of "cut shells" I can tell you that it very much was not. All of the shells ejected fully after firing, I didn't think to take them with me when I left the range. I'll have to go back tomorrow after work and see if I can find them in the pile to see if anything looks off after further examination.

Thanks for the possibilities.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Holy bleepity bleep!!

I'm glad it wasn't worse, and you found it before you fired another round!

I don't know what to tell you, if it was the original choke tube, it was probably OK for slugs. Sometimes weird stuff happens, maybe the choke tube worked it's way out a bit over time, and it finally caught a slug on it's way out. Maybe it was defective ammo, but I don't know what kind of defect would cause that. Send the pics to winchester, and see what they say. You got lucky, that could have been real ugly!

 

[ShotgunPro]

I'm glad it wasn't worse, and you found it before you fired another round!

I don't know what to tell you, if it was the original choke tube, it was probably OK for slugs. Sometimes weird stuff happens, maybe the choke tube worked it's way out a bit over time, and it finally caught a slug on it's way out. Maybe it was defective ammo, but I don't know what kind of defect would cause that. Send the pics to winchester, and see what they say. You got lucky, that could have been real ugly!

I got real lucky, otherwise things could have gone very badly.

Do you think I should contact Mossberg, Winchester, or both? I'm not looking for anything, I've had this gun since 2008, so it's long out of warranty, but I'd still like to know what happened.

 

[ShotgunPro]

It would be worth contacting in my opinion. They may like to know as well as you wanting to know what happened.

You may also be suprised what Mossberg may do for you. I have seen some pretty excellent customer service. Had a customer who had a barrel split on his Mossberg 9200 (obvisouly well out of warranty) and the replaced it with a brand new 930 combo.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Just out of curiousity, what is the model number of the slugs you were using?

 

[ShotgunPro]

I got real lucky, otherwise things could have gone very badly.

Do you think I should contact Mossberg, Winchester, or both? I'm not looking for anything, I've had this gun since 2008, so it's long out of warranty, but I'd still like to know what happened.

Uh hell yes!

Even if you don't get anything from it, they can investigate it and see if it was a manufacturing defect (maybe air pocket or something) in the metal or maybe a high stress nick in machining..whatever

Who knows...they MAY ship you a new one just to make sure you don't post it online before you let them know a product of theirs went kablooey....DOH too late

Do a writeup just like you did here...include color photographs and whatnot, contact them and ship to them.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Just out of curiousity, what is the model number of the slugs you were using?

I'll check after work. Off the top of my head I think it was the 12ga Winchester SuperX 3" with the [3/4oz] EDIT:1oz rifled slug.

UPDATE: Product Number is X123RS15VP

 

[ShotgunPro]

go ahead and cut it back to 18.5" and have a good home defense barrel.

 

[ShotgunPro]

go ahead and cut it back to 18.5" and have a good home defense barrel.

I've been thinking about that, but want to let mossberg or winchester have a look at it before I do.