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Maverick 88 action issues

.30M2

Copper BB
Hi all, this is my first post. I hope this hasn't been covered already, and if it has please tell me.

I recently purchased two maverick 88's for my brothers for Christmas, one from fleet farm and one from wal-mart. Both are the same model (12 ga. w/ 28" bbl) but have different fore ends (one is a standard sporter and the other is the ribbed police style one).

The issue is that the one with the ribbed police style fore end has a really stiff, gritty action when you work the pump, while the one with the sporter style is really smooth.

I'm wondering if anybody else has had this issue. I took them both apart and the both look the same, nothing looks broken. The one that is smooth was significantly more lubricated when I took them apart. I cleaned them both, and while it made it slightly better, it's still really gritty.

Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
 
Yep. As Paw said. But here's a tip; if you have TWO parts, you can switch them out and see which is the best one. Take that for what it's worth. Not saying use a Dremel on a part....I've seen too many folks screw parts up and then blame the gun or the manufacturer....but lifters can be had for $5 a pop from Ebay sometimes and having extras and the knowledge to finish them is a good thing.
 
yep, that was my problem a while back. mine was really stiff at first, couldn't understand it as the one i had a few years ago was smooth out of the box. my recent new one also had some thick gunk in the action, so check that out as well and clean it. now mine is silky smooth. its kinda a bad-good thing to get one like this, bad cause its kinda bothers ya but good as it gives you an excuse to shoot some ammo.
 
I just worked on smoothing out the action on mine this past weekend actually. Mine is fairly new, and if I had to guess it has around 50 rounds through it. The action wasn't real rough for a $200 12 ga, but I was hoping to try and make it as smooth as say a $500 gun.
What I did was I broke it down and used Break Free's Powder Blast to clean and degrease. Then I inspected all of the action pieces and where they make contact w the receiver. Since I have been shooting it the finish has started to come off, so the areas I needed to look at were easy to find. I sprayed a little rem oil and I sanded down burs and rough spots left behind during machining w fine sandpaper. The bolt had a little pitting so I sanded them flush. I think the biggest improvement was made by smoothing the sides of the shell elevator. You have to be careful when sanding on your weapon though, and pay close attention to not change the geometry of the surfaces. The top and bottom of the slide stop for instance doesn't have 90* edges. Remember the action bars are aluminum so be gentle and go slow. After I was done sanding I cleaned it again w the powder blast and then I lubed it w rem oil and set everything aside to dry.
The last thing I did was kinda experimental but I do believe it worked. I sprayed a fairly liberal amount of 3 n 1 RVcare on the inside of the slide where it rides on the mag tube. This product is used to lube and protect slide outs on campers, and it says safe for plastic, etc and it allegedly still lubes after it dries.
After everything was clean and dry I reassembled and the end result was pretty nice. I haven't fired it yet but I cycled several shells through and its smoother than a new Rem 870.
https://3inone.com/products/rvcare-slide-out-silicone-lube/
 
I just worked on smoothing out the action on mine this past weekend actually. Mine is fairly new, and if I had to guess it has around 50 rounds through it. The action wasn't real rough for a $200 12 ga, but I was hoping to try and make it as smooth as say a $500 gun.
What I did was I broke it down and used Break Free's Powder Blast to clean and degrease. Then I inspected all of the action pieces and where they make contact w the receiver. Since I have been shooting it the finish has started to come off, so the areas I needed to look at were easy to find. I sprayed a little rem oil and I sanded down burs and rough spots left behind during machining w fine sandpaper. The bolt had a little pitting so I sanded them flush. I think the biggest improvement was made by smoothing the sides of the shell elevator. You have to be careful when sanding on your weapon though, and pay close attention to not change the geometry of the surfaces. The top and bottom of the slide stop for instance doesn't have 90* edges. Remember the action bars are aluminum so be gentle and go slow. After I was done sanding I cleaned it again w the powder blast and then I lubed it w rem oil and set everything aside to dry.
The last thing I did was kinda experimental but I do believe it worked. I sprayed a fairly liberal amount of 3 n 1 RVcare on the inside of the slide where it rides on the mag tube. This product is used to lube and protect slide outs on campers, and it says safe for plastic, etc and it allegedly still lubes after it dries.
After everything was clean and dry I reassembled and the end result was pretty nice. I haven't fired it yet but I cycled several shells through and its smoother than a new Rem 870.
https://3inone.com/products/rvcare-slide-out-silicone-lube/
Just wondering with all the burrs you found if your 88 had sharp edges where you push in your shells into the magazine? My son sliced his thumb when shoving in is very first shell. I've seen elsewhere that others have cut themselves as well. To me, this goes beyond "It's made in Mexico; what do you expect?" and is a serious issue.
 
Like I said, if you have two parts, in this case one good gun and one rough gun, simply switch out parts and find the best. Put the good, smooth action slide tube onto the rough gun and try it out. If it fixes the prob, you know the bars need smoothing on the rough one. If it's still rough, trade out the bolt carriers, too. Then the bolt, then the lifter. Eventually, you'll find the rough part that needs attention. Parts for the Mossy 500/Mav 88 are easy to find and inexpensive. Buy them now and then when you get a chance and switch out parts to find the best. Find the best bolt, for example, and you'll know what the others need.

Bah, the action bars are solid steel. Aluminum bars wouldn't last one outing. Those bars have some pretty narrow spots that would be very easily broken. Those notches that grab the bolt carrier, for example.

Dave, it's possible the mag tube has a burr on the edge. It's pretty tapered down at that spot so it's possible. Just pull the tube and gently file the full edge one or two strokes. Just a hair to dull it. Don't go hog wild. Another spot to watch out for is the barrel extension on the breech. There's an edge there that can sometimes be knife sharp. It can slice cardboard boxes to shreds. Not worth smoothing, just don't grab the barrel at that end.
 
The “burrs” on mine weren’t that big of an issue really. If one wasn’t inspecting it with a “fine tooth comb” they wouldn’t have noticed. It wasn’t bad at all out of the box, it just wasn’t glassy smooth is all.
 
Mcarbo has steel mag followers and a great trigger spring kit.
My mags load butter smooth no catching up or gritty feel. Made all the diffence.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
 
Mcarbo has steel mag followers and a great trigger spring kit.
My mags load butter smooth no catching up or gritty feel. Made all the diffence.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
I have them both, they’re ok. I’d get the trigger spring again, maybe not the mag follower though. I didn’t think it fed all that bad with the stock follower though.
 
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I have them both, they’re ok. I’d get the trigger spring again, maybe not the mag follower though. I didn’t think it fed all that bad with the stock follower though.
There was a huge difference with mine. Of course mine could be an older model.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
 
There was a huge difference with mine. Of course mine could be an older model.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
I just went and fed mine just to give it a feel. You know what I think the difference and benefit is? I think it’s eaiser to get the shell linend up and loaded because the stainless has a nice flat and flush surface where the oem is dome shaped.
Yeah the mcarbo is better.
 
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