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Mossberg Maverick O/U Hunter purchase

Yesterday I ordered a Mossberg Maverick O/U Hunter, 12 gauge, from Gilbertsguns.com. (Actually, I ordered two of them.) Gilbertsguns has a super on-sale price ($299.95 plus shipping), which is less than my local dealer can get them wholesale from any of his five wholesalers, even if one accounts for shipping and FFL transfer fees. My local dealer said it was a super deal and that I should jump on it. My local dealer will be acting the FFL transfer agent, so at least he is getting something out of it.

Gilberts shipped today... super fast, so I should have them pretty soon.

Now, let's cross the fingers and hope the gun is reasonably good and reasonably reliable.
 
Welcome aboard and congrats on the great deal!

I don't foresee you having any issues with them. Keep us posted once you receive them and be sure to post up a range report with some pics...
 
I called the Mossberg customer service line today and talked to them about the Maverick O/U. They said that it uses the same choke tubes as the Reserve series, and also the internal parts of the Maverick are the same as the Reserve series.

I asked him about reliability, and in particular about the problems the Reserve series has had, and he said that they did have some problems early on, but that the guns have been upgraded and are reliable now. Let's hope he is right.

He also mentioned that the gun has a second safety system that prevents the gun from firing if it is pointed down. Interesting.
 
Congratulations on your new Maverick O/U Hunter! I have used one at the range before and really enjoyed it (great deal considering the price). If you are looking for chokes I know there are several vendors that have them available but my personal favorite are the Trulock chokes.
 
Saturday I went out shooting some clay pigeons with my brother in law and some other people. This is not a full range report, but I will say that I really like the Maverick O/U Hunter. I am not a particularly expert shot with a shotgun, but I broke the first few targets thrown. Later in the day I started missing more targets.

Recoil was not bad, partly because I was using low recoil loads, and perhaps partly because I mostly fired from the lower barrel. My brother, who was using a pump action shotgun, complained of a sore shoulder by the end of the day, but I had no discomfort, even though I am smaller and older than my brother. (However, he was also shooting a heavier load than me.)

The gun points nicely, a lot better than some pump action shotguns I have shot.

The gun gave me no trouble. Some of the other folk there had some trouble with jams in their pump action guns, a lot more than I would have expected actually. By the way, this is just an extractor gun... no ejectors. however, I think I prefer it that way. It made it a lot easier to collect the fired hulls.

Several other people tried my shotgun and liked it, and after shooting my gun one of the nephews told his father that he wants an O/U.

I really liked the ability to follow up a missed shot with a very rapid second shot. It seemed to be much faster than taking a second shot with a pump action shotgun.

I like the look of this shotgun. Obviously, because it has a synthetic stock and a matte finish on the metal parts it is not flashy, but in my opinion the styling of the gun is very nice. In my opinion some O/U shotguns have a rather clunky look to them, but this one is almost shapely and sleek-looking. Also, although at first the open space between the upper and lower barrels is not something that I particularly liked, it didn't take me long to learn to like it, and now I think I prefer the gap. Besides, by not filling in the space between the barrels the manufacturer has lightened the gun a little, and I think that because of the gap between the barrels the gun is a little less affected by wind resistance.

I like the weight of this shotgun. If my postal scale is accurate then the weight is pretty close to seven pounds, unloaded. Balance also seem pretty good according to my tastes.

As far as the fit of the stock to my physique is concerned, I am no expert, but i don't have any complaints.

My one negative comment is that when I first got the gun it was rather stiff. It was hard to open and the safety/barrel selector was extremely stiff. I partly disassembled the gun and smoothed up the safety/barrel selector and now it operates well. I also used some very fine sand paper to work on some of the parts that were rubbing together to make the action hard to open. (I was very careful to not let any abrasive enter the action, and was very careful to clean the abrasive away afterward.) I did this with a very light hand and avoided working on any of the parts that might be critical to function, such as the hinge. The gun is still somewhat stiff to open, but is somewhat better now than before. I will rely on normal breaking in to smooth it up further. Oh, one other thing, the engraving that labels the positions of the safety/barrel selector was not done deeply enough, making the markings hard to read. This is a fairly minor issue, and I may just leave that issue alone.

Overall, despite the few negative comments made above, I really like the gun so far. I also bought the same model as a Christmas gift for one of my sons,. He loves it, and so does his wife.

One last comment: I have wanted a double barrel shotgun since my early teen years, and finally I decided that forty five years (or more) of deferred gratification is long enough, and when I found an excellent price at an online vendor ($300, plus shipping and FFL transfer) I went ahead and bought one for me and one for one of my sons.
 
I am really glad that you are enjoying your Mossberg Maverick O/U Hunter. If you get a chance would you mind posting this up over in the review section as well for other members to see. For the money I don't think you can beat this deal.
 
I've been wanting to buy a Mossberg Hunter, but all of the reviews are 2-4 years ago. Most of the negative reviews I have read about the Mossberg Hunter have never held a Mossberg Hunter and they're assuming a person can't buy a quality over/under for less than $1500. They claim that a $400 gun will not last.

My question is how has your Mossberg Hunter held up after 2 years? Are you still satisfied with the purchase/product?
 
I bought my Mossberg Hunter in November 2014. I've shot mostly trap with it. I've put over 650 rounds trough it, and I've only had two complaints/problems. Technically, it's just one complaint.

Complaint/Problems:
1. It is difficult to put the shells into the bottom barrel. 98% of the time the barrel doesn't break far enough to put the shells in or take them out. It doesn't hinder the weapon, it's just annoying and awkward to load the bottom barrel.
2. It only happened twice to me shooting trap. I had the shotgun pointed down (in a safe direction down range). I got ready to shoot. Yelled, "pull." No fire. The safety was engaged because the shotgun can't shoot the ground. Once I figured this out (user error), I just make sure the shotgun is pointed up (in a safe direction down range) before I shoot trap. So, if you want this shotgun for home defense and you live in a two story house it won't shoot down the stairs.

Positives:
1. It's so much fun to shoot.
2. Very accurate. I'm a horrible shot, but I average 80% when I shoot trap.
3. I've shot over 650 rounds (7 & 8 shot and a handful of Buckshot) through this shotgun without any problems. I clean the shotgun after 200 rounds.
4. My wife loves to shoot this gun, too. As a newbie, she has shot several shotguns, but she prefers this one over all.

Bottom Line:
It is well worth the money.
 
650 rounds?
That is a weekend for a competetive trap shooter.
Now for a hunter that is many seasons and may be where the gun really shines.
 
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