Maverick 88 shooting a foot high?

[swampcrawler]

Im much more familiar with rifles and handguns than I am with shotguns, so I have no clue what's going on here.

My girlfriend expressed an interest in hunting. She has little short crocodile arms, so most of my guns fit her quite poorly. Decided we needed to grab her something with a youth or Bantam stock due to that.

We picked a Maverick 88 in 20 gauge because of its very low price, good reputation, and versatility.

When pattern testing it, we found that it puts the center of the pattern about a foot above where the bead is held. Does it with multiple loads, and with either her or myself shooting it.

Solution?

 

[sappyg]

Sounds like the stock needs to be lowered. You might could shim the stock at the receiver to lower the stock.

 

[JackSprat]

It sounds to me that you may need a slightly taller front bead.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Buck or slugs and at what distance? I know with my bead shotgun slugs are at least as high as yours. I've never worried as its home defense so I aim low if I were to use this shotgun.

Another work around might be to put a red dot sight on this shotgun to get the desired point of aim, impact.

 

[FLNT4EVR]

Try a simple solution first get your head down and keep it there until your gun comes out of recoil

 

[kudu]

Does the gun have a vent rib barrel, or just an end bead? At what distance are you shooting? A lot of shotguns will be a tad high, you basically have the target in sight above the barrel. Not sure if you can shim the stock down on a Maverick or not. I prefer to see a bit of rib or barrel for my guns, and they do shoot a bit higher that way, if you get right down on the stock hard you should only see the bead and no extra rib or barrel above the receiver. If you bury your head down further all you will see is the back of the receiver as it will hide the bead.

 

[swampcrawler]

Thanks for the info so far guys.

We have only patterned it with bird shot (4, 6, 7 1/2, and 8 shot of various brands, at 20 and 40 yards.

It is a vent rib, did it with the factory bead as well as an aftermarket fiber that I replaced it with.

We shoot face down pretty tight, trying to get the rib to apear as... dunno how to word this. Trying to look perfectly flat down the rib.

It didn't come with shims but il look into machining something for it.

 

[Steve C]

A foot high center pattern at 25 yds is perfect for a trap gun or any shotgun that you normally shoot at a rising target. The higher pattern center allows you to see the target and one simply brings the bead to the target as you follow through on the pass and the target rises into the center of the pattern.

A field gun usually will center pattern on the front bead and one needs to blank out the target or bird on the pass through to get it into center of the shot. The difference between the typical trap gun and a field gun is the stock. The trap stock more in line to the barrel and to the shoulder than the field gun which has more drop to the stock.

The general reason one finds a field gun shooting high is the shooter not keeping their head down and their cheek welded to the stock , or picking their head up when firing and follow through on the swing. The point of impact should come down if as FLNTFEVR suggested one keeps their head down on the stock when shooting.

 

[RMc]

There is also the possibility of an off center or misaligned choke tube. Try another choke tube, if that cures the problem you will know it was an off-center choke tube. If the gun still prints high, the choke tube recess in the barrel may be slightly out of alignment with the bore. The Maverick series only has a one year warranty, so don't delay seeking a warranty repair/replacement.