Maverick Model 88 barrel explodes

by **rice87** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:46 am

I need some help to figure out what i should do about my 12 ga maverick 88 barrel exploding on me. When the barrel exploded i looked at the medal of the inside of the barrel at one of the splits it looked like pot metal and there was rust on one side of the metal where it had split.

by **ShootSS** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:49 pm

I don't know how old the gun is, but I'd take it back to where you bought it or send it back to the manufacturer. This should NEVER happen.

Question: Were you shooting magnum loads in it when she blew?

If so, I would not volunteer that information. The Maverick is a cheaper, and less well built knock off of the Mossberg 500. I think they are made in Mexico.

by **tigwelder56** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:33 pm

Actually the Maverick is made in Texas (maybe made by Mexicans though). I own one and absolutely love it. I have had great performance from mine, and no problems whatsoever. The mention that one side of that split was rusted tells me that you had one of two things. One being the possiblity that the barrel was defective from the factory or it cracked as a result of use. As ShootSS mentioned, if you were shooting Magnum loads, that could've caused it to weaken, even though they're Magnum rated. Let us know what you find out. Here is the Maverick Customer Service website: http://www.maverickarms.com/pages/service.htm

by **rice87** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:29 pm

Yea i have gotten a lawyer to figure this thing out cause i lost 65% hearing in my ear. I was Turkey hunting with the shotgun and was shooting 3 inch nitro mags i dont see why you have to sort what ammo you can and cant use they made them for a turkey guns and rated them for 3 inch mags so I am done with mossbergs and going to go with a Remington but i will let everyone know what happens when i send it to the metalurgist to figure why it did what it did thanks for yalls help.

by **tigwelder56** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:35 pm

I have to ask, were you using any hearing protection at all? That's an awful lot of permanent hearing loss due to one shell going off abnormally. You can bet that they'll fight you on that issue. You just have to stick with it. I can tell you now that it won't be a walk in the park and may take a very long time to reach any kind of resolution. During that time they're going to put you under a microscope and any further shooting will be held against you. They do that shit to try and make you seem unconcerned with any further hearing loss from gun fire acoustical damage. Of course your attorney should be spelling this out for you. Make sure he/she does. Do you by chance have an original baseline hearing test available? One that shows you had perfect hearing prior to the incident? If not that could work against you as well. If your attorney isn't working on commission, you may want to reconsider your lawsuit. I've seen people lose alot of money because the big corporations pay their attorney's to tie up cases like this for years. Good luck with this one!

by **tigwelder56** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:49 pm

Hey Rice, I failed to ask you one question, actually two. What kind of barrel were you using? Was it a smoothbore or rifled? You didn't mention what type of load you were shooting other than the Nitro Mags. What size of shot were you using? Thanks, I'm trying to help you figure out why that damn thing blew up on you. You didn't tell us if you washed your shorts out or threw them away! Come on, fess up, what happened? LOL!! I would've watched mine splattering down the road in my rear view mirror!! Ha!

by **neverenough** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:47 am

Ahh....what a mess. Seems to me the evidence of rust formation at one of the split seams is a clear indicator of "prior to the incident" defect. An inspection by the metalurgist will show this....

Too damn bad the defect had to manifest itself in the extreme manner of exploding on you Rice87! It's not like we all have the equipment to magnaflux a weapon for defective metal before we saddle up with it....

(Good one tig....splattering shorts in the rear view...,LMAO!!)

neverenough

by **JustBen** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 12:33 pm

I don't know the process for manufacturing a barrel, but I do know a lot about metal tubing for hydraulic cylinders. Depending on the process used to manufacture the barrel, there are several opportunities in the forging/drawing process that can lead to a "cold lap". Also during the heat treating process, there are opportunities for error that can lead to cracks. The inspection processes used (like Magnaflux etc...) should detect these defects, but operators do make mistakes sometimes.

This manufacturer should have inspection records. If you have a lawyer who knows about manufacturing processes you might be able to corner them on this issue and get them to make it right. Most companies think they can get out of these issues by taking advantage of folks that don't know all the dirtly little secrets that exist in their factories. Best of luck to you.

by **BrianB** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 3:41 pm

I hope this works out well for you Rice, I really do.

I do wonder though, if rust was found in the barrel after it blew up, is this not something they could use against you? My thought being is that they would ask if you had inspected and cleaned your weapon, how good your methods are for that, and whether or not you should have found the rust first if it was bad enough to cause it to explode.

Not trying to give you a hard time, just some thoughts I had while reading.

by **JustBen** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 10:10 pm

If the rust was up inside the crack, that would mean that the crack was there for some time, and it might not be a crack but a cold lap from the forging process. A metallurgist could also tell whether that crack/void was there before or after the heat treating process. Forensics for a manufacturing process of sorts.