Mossberg is known for making quality shotguns. Most of their products are incredibly reliable, and that has made a major impact on the company’s reputation. Yet even the best companies can hit a speed bump from time to time.

The venerable firearms company has issued a recall for some of their Maverick Hunter Over/Under shotguns.

Maverick Arms, Inc. Product Safety Warning and Recall Notice

Description of Issue

Maverick Arms has discovered that a small number of Maverick Hunter™ Over/Under 12-gauge shotguns (SKU 75445) have been marked incorrectly. The chamber marking indicates that these shotguns are chambered for 3 ½” shells, however, the chambers are manufactured for 2 ¾” and 3” shells.
All Maverick Hunter™ shotguns are manufactured with 3” chambers, not 3 ½” chambers. Firing 3 ½” shot shells through these shotguns may cause an increase in chamber pressure, which may result in damage to your shotgun and/or severe personal injury if a barrel should rupture as a result of excess pressure.

How to Determine if Your Maverick Over/Under is Affected

Each Maverick Hunter™ shotgun is marked with a chamber designation on the right side of the barrel, just below the safety warning. If your shotgun marking reads “12 Ga 3 ½” Maverick Hunter” then your shotgun IS affected by this recall.

Discontinue use of this shotgun and immediately follow the instructions provided below.

Note that only a small number of SKU 75445 shotguns are affected. No other Maverick or Mossberg models are affected by this Safety Warning or Recall Notice.

What to Do If Your Shotgun is Affected

DO NOT fire 3 ½” shot shells through your Maverick Hunter™ Over/Under shotgun.

Please call the Product Service Center at (800) 363-3555 between the hours of 8:00 AM – 4:30PM EST or email us at [email protected] to confirm that your shotgun is covered by this recall.

If your shotgun is covered by this recall, Maverick Arms will provide a prepaid shipping label for your current shotgun, for return to an authorized Maverick Service Center.=

Once we receive your shotgun, Maverick will provide a free replacement shotgun of the same model and type (SKU 75445).

If you have already sold or otherwise disposed of your Maverick Hunter shotgun, we request that you immediately provide us with the contact information of the purchaser so that we may contact them directly and provide information about this recall.

Questions

For questions about this safety warning and product recall, or to confirm if your shotgun is affected by this recall, please contact the Product Service Center at (800) 363-3555.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this recall may cause, and we thank you for your patience, cooperation and support for the effort to better serve our customers.

An incorrect marking of what kind of shell is an easy mistake to see happen, but has serious ramifications. An extra half-inch of shell may provide far too much pressure for the barrel to handle, potentially resulting in some catastrophic failures. The kind that are awesome to watch on YouTube, but not so great to see first-hand.

There needs to be some serious review of Mossberg’s quality control procedure, though. After all, it’s a simple mistake, but it’s also one of the easiest to see. After all, it’s right there on the barrel for anyone to examine. How did this make it through?

Either way, if you have one of these shotguns, contact Mossberg immediately.

Further, even if you’ve successfully fired 3 1/2″ shells out of it previously, stop. Stop it now. Just because nothing bad has happened, it doesn’t mean it won’t. Don’t be stupid.