Background I've never been that impressed with Marui´s triple barrelled shotguns since they are more like sniper rifles then shotguns. They have often better range and accuracy than a stock AEG. Not really what I'm looking for in a shotgun. Maruzen have a few nice guns, as do Marushin, but they all have some little tidbit that I don't feel quite comfortable with. I ran into an old KHC Maverick M-88 in a shop over in Denmark a couple of years ago. I remember thinking it was quite cool, but a bit "plasticy" looking. I'd just bought myself a new AEG and after a short look at the Maverick, I put it aside and left the shop with a first generation KSC Glock 17 instead. A GBB was more fun and much more usable than a shotgun. Lately, I've been thinking about this old shotgun more and more. It seemed to have everything that I want in a shotgun, and as a bonus you can't exactly call it common, which I like. I decided to take the 45 min trip to the other side of the strait, to find out if they still had any left. Judging by this review, I leave it up to you to guess what the result was. :o)
The similarities ends here however. The M-88 has four inner barrels opposed to the TM three. It also have a metal "mechbox" instead of the plastic internals found in the Marui shotties. When it comes to loading the gun, I prefer Marui´s shells over KHC´s solution of just pouring the BBs into it in a similar way as Top´s M60 series of machine guns. This is purely a personal matter since I'm allergic to everything that even remotely resembles a hi cap magazine. Ok, time for some action! The first thing I noticed was how hard it was to cock. It's much heavier to pump than the Marui shotties. I haven't used a Marui shotgun for a while so I can't really say how much harder it is though. I would say that at least 50% of the people who tries it doesn't manage to cock it at their first go. Once you learn the right technique it isn't a problem anymore, but I'm willing to bet that your arms will be quite painful after a day of extensive use. The BBs are gravity fed and as long as you keep the gun reasonably horizontal when you pump it, it works flawlessly. I haven't managed to missfeed a single BB so far - at least not that I'm aware of. My wish for a better spread than Marui´s tripled barrelled "sniper rifles" was more than granted. At 10m, the spread is about 25-30cm, and at maximum range, which is about the same as a stock AEG, it's something like 60-70cm. The front pistol grip is removable. It's held in place by two screws, which are a bit hard to get at. Without the front pistol grip, the grip is a bit bulky, but still comfortable. I recommend you to keep the pistol grip if you plan on using this little bullpup for more than a short skirmish every now and then. You'll need the extra help the pistol grip gives you to be able to pump it all day. A nice little detail is that the ejection port is connected with the pump action. It opens when you pull back the pump handle, and closes when you let it forward. The finish might not be top notch. Even though it's real steel counterpart is made in some plastic/composite material, I doubt that it has the same plastic fantastic shine as this replica. When you pick up the gun, all of the plastic feel just goes away. It's heavy, about 3 kg, which is more than most AEGs and almost a kilo more than the Marui shotguns. Most things that are metal on the real steel counterpart are metal on this replica. The metal parts are: the outer barrel, heat shield, ejection port, shell loading mechanism, rear sight, trigger and the saftey. It's very well balanced with it's centre of gravity just in the middle of it all, making it easy to handle and shoot single handed.
Comment on this review in the forums Last modified: Saturday, November 30, 2002 12:12 PM Copyright 2001 ArniesAirsoft
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