Browning Maxus II Review (2026): 750 Shells Tested

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Table of Contents

Review: Browning Maxus II – The Softest Shooting Autoloader in the Blind

Our Rating: 8.3/10

Waterfowl guns get judged on two mornings a year. The one where it is nine degrees and you have been sitting still for three hours, and the one where you fire forty shells before lunch. A gas gun should win both of those, and the Maxus II is Browning’s argument that it still does.

Browning Maxus II Specs

• MSRP: $1,839.99 for a Stalker, up to $2,399.99 for a Wicked Wing
• Street price: $1,739.99 at Sportsman’s Warehouse when we checked
• Item number: 011751204, as listed on Browning’s Wicked Wing page
• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3 inch, with 3.5 inch models offered
• Action: Gas operated semi-automatic
• Barrel length: 26 or 28 inches
• Overall length: 47 1/4 inches with the 26, 49 3/8 inches with the 28
• Capacity: 4 rounds
• Weight: 7 lbs 2 oz
• Length of pull: 14 7/16 inches
• Drop at comb: 1 3/4 inches
• Drop at heel: 2 inches
• Rib: Ventilated

Quick Take

Gas guns exist for one reason: they hurt less. The Maxus II bleeds gas off to work the action and that stretched-out impulse is what separates a morning of 3 inch steel from a bruised shoulder. Shoot one beside an inertia gun with the same shells and the difference is not subtle.

The second thing gas buys you is the light end of the load range. Inertia guns want a certain amount of recoil to function, and a box of cheap 2.75 inch target shells is where they get fussy. Our Maxus II ate them without a single failure to cycle, which matters if you shoot clays in the summer and ducks in the winter with the same gun.

You pay for that in money and in maintenance. At $1,739.99 street it costs more than the inertia competition, and a gas system in a marsh needs cleaning on a schedule rather than when you get round to it.

Best For: Waterfowl hunters who shoot high volume and heavy loads, and anyone who wants one shotgun for both ducks and clays. Skip it if you hunt occasionally in dry conditions, where an inertia gun is lighter, cheaper and needs far less looking after.

Gas Versus Inertia, and Why It Decides This Purchase

Every argument about the Maxus II against a Benelli comes back to how the action is driven, so it is worth being clear about the trade.

A gas gun taps propellant gas from the barrel to push the action open. That spreads the recoil impulse over a longer period, which your shoulder reads as softer, and it means the gun does not care how much the whole thing recoils. Light loads work because the gas is there regardless.

An inertia gun uses the recoil of the whole gun moving against a spring. Fewer parts, nothing to foul, lighter, and it will run filthy for a season without complaint. The cost is a sharper felt recoil and a fussiness about light loads.

So the honest way to choose is not by brand. If you shoot a lot, in cold weather, with heavy loads, the gas gun is the more comfortable tool and the Maxus II is a very good one. If you shoot a box a season in a dry field and hate cleaning, inertia wins on every count that matters to you. Our inertia versus gas guide goes deeper, and Browning’s own A5 review covers their inertia gun for anyone who wants the other side from the same maker.

Maxus II vs the Competition

Benelli Super Black Eagle 3. The waterfowl benchmark and the reason this argument exists. Lighter, simpler, filthier for longer, and harder on your shoulder with 3.5 inch loads. It also costs more than a Maxus II in most configurations. Our Benelli SBE3 review has the full picture.

Beretta A400. The other serious gas gun, and the closest thing to a direct rival. Beretta’s system cycles fast and their recoil reduction in the stock is genuinely effective. Handling is a matter of taste rather than quality. See our Beretta A400 Xcel review.

Browning A5. Browning’s own inertia gun, which makes the in-house comparison easy. Same brand, same quality of build, opposite operating system. If you like Browning but hate gas cleaning, buy the A5 instead.

For the wider field, our 8 best duck hunting shotguns and 10 best 12 gauge hunting shotguns guides rank it against everything else in the blind.

Testing Protocol

Seven hundred and fifty shells through a 28 inch Wicked Wing across seven sessions from September into January, temperatures from 71F on the dove opener down to 19F on a January morning in flooded timber. Patterning was at 40 yards on 30 inch paper from a bench. Everything else was live birds and sporting clays.

Shells Used

• Winchester Xpert Steel 3in #2, 1 1/4 oz – 250 shells
• Federal Speed-Shok 3in BB, 1 1/4 oz – 150 shells
• Kent Fasteel 2.0 3in #3, 1 1/8 oz – 100 shells
• Remington Gun Club 2.75in #8, 1 1/8 oz target – 200 shells
• Winchester AA Light Target 2.75in #8, 1 oz – 50 shells

Break-In and Handling

Nothing needed breaking in. The gun ran from the first box, which is what you expect at this money. The bolt handle and the safety are large enough to work in a gloved hand, and the overmolded grip panel is the detail I noticed most on a wet morning, because a slick camo stock in December is genuinely unpleasant.

At 7 lbs 2 oz it is not a light gun and it is not meant to be. Weight in a waterfowl autoloader is doing a job, and swinging it on crossing birds is where you feel the benefit rather than the cost.

Reliability

Two stoppages in 750 shells, and both came in the same session. That was session six, roughly 600 shells in, with no cleaning since session two and a morning of freezing drizzle. One failure to eject and one short stroke, both on the 1 oz Winchester AA target load, which is the lightest thing I fed it.

Stripped the gas piston that evening, found the carbon buildup you would expect, cleaned it properly and the gun ran the last 150 shells without a hiccup. That is the gas gun bargain in a sentence: it will take everything you give it, and it expects to be cleaned in return.

Everything heavier than the AA target load ran perfectly throughout, including the whole dirty session. The steel waterfowl loads never faltered once.

Patterning and Recoil

Percentage of pellets inside a 30 inch circle at 40 yards, average of five patterns per load through the factory modified tube:

• Winchester Xpert Steel 3in #2: 71 percent
• Federal Speed-Shok 3in BB: 64 percent
• Kent Fasteel 2.0 3in #3: 73 percent
• Remington Gun Club 2.75in #8: 68 percent

Those are good, even patterns with no obvious holes, and the Kent load was the one this particular barrel liked best. Pattern your own gun before the season rather than trusting anyone else’s numbers, including mine.

Recoil is the headline. Back to back against an inertia gun with the same Federal BB load, the Maxus II is noticeably softer, and after forty shells in a morning that difference is the whole reason to own one.

The Maxus II Range, and What Each One Costs

Maxus II is a family of finishes and stock materials on one action, and the price gap between the cheapest and the dearest is over $600 for the same gun underneath. We track 333 Maxus listings, so these are real selling prices.

Model	Street range	What it is
Hunter	$1,433 to $2,049	Walnut stock, blued, the classic look
Camo	$1,449 to $2,099	Full camo dip, the value waterfowl buy
Sporting	$1,697 to $2,234	Longer barrel, clays setup
Wicked Wing	$1,763 to $2,127	Cerakote and camo, the marsh flagship
Ultimate	$1,774 to $2,070	Upgraded walnut and engraving

The trap in that table is the word Maxus without the II. Original Maxus guns are still in stock at some retailers and list for hundreds less, down near $980 for a Stalker. It is a good shotgun and it is not this shotgun, so read the listing title carefully rather than the price tag.

The other thing worth noticing is that the Camo model does the same job as the Wicked Wing for around $300 less. The Wicked Wing gets the Cerakote finish and the flashier treatment. The gun underneath is the same.

Common Problems and Fixes

Short stroking on light target loads. Almost always a dirty gas system rather than a broken one. If your Maxus II stops cycling 1 oz loads, strip the piston and clean the gas ports before you conclude anything else. Ours did exactly this at 600 shells and was cured in twenty minutes.

Carbon buildup in cold wet conditions. Waterfowl seasons are the hardest environment a gas gun sees. Clean the piston and gas ports every few hundred shells during the season rather than at the end of it.

Fit not right out of the box. The gun ships with shims to change drop and cast. Most people never open the bag. If the gun shoots high or you are fighting the comb, spend an evening with the shim kit before you blame the shotgun.

Camo wear at the muzzle and edges. Cosmetic and inevitable on a gun that lives in a blind and gets dragged over a boat gunwale. It is a hunting finish, not a safe queen finish.

Upgrades Worth Buying

Chokes first, and specifically an extended steel-rated tube for waterfowl. The factory tubes work, our best pattern came through the factory modified, but an aftermarket extended choke is easier to change with cold hands and lets you tune patterns properly.

A proper cleaning kit for the gas system next, and this is not a nice-to-have on this gun. A bore brush sized for the gas cylinder and a bottle of solvent that shifts carbon are the difference between a shotgun that always runs and one that gets fussy in January.

After that, shells. The patterning table above shows a nine point spread between the best and worst load through the same tube, which is more difference than any accessory will give you. Our duck shotgun guide covers load selection alongside the guns.

Who Should NOT Buy This Gun

• Occasional hunters who hate cleaning. A gas system in a marsh punishes neglect. The Browning A5 is the same brand and quality with an inertia action that will run dirty all season.
• Anyone counting ounces on long walks. At 7 lbs 2 oz this is a blind gun rather than a walk-up gun. A Benelli SBE3 saves you around half a pound.
• Budget-first buyers. At $1,739.99 street there are capable autoloaders for well under a thousand. Our best 12 gauge shotguns guide covers every budget.
• Clays-only shooters. If it will never see a duck, the Sporting model or a dedicated Beretta A400 Xcel is a better fit than paying for a camo waterfowl finish.
• Anyone who needs 3.5 inch shells but wants the cheapest way in. Check the chamber on the exact listing, because 3 inch and 3.5 inch models sit side by side at similar prices and the listing title is the only thing telling them apart.

Final Verdict

The Maxus II does the thing a gas gun is bought to do. Two stoppages in 750 shells, both on the lightest target load after 600 rounds without cleaning, and none at all with steel waterfowl loads. Recoil is softer than the inertia competition in a way you feel by the end of a morning.

What it is not is the low maintenance choice or the cheap one. A Benelli will run dirtier for longer and weighs less, and there are perfectly good autoloaders at half the money if you shoot a few boxes a year.

Buy it if you shoot enough to care about your shoulder, and buy the Camo model rather than the Wicked Wing unless you specifically want the Cerakote. Same gun, around $300 less, and the ducks have never once noticed the finish.

Frequently Asked Questions