The Maverick is basically a clone of the Mossberg 500 and is made in Texas, the company is owned by Mossberg.

The differences are they only come in black synthetic with painted receivers and blued barrels. They have a different trigger group with the safety in the trigger guard, they are not interchangeable with the 500's. Most of the other parts are though. They only come with one choke, where as the 500 comes with three.

And most of the parts are made out of the country (Mexico I believe) and assembled in Texas. These things mean a lower production cost, which leads to lower retail prices.

The Mossberg 500 comes with a tang mounted safety, wood furniture options and more options on metal finish and types. They are manufactured and assembled in the U.S. and like I said come with three chokes instead of one.

And as a side note the Remington 870 only comes with one choke as well.

Paul