A magazine cut-off allows a shell in the chamber to be removed or switched without unloading the magazine. The Speed Lock forearm is held in place with a latch rather than the customary screw-on cap.

With a pull weight of about 51/2 pounds and the absence of either take-up, creep, or overtravel, the trigger of the Maxus is one of the best I have tried on any autoloading shotgun. In fact, it is so good I almost had to keep reminding myself that I was not shooting a target-grade over-under. Called the Lightning Trigger System, it has a locktime of 5.2 milliseconds, which is extremely fast for an autoloading shotgun and only a couple of milliseconds slower than for the Browning A-Bolt rifle. A transverse safety button located in the rear of the trigger guard is set up at the factory for a right-handed shooter but is rather easily reversed for those who shoot from the other side of the gun.

The Maxus can be field-stripped for cleaning about as quickly as I can write about it. Remove the forearm, pull the barrel and gas-handling unit from the receiver, pull the operating handle from the bolt, push the bolt forward and out of the receiver, punch out two pins from the sides of its receiver, and remove the fire-control system.

If you have assembled a few autoloaders, you know how difficult it can be to align the bolt link with the action-spring tube in the buttstock. Designers solved that problem in the Maxus with the installation of a spring in the link that holds it in proper alignment as the bolt is installed in the receiver. That one small and long-overlooked detail makes putting the gun back together about as fast as taking it apart.

A shell pushed into the loading port while the bolt is locked back is automatically fed into the chamber, followed by the closing of the bolt.

For now, the Maxus is offered in only 12 gauge with 3- or 3½-inch chambers. Finish options for the over-molded synthetic stock and forearm are black or Mossy Oak's Duck Blind camo. Included with the gun are a set of stock shims that allow drop, cast, and pull length to be adjusted to the preferences of the individual shooter.

Barrel lengths are 26 and 28 inches with Browning's Invector-Plus screw-in chokes in IC, Mod, and Full. The barrel has an oversized bore diameter of 0.742 inch and a forcing cone length of 2.5 inches. According to what I was told, after 500 rounds of steel shot were fired in each of several test guns, there was no evidence of peening or scoring in the forcing cone, main bore, or choke of their barrels. The ventilated rib is made of steel and brazed to the barrel.

Other Maxus variations you are likely to eventually see are a deer gun with a cantilever scope mount, a turkey gun with adjustable open sights, and walnut-stocked guns for hunting the uplands and for shooting sporting clays. A 20-gauge ver- sion may take awhile, but it should prove to be well worth the wait.

The Maxus comes with IC, Mod, and Full chokes. Also provided are a set of shims to adjust the stock’s length of pull, drop, and cant.

Layne says the Maxus is comfortable to shoot even with heavy pheasant loads containing 13/8 ounces of shot.