Mossberg 835 as slug gun?

[nortwoods1]

I have a mossberg 835 ulti mag currently, it has the overbored barrel with a turkey choke I use for birds and small game. I’ve been thinking about picking up another 835 to setup as a slug gun with a rifled slug barrel and an optic for deer, bear, and coyote. Has anyone else done this or know about it? I know there’s better options for slug guns out there but I’m in love with the 835 and have gotten extremely used to it. It would also be a plus to have two of the same gun with me should I ever need to swap a broken part in the field or on a hunting trip. Thank you

 

[rule303]

If you like your 835, go for it. With a rifled barrel, it will do the job just fine.

 

[nortwoods1]

Thanks, I just thought with the 3.5 inch chamber it might be too big of a jump for 3 inch slug shells and make it really inaccurate

 

[22250Rem]

Any excuse to buy another gun, right ? (grin). Sounds like a good idea because it's a platform you like and are familiar with. Although from a financial standpoint you could get a slug barrel with cantilever scope mount and just switch barrels according to the season, if money's a bit tight right now. That's what I did back in the latter 1980's - early 90's with my Remington 870 slug gun. Picked up a factory full choke, fixed choke barrel, ( this was before screw in chokes became common), and the 870 did double duty as a turkey gun in the spring. Got myself a used, fully camo'd Mossberg 500 with screw in chokes a few years later so now that's my dedicated turkey gun. So you could have two 835's dedicated to two different pursuits or one double duty 835. Perhaps your wallet could decide but either way it's feasible.

 

[dak0ta]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 835 barrels are over-bored/back-bored so they aren't recommended to shoot rifled slugs because the accuracy isn't too great. Rifled slugs are generally .729" caliber. But if you're going for sabot slugs, get the cantilever rifled barrel and have at it. The triggers on Mossbergs are a little stiff, so maybe look at getting an LPA trigger group or working on it yourself.

 

[nortwoods1]

I found an 835 from a private seller that comes with the standard over bored barrel and a rifled slug barrel with one of them bushnell scopes. He’s only asking 300 for everything, meanwhile the slug barrel alone will run you over 200 bucks

 

[Shooterbob]

I have an 835 that a bought an after market rifled barrel and it shoots quite well with rifled slugs.I have shot 2$3/4 inch slugs they shot well.I have not shot it in a while but if I remember right around 2 inches at 100 yards I was very impressed with that.I think you will be well pleased with the rifled barrel.

 

[nortwoods1]

Okay guys I went ahead and got the second 835. Looks like the gun was carried much more than it’s been shot which is okay. I couldn’t pass up the deal. After looking it over I for sure want to replace the bushnell 3-9x40 as i have to move my face far too forward even with the scope mounted all the way to the rear.

 

[Mr. T]

I have the Mossberg 835 setup for Turkeys and I have a rifled barrel for shooting slugs for deer hunting. I use ghe same gun to do both. As a turkey gun I’ve taken turkeys out to 65yards with it. For a slug gun it will accurately shoot out to 100 yards for the first three shots, but then spreads out some. The first three shots will hold 3 to 4 inch groups the fourth and fifth shells open it up to 6 to 7 inch groups. I have a Nikon Trophy Hunter Scope on it. I also swapped out the stock on it for an ATI collapsible stock to adjust length of pull on it. I love that gun for turkeys and deer! It’s my backup gun for deer hunting. I have a TruGlo red dot on it for my bird barrel for turkey hunting. For turkey hunting I use the Undertaker extra full choke and shoot 3” Remington #6 shotshells out of it, because they seemed to pattern the best.