Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting mossberg 835

Mossberg 500 is a better/more durable gun than the Winchester 1200/1300/SXP ever was. The Winchester suffers several weak points in it's design. The most common cause of breakdown being the plastic collar securing the magazine tube to the receiver. Replace the plastic safety button with an aftermarket steel or aluminum button and a Mossberg will rarely have problems. I do it to all of mine as a matter of course and have never had a failure/malfunction in many 10's of thousands of rounds.

Maverick 88 worth looking at? (I have not held one...)

Different safety. Not tang mounted but down on the trigger guard.

Have they started using choke tubes in the 88?? Used to be a fixed modified choke.

The 88 is essentially the same design with two exceptions. Those being the safety and the attachment of the action bars to the forearm. The 500 action bars attach to a steel tube that passes through the length of the forearm and is secured by a nut. The 88's action bars are pinned directly to the plastic forearm. For that reason I personally would avoid the 88.

Yes the 88's come with a tubed barrel, one modified tube included. 500's come with three choke tubes IC/MOD/FULL. There are also two upgraded models of 500's now with genuine walnut stock and forend. Those being the 500 Classic hunter and the 500 Retrograde field. A lot of people might not realize it now but early 500's were stocked in genuine walnut and had various game scenes roll engraved on the sides of the receiver. I have an early deluxe grade with AAA fancy walnut, engraved game scenes, white line spacers between the recoill pad and grip cap and basket weave impressed checkering.

humdinger, IMO, wouldn't be the end of the world to have an 835. Are there better, yes. Are there worse, yes. Gun store I go to has an as new camo 835 for under $300. As I said before, just depends how picky you want to be...

My FIL has a nice old 500 in 20 guage and fixed IC barrel that I'd love to inherit. Definitley no cheap plastic parts in those days and the wood is great.

Wow... cheap.

Its the tempation to get a cheaper pump for turkey and free up my auto for other purposes...

Plus I think I just want to buy a cool dedicated turkey gun.

If you just want a "cool dedicated turkey gun" on the cheap........... Start eyeballing the used racks for an H&R or NEF single.

The clunky fore end on an 835 MAY be an easy fix. I'll never know as I tend to shed guns that obviously lack quality rather quickly. My question would be this: "If it's such an easy fix.....why don't they just do it at the factory from new ??" Is it to save a couple bucks ?? Where else were corners cut ?? The 835s have a known firing pin problem, a known extractor problem and a known magazine problem. Beyond the fact that they just feel clubby in the hands.

The H&R or NEF single has very few moving parts. It's slim and handles well. It's inexpensive. And it WORKS. It's also an easy candidate to thread for chokes and D&T for an optic mount.

NEF singles are junk. Don't know how many we had come in for repair but broken trigger guards, forearm studs broken loose from barrels and broken transfer bars come to mind when I think NEF/H&R single. They were designed to be the absolute cheapest gun on the gun store shelf and anyone who "sheds guns that lack quality" shouldn't have one in their collection for long. Mossberg and Ithaca 37 forearms are loose and rattly because of too much clearance between the action bar tube and magazine tube. { I guess Ithacas lack quality too}. Both Mossberg and Ithaca use indents spaced around the circumference of the action tube front and rear which are the only thing that actually contact/ride the magazine tube. To eliminate the excess space between the forearm tube and magzine tube and hence eliminate the rattle, one only needs to deepen those dents. I don't know why they don't adjust their specs and do it at the factory. Certainly it wouldn't cost any more. Having left the gun repair business in 1992 soon after it's introduction and never having one come into the shop, I'm not familiar with the 835 or any shortcomings in it's design/construction. I assume it's based on the 500/590 design enlarged to handle the 3.5" shell. The 500/590 while not finely fitted/finished examples of the gun makers art are solid, durable, dependable.

He'll of alot of mossy 500 riot guns in squad cars in this country .mb

Step brother had what I think was a Western Field 12 gauge. It was a 500 for sure, just can't remember which house brand.

30" full choke and walnut furniture.

Buddy of mine is in the Cook County Sheriff's Dept. He uses a Mossberg 500 for everything, and I mean everything! I sure don't envy him the places he takes the 500 into with him! He truly trusts his life to it!

Life is too short to own crappy guns. I shot a 835 on two hunts and sold it as soon as I could. Maybe 1995?

I guess you love your junk and I'll love mine.

Out of 7 or 8 dedicated turkey guns laying around here...... I still grab my NEF every time.

I only sell a gun if I absolutely hate it. In over 40 years, I've only ever sold TWO........ A Remington 700 ADL Synthetic ......... and a Mossberg 835.

YMMV. Carry on.

I gave a Benelli Nova 12ga 3-1/2" shotgun to someone I didn't like! Does that count?

I had a nova that I really liked. I shot turkeys and pheasants with it a bunch. The kid needed a shotgun and I didn't need that one so I sold it cheap because I got it cheap. I really liked mine. Did you not like yours?

Good news! I can settle this discussion. You are both correct, the Mossbergs and the H&R single shots are both pieces of crap and should be lost in an actual boat accident, or thrown down an outhouse or sold cheap.

Years ago, a sporting goods store named Gallyans (something like that) was blowing them out for just under $200. Figured it would be a good back-up gun. I fired 1-12ga 3-1/2" 2-1/4oz turkey load out of it and that was enough. Whether I just held it wrong, whatever, felt like I loosened every tooth in my head! And I'm not recoil sensitive! I'm 6'-4" 230ish and shoot some really big stuff without any problems. But that Nova!!! Lol! Plus, from the factory, it didn't have an ejector in it, shell just slid back and forth in the extractor. So literally, gave it to someone I didn't much care about at a hunt club I belonged to at the time. And that was enough of that...

Lotta people spout a lotta shyt about things they know little about. Most aren't qualified to judge. Particularly about the quality/performance of just about anything, from vehicles to tires to boots to guns, which is why consumer product ratings are next to worthless.