i've been offered a Mossberg 835, realtree camo and 3.5inch chamber.
Does anyone have one / used one and what do you think?
Does it have any probs cycling the odd 23/4 shells?
Are there any maintenance/reliability concerns?

Cheers

ScotsGun - I've shot several and bought and sold several 835's since they have been out; they are good "working" shotguns that are very reliable. A good friend of mine uses his exclusively to bag his turkeys every year. He did get a new barrel this year, which is "ported"; his old one kicked pretty hard with 3 1/2" turkey loads. I never heard of a complaint of a 835 not cycling 2 3/4" shells and have not experienced the problem first hand. I'd dare say the Mossberg 835 introduced more hunters to the 3 1/2" shot shell than all the other brands combined; it may not be as refined as other brands and look as "pretty", but it works as well as the more expensive ones IMHO. Mags

I HATE 835's! I had two both of them were new out of the box hunks of CR@P. I pattern tested the first one. It shot two foot low at 40 yards. It would not cycle shells. The spent case would come out and the new one hung up. Then when you worked the action it dropped the new shell on the ground. It was a big mistake, the biggest I have ever made buying guns. I sent the gun back to the factory and told them the problem. They acknowledged the problem and sent a new gun. This gun had different numbers but it acted the same. It was the 835 viking. It was solid green. Like a turd! Ron

hmmm, conflicting opinions. Anyone else wish to contribute?

quote:

It was solid green. Like a turd!

I think that was a special run of them made just for Idaho..
But then the California version I have is brown and never missed a beat when I used it. I have since moved to the 1187 and my 835 is just a dust collector now.. Heck if anyone wants it I would part with it cause I need the room in my safe...FWIW

Cheers,
I plan to use it primarily for wildfowling: duck, geese etc. Any probs with using the gun for that?

I shot one several times with full house 3.5 shells and thought the gun too light for that much shell. I would rather have a good 10 guage if I had to have that much shot. On the other hand, 2-3/4" 12 ga HeviShot kills about as good as 3.5" steel.

I use mine for turkey and goose hunting. The action seems a little "loose" but if I work it firmly it operates fine. It is definatly not in the 870 class of firearm but for the dollars it is good.And yes it kicks like a MULE with 3 1/2in. loads.

I have an 835 combo, ported 24" turkey barrel and cantelever scope slug barrel. It does have a little bit of "rattle" sound to it as the forearm is slightly loose. Other than that it has been awsome for me. I have shot trap, sporting clays, pheasants, turkey, and deer with it. I have hundreds of rounds, 2 3/4" and 3" out of it with not one problem. I replaced the bead sights on the Turkey barrel with clamp-on fiber optic adjustable rifle type sights for finer sighting and adjustment.

One word on 3 1/2" shells though, I normally don't mind recoil but I bought just one box of these. Fired three and gave the rest away. These shells will kick your butt with all their recoil. The 3" turkey loads patterned just as well for me. That's all I use.

Remington Copper Solid sabot slugs shoot about 3"-4" at 100 yards for me out of it. Much tighter of course at 50 yards which is good for the ranges I shoot at deer.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one if I needed it.