RE: Hevi-shot in Mossburg 835
I do shoot hevi but don't have any experience with the 835 so I copied this
from the hevi shot web site.
I shoot a Mavrick 88, a Mossberg clone as my knock around do everything gun. In fact it is set up as a Turkey gun most of the time with a 24" barrel, super full chokes, Fiber optic sites , etc. For turkeys I shoot either an X-full Steel shot tube at around .705 and I've also shot Hevi through a lead only .665 turkey tube with no ill effects. Hevi patterns very tighly on its own and the .665 tube seems a bit over choked. The more open Steel Shot tube gives slightly better patterns however either tube gives me 80%+ patterns at 40 Yds. This however doesn't help you much with the 835 overbore barrel.
One of my two turkey hunting partners shoots a 835 set up as a turkey gun. It has the standard 835 turkey tube which I believe is about .690 or .695. That tube is rated for lead only but it patterns very well with Hevi with no apparent problems. From what I've seen any turkey within reasonable range is in real trouble with Hevi in that combo. There are a number of new choke tubes specifically design for Hevi on the market this year. The H.S. Strut tube for the 835 is constricted to a claimed .705, while the Lohman tube is constricted to .695 for the 835. Both claim 90%+ pattterns at 40 yds. There are other hevi shot tubes out there but I don't have the spec's on them. I would guess your .690 tube would work very well. The manufactures of your two chokes will probably claim they are for lead use only. In my opinion the average turkey hunter does not shoot enough rounds to worry much about any damage a few rounds of Hevi might do to quality tubes. Some manufactures will say don't do it so make your own decision or buy a choke specifically designed for hevi or steel. As a side note I've now shot several hundred rounds of Hevi through several guns and half a dozen chokes and I've only noticed one ding in any of them. That ding came in a full choke tube that the manufacture ok'ed for steel. How the ding happen, I do not know but it may have been a steel pellet rather than a hevi that did it. Anything rated for steel should be fine with hevi, however, if you shoot enough, sooner or later one of those harder than your barrel pellets will somehow get out and leave a cosmetic ding in a choke tube which doesn't seem to effect it's performance. I've now seen about half a dozen turkeys taken with Hevi-Shot out to about 45 yds. Not one of those birds moved out of it's track to date. I hope this helps some and doesn't further muddy the water.
JESUS SAVES
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JESUS SAVES
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