DB I understand that with a slipover the ugly ol 835 aint gonna win any beauty contests, but it's a hunting tool not a beauty queen. I too have an old 835 that I dug out of the closet after it hadn't been used since buying my 870 Supermag when they came out in the mid 90s. (I was told to dust it off and use it by "Nitro Ray" and man was he ever right, the 870Super got put back in the safe for other game!) I never enjoyed shooting heavy loads from my 835 when it was my only 3.5" gun. I am 6'4" 240#s so the rear stocks (factory synthetic) LOP (length of pull) was just to short for me. Each time I touched off a 3.5" duck or turkey load my thumb was hitting me on the bridge of the nose, I felt like I was being punched in the face. I just learned to live with, but that didn't mean that I had to like it.
Once I got it back out and knew I was going to be putting 2.25oz Nitros through it I was like, something HAS to be done about the recoil and shortness of this gun. I went through almost every Simms pad I had in stock and none of them were simple bolt ons for my old Mossberg. Mossberg changed the stocks design in the late 90s so the pads for those don't fit the old ones (none ported barrels) like the two of us have. I didn't want to have to sand and custom fit a pad either. I simply put a slipover Simms on the gun and PERFECT. I left the factory pad on it and put the slipover over that, that increased my LOP by an inch and two pads really eat up the recoil. (I have a 45mm Red Dot atop the gun so my face is really high above the stock in the first place.) The gun is ugly anyway and I didn't care about the looks of the slipover. I tried the slipover with the factory pad removed and it would work fine, but again I was wanting to increase the LOP anyway.
Try it, I can assure you the turkeys wont give 2schitts anyway!!!
RA