I believe the mossberg 535 is the same thing as the 835 without ported barrels. The porting helps with muzzle jump but some say that they kick harder with less muzzle jump. The porting does make the shot a little louder for the shooter and I think is why some believe ported barrels kick harder. I pefer the ported barrels because I can get back on my target faster. Look in the gun section of classifieds here and there's a real good deal on an almost new 835 combo listed by Primative Weapons.
Both the 535 and 835 are well designed to handle the 3.5" magnum shells but are also known to kick like a mule. I've got the camo 835 combo with 24" ported barrels, (turkey barrel and rifled slug barrel) and couldn't stand to shoot it. I wiegh about 160 and even 3" slugs were hard to take. I put a Break O mercury suppressor in the stock, added a Simms Limb Saver pad and now she shoots like a 20 Ga.
I'm a lefty and have always liked Mossberg because of the thumb safty. I've had a bunch of different 500's and this is my second 835. IMHO the 835 is made better than the 500. They both have a combo available with the dual comb stock which IMHO is a must if you have the combo with the cantaliever scope based slug barrel. My 1st 835 combo did not have a dual comb stock and made the scope hard to line up with your eye and increases the risk of getting too close to the scope. My friend shot it 1 time and recieved 6 stitches and it actually knocked him out cold. Dual comb stock isn't needed if your combo has the iron sighted slug barrel.( unless you plan on mounting a scope on the reciever. )
My new 835 is camo and I kind of wish I had the 28" shot barrel instead of the 24" turkey barrel. The 24" is nice to carry, has a good pattern with the turkey choke tube, has fiber optic iron sights, it's great for turkey hunting but the 28" barrel kicks a little less and a little more versitile for waterfowel and other game birds. Both have ventallated ribs but the 28" barrels has the standard 2 shotgun beads instead of iron sights wich I'm finding a little harder to get on fast moving birds with the iron sights.