compadre

Anyone tell me something about the remington 870 turkey. I am looking at this and the mossberg 835 for a new purchase. I had an old 835 that would not secure the action after shooting a number of times, and I am a little shy for that reason. The new 870 shurshot with thumbhole stock looks good and feels good but with 3.5 shells how will it react to the shoulder and the bird.

stalkingbear

You're not going to go wrong with an 870 for turkey gun. The thumbhole stock will help control recoil and be more comfortable to shoot in general. I would recommend getting aftermarket choke tubes for maximum performance, and testing (patterning) loads in your new gun once you get it as some shotguns MAY shoot differently than others.

cherokee75

I had a 835 Ulti-Mag and sent it in twice to be repaired before selling it to buy an 870 Express. My 835 would not stay in battery without holding the action closed so I got it fixed and sold it. I do not have the Sur-shot stock but it looks pretty cool. I thought of ordering one but the reviews I read at the time, on Cabelas I think it was, were too mixed to persuade me to buy one.

98Redline

I am not a huge fan of 3.5" shells. While there may be a few instances where the extra power would be nice, I think that by in large most of your shooting opportunities will be inside the range of a 3" gun. As mentioned by you, the recoil on a 3.5" gun is not anywhere near what I would call pleasant. It will also be a real bruiser on your shoulder.

That being said, if you want a 3.5" then by all means go for it.

In either case, the 870 is a great design and will serve you well. The only recomendation is that if you end up getting the "Express" version, you polish the chamber. This seems to be the only real weakness the 870s have as of lately. This can lead to difficult extraction of spent shells and in some cases, a gun that is simply jammed. The chamber polish fixes those problems with about 15 min of work on your part.