Mossberg 835 Pattern Help.

[Tally Turkey]

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Hi all,

Patterned my old Mossberg 835 with 3.5" LB #5s 1050 fps. Barrell is 24" and using brand new IC .675. Bear with my crappy photos - I left my turkey pattern targets and black sharpie at home on accident and only had a pin. I was aiming at the black circle.  I started with 2.75" lead #8 target loads at 20 yards (1st and 2nd pic). Shot ~5" low and pretty loose pattern.

Then switched to 3" #4 shot steel I use for ducks to see if maybe the shell was a bad match for the gun (would never use for turkey hunting but had it in my bag). Shot twice but only got a photo of one shot and received similar results (3rd pic), low and even wider pattern. Keep in mind this is at 20 yards (confirmed with range finder).

I then moved out to 40 yards and shot the LBs...similar results. 5-6" low and very loose pattern. Before I call Indian Creek and talk to them about it, I wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts. I think the patterns are too loose for that choke, especially considering LBs are supposed to be tighter at range than most shells. Note that I had a solid rest and asked my buddy to watch me and see if I was flinching. He said he didn't see a flinch, and I believe flinching typically leads to higher shots. Can a red dot adjust for this much variance in POI?

Lastly, there is a ~2 millimeter gap between the extended part of the choke and the end of my barrel. Is this expected or is something not up to spec? This question will be better for IC customer service but wanted to see if anyone else has experienced the same. Not trying to diss IC's chokes, rather, trying to see if these patterns should be expected or better. Thank you in advance.

[Tally Turkey]

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First lead shot. Target load #8s at 20 yards

[Tally Turkey]

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Second lead shot. Target load #8s at 20 yards

[Tally Turkey]

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3" #4 steel at 20 yards (with some .223 shots mixed in lol)

[Tally Turkey]

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3.5" #5 Longbeards at 40 yards

[Tally Turkey]

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3.5" #5 Longbeards at 40 yards. I may have pulled a little right

[Gmed]

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The gap is normal and won’t hurt a thing. We had our best luck with the Indian Creek choke you are using and the Longbeard XR choke. The latter seemed to do a little better in our guns. We shoot longbeard 3” #5s. We’re getting 170-185 at 40 with that choke and shell. We run red dots on all our turkey guns and it should be able to correct your pattern

[RiverBuck]

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Looks like you're going to have to put some type sight on that 835.
My 835 hits where the front bead is pointing but they all are different.
I'm using the same choke, it sits flush against the barrel and shoot 3.5" 2 1/4 oz, 6 shot basically because I have so many of those shells but my pattern flat out kills birds.
Your pattern should be better in my opinion. You may want to deep clean the barrel and if I were you I'd save my pennies for some type TSS brand load. By the time you keep testing different shells you'd end up spending the same amount as TSS but TSS takes all the guess work out of a pattern... and you already have a good choke.

[huntinsomd]

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My new 935 shoots a nice pattern with the same choke and ammo. The choke has the same gap with the barrel. I did spend a bit of time polishing the bore before pattern testing and I use a red dot on all my turkey guns these days. Good luck with your setup!

[rakkin6]

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Yeah I agree, need some sort of sight change. My 835 was shooting low the first time I  shot it. Had already planned for a red dot anyways. I was shooting the same setup. IC .675 Mossberg 835 Winchester Longbeards 3" #5 1 7/8 oz load. Was putting about 175 at 40 yards just had to adjust the pattern with my red dot for center mass. With that setup and Longbeards you are going to want a red dot anyways. You will be throwing baseball sized patterns at 10 to 20 yards and softball at 30 to 35. You may also want to try to deep clean your barrel or even polish it just once. I have had my 835 for three years. First year I deep cleaned it then last year I polished it. I saw an improvement doing both. My Mossberg likes a clean barrel so I run a bore snake in between shots and let the barrel cool. That's just my .02 best of luck but I say if you get a sight that is about a 85% fix right there.

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[Meleagris gallopavo]

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When I found out I had POA/POI issues with a couple of my guns I went to red dots all the way from then on.


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[trkehunr93]

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A red dot or some other after market sight to correct the POI/POA issue. 

[wvhunter74]

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Try a puregold .670 you might be surprised.

[Ihuntoldschool]

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What was the approximate temperature?   I'm guessing pretty cold based on your patterns.   Overbored barrels suffer alot more in cold weather vs. "standard" bores.  It will do better when it warms up.
A red dot or any quality adjustable sight will correct POI/POA issues.  You can also change your front bead to raise POI if you want a cheaper option.

I would NOT shoot ANY steel shot out of my turkey choke. 
The gap is normal.   675 is tight, you may do better with 3 inch shells.    680-695 might look better with 3.5 inch. 

[quackaddict]

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I would NOT shoot ANY steel shot out of my turkey choke. 
The gap is normal.   675 is tight, you may do better with 3 inch shells.    680-695 might look better with 3.5 inch.

No joke… that’s flirting with disaster!


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