mossberg 835 24" vs 20" barell

[coyotetrpr]

have any of you guys been able to get good patterns from the 20m inch barrel. I am considering getting a new mossberg turkey thumper and wondered if the patterns would be as good as the 24 inch barrel that I currently have. I simply have no experience shooting short shotgun barrels and wonder how much the extra 4 inches helps the pattern with today's choke's and shell's. Any help and testimonials would be greatly appreciated.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

[davisd9]

Patterns could be close but I still think that the longer barrel will cause the shot to hit harder.

[allaboutshooting]

have any of you guys been able to get good patterns from the 20m inch barrel. I am considering getting a new mossberg turkey thumper and wondered if the patterns would be as good as the 24 inch barrel that I currently have. I simply have no experience shooting short shotgun barrels and wonder how much the extra 4 inches helps the pattern with today's choke's and shell's. Any help and testimonials would be greatly appreciated.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

For many years the most common e-mail that I received was about patterns with the shorter barreled 835s. Typically, they would say something like, "This is a very handy gun and I really like it but I just can't get the kinds of patterns that I see or hear about others getting with theirs."

That was pretty common, regardless of the choke or shotshell used. The only common factor was barrel length. I'd always recommend that the barrel be "deep cleaned" and that helped but it was still rare (not impossible but rare) for a shooter to get the higher numbers that were pretty easily obtained with the longer barreled guns.

Are there some short barreled 835s that get great patterns? Apparently there are but it's just harder to get those great patterns with the shorter barrels. I think it's a bit of a trade-off between the shorter "handier" barrel and more dense patterns, for the most part.

Thanks,
Clark

[fountain]

I've got 2 29" bbl 835s and both shoot great.  One bbl is. .775 bore and the other is a. 682..qc at mossberg could be tightened a little I think.  I have shot a lot of different loads and chokes out of both.  My best patterns are 368 in a 10" @ 40 with h51013 a nitros 4x5x7 out of a Sumtoy. 698 and 308 in. 10" @ 40 with hevi 13 7s and a Sumtoy 675.  I think the hevi 13 pattern could go higher with a little more tweaking, but that's plenty.  The 20" bbl work good for me..one is a th turkey edition and the other is a turkey thug edition.   If you need any help setting one up, feel free to give me a shout.  I will help all I can.  Im in the process of working up some tss for them now.  They will pattern very well, don't worry bout that.

[fountain]

Btw..do a search of my hevi 13 test..3 different guns..same choke and same loads...the 20" bbl outshot the 28"..nit by much..but still more.

[Ctomp1974]

IMHO...they are so close in pattern capability, the 20" Is the way to go, i have owned both and the 20" is a dream to carry. You will get alot of opinions on this, but keeping it simple the 2 major advantages to a longer barrell is 1)velocity-this applies to all shotguns and rifles as well. 2) a longer barrel allows the "shot column more time to settle", The 835 is heavily overbored and this basically gives the shot column more room to get settled before leaving barrel, therefore relieving most, if not all the need for a longer time in the barrel. The reason for all the different answers you will get is because the longer barrel will outperform the shorter most of the time in most other shotguns. The 835/935-.775 backbore is a whole seperate animal. I average about 220-225 with H13, 3.5", 2.25oz., #6, with a few shots in the 240's(probably some extra small pellets in those shells)

Good Luck,

Clint

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

I prefer the longer barrel.  The shortest barrel that I would persoanlly want would be 24".  I think 26" barrels are the best of both worlds. 

[kdog]

I just finished testing some hevi-shot mag blends and #7's out of a 21" and 26"brl Rem 11-87.The 26" brl outshot the shorter 21" brl by a 5 bb avg. In a 10"circle @ 40yds.Obviously not enough difference in this gun to warrant using the longer brl.

Kdog

[jerf]

I have a 20'' barreled thumb hole moss. 835, and with 3.5 in. hevi 13  7 shot and a indian creek tube i get over 320 hits in a 10 in. circle at 40 yards

[Ctomp1974]

I have a 20'' barreled thumb hole moss. 835, and with 3.5 in. hevi 13  7 shot and a indian creek tube i get over 320 hits in a 10 in. circle at 40 yards

Nice!!!

[sugarray]

I have a 20" thumbhole as well and shoot an IC .710 using 2 oz of TSS #8 handloads and my last 2 shots at 40 yds at 30 degrees were 296 and 284.  I plan to try a PG .670 and 2 1/4 oz #6 this summer some time, but I don't think I have to worry about needing a longer barrel.  ;-)


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[jerf]

My indian creek is .675

[WildSpur]

I am shooting the 20" tube and got 193 and 207 at 40 with the 3.5 MB and a .670 PG.  Not looking to break records, just looking for a reliable hunting gun.  I think I found it!  I covered over 50 miles this spring and it was a dream to carry.

[packmule]

Can you tell me what PG is?  Thanks!

[natman]

Velocity difference between a 20 and a 28 inch barrel is only 50-70 fps.

The difference would be even less between a 20 and a 24.

As far a patterning goes, I have heard enough people say there is a difference to be open to some documented, quantifiable data showing how much of a difference and/or an explanation of why. Neither has been forthcoming.

One reason that I am reasonably sure does NOT explain any difference is that "the shot has more time to settle" or any variation thereof. At 1100 fps, the shot takes .6 milliseconds (that's 6 ten thousands of a second) to travel the extra 8". I don't see how the shot is going to "settle" itself significantly in that amount of time, especially while it's still accelerating down the barrel.