I shoot a 12 ga Mossberg 835 with what I would call a "factory" extra full choke tube. Is it worth it to upgrade to an "aftermarket" choke tube? Any suggestions on choke tubes to look at?
My current set up patterns reasonably well out to 40 yards. I don't plan on shooting past that, but I would like some better patterns in case I estimate one at 35-40 yards, and it ends up being 45-50.
You may be able to achieve your goals simply by trying different shells. Not sure what your shooting but Ive seen some great patterns with the Winchester Longbeards out of 835's. My 835 patterned well with a Kick's .675 with Winchester XR 6's.
What shell are you shooting with the 835 and is the X full .720 or the extended XX Full.690?
As Guesswho said, each choke and shell combo will effect your pellet count and range. I shoot an 835, with a .670 Pure Gold with 3 1/2 Hevi 7's. My pellet count at 40 is 300 plus. We need to know about the choke you have in and what shell you are using to point you in the right direction.
I've tried several different loads and haven't noticed much difference. It's just the X-Full choke, not the XX-Full.
My 835 came with the factory ulti full .695, but I invested in an aftermarket at the time because I wanted to try Hevi shot out and something with .675 seemed to be what everyone was recommending back in the mid 2000's. I ran a Briley's for several years before I got a Star Dot about 10 years ago and the Star Dot really shoots the Hevi 7's well. I have a Carlson's TSS choke that's .675 now that I got for a reasonable price but I've yet to shoot it. For aftermarket I would stick to the .670-.675 range but with that said I had a Primos Jelly Head and it's .690 and it shot Hevi 7's pretty good but not as good as the Star Dot. I would look at what's on ebay, you might come across a pretty good deal.
Been shooting the 835 with the stock .690 choke for years with good results. Just bought a Indian Creek .675 choke tube and patterned with 4 different loads yesterday. I agree the loads can make a big difference. Found two that patterned good and feel like the combo definitely improved my 40 yard pattern.
Buy a Primos tightwad for under $30. Pretty sure its .690 constriction for Mossbergs. It throws a great pattern out to 40-45 with inexpensive and expensive loads alike. If you have something nicer in your budget, go for it, but that was the first aftermarket choke I bought and it has been a consistent killer for me.
Plus, if you hate it you only spent 30 bucks.
I had one years ago, tried many chokes including the factory ulti full, they all sucked, but in their defense it was mostly an ammo issue, basic lead shells were just not very good.
I remember the first time I touched off a 2 1/4 oz monster, and how utterly shocked I was at the pathetic patterns on the other end, lot of abuse for that spotty 40 yard gun!
I had already switched to another gun when the Remington initial hevi shot rounds came out and I was like wow that is more like it.
That cannon with a .675-.690 and either long beards or some type of hevi or TSS load should throw some impressive patterns, I think there is an 835 specific pattern thread here.
Crazy thing is I killed a pile of turkey with that gun and never missed or wounded one, longest shot was 43 but that bird was hardly what I would call crushed!!!
Here's a starting point if you decide to go with the tighter constriction. http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,102514.0.html
The .670 SSX choke put up great numbers with Hevi's 6 and 7's and the .695 XX full would be a step up as well. Allaboutshooting (Clark Bush) did a lot of patterning with the SSX about 10-15 years ago when Hevi's were the RAGE. Clark has a web page and you can PM him here on OG if you have questions.
The Mossy's like the chokes in the .670 to .676 range from what I've experienced. Some of the chokes are the SSX, the Indian Creek, Pure Gold, Sumtoy and Stardot. You will have to decide what you want and like and stay within the yardage for your chosen choke and shell combo. Good luck!
Depends on your load. I went thru about 10 chokes then settled on my stock .695 shoots #4 lead just to good! with winchester lb #5 I use a Carlson lb tube .683. Anything tighter it opens to much. Haven`t tried Hevi or tss as yet . Good luck
You can't go wrong with a Patternmaster code black, but I would guess that more than a few of the big name chokes will be good. Primos jellyheads are notoriously good in mossbergs snd remingtons