Mossberg 935 choke recommendation for Longbeard XR's?

[kshutt]

Yesterday I took two of my shotguns to test drive Winchester's Longbeard XR's in 3" and 3.5" #5's. My Mossberg 835 has a 24" bbl. and my Mossberg 935 (Grand Slam Turkey Series) has a 22" bbl. I have a Kick's .670 choke on both shotguns.

Well, I was really impressed with the 3" offering out of the 835. In fact, I'm looking at the VisiColor turkey target right now with 46 hits at 60 yards. My 935, shooting the 3.5" shells at the same distance registered 17 hits. I tried one of the 3" shells at 60 yards out of the 935 just to see the difference. I came up with 20 hits, so not much change.

I'm not sure what to try next for the 935. Indian Creek and SumToy both show .675 constriction for both of the Mossbergs that I own. It's hard to believe the shorter bbl. on the 935 is making that much of a difference, but I guess it is. The 835, shooting 3" shells, also outperformed the 935, shooting 3.5" shells at 50 yards, as well.

What do some of you Mossberg owners think of my situation? By the way, this is my first post on the forum...

[MouthCaller]

Mine works well in a truglo ssx .670 got it from allaboutshooting.com

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[Mike Honcho]

First of all welcome to Old Gobbler!  Most of the members on OG do pattern testing at 40 yards and then draw a 10" diameter circle around the densest portion of the pattern.  That way we are all pretty much talking the same language on pattern results and it is easy to compare guns,chokes loads and share with other members.  There's no rule about this and you can pattern your gun at 30 yards , 35 yards etc, etc., whatever YOU want to do. 

There is a rule about talking about taking shots at turkeys at over 40 yards....most members feel this is unethical so just a heads up there. 

I would think your Kick's chokes would put up excellent numbers in 10" at 40 yds with Longbeards.

[kshutt]

Mike, thank you for the welcome, advice, and comments.

[Team Double D]

My 835 got 194 with the SSX (.670) and the 3.5 6s. My Brother got 216 with (i believe) a Kicks (.675). Both had been shot several times with out cleaning, so could probably improve some. Don't think you could go wrong with either. On a side not, I only got 141 with a Carlson that has the same restriction as the Kicks. I was able to get 184 from the SSX with 3.5 number 5s. 

[turkey buster]

I also shoot the ssx out of my 935 with a 24in barrel. I'm using the longbeard 3.5in #6's. It put 242 in the 10' and put 2 gobblers to rest this season

[d.winsor]

46 hits at 60 yards doesn't sound like much to me, but I would say you probably have a 40 yard gun,  what are you looking for.

[kshutt]

46 hits at 60 yards doesn't sound like much to me, but I would say you probably have a 40 yard gun,  what are you looking for.

I'm very pleased with 46 hits at 60 yards out of the 835 shooting 3" shells. The 935 shooting 3.5" shells only registered 17 hits. That is what I want to improve; the performance of the shorter-barreled 935.

[d.winsor]

Are you saying with your gun patterned with 46 hits your are going to take 60 yard shots.  46 hits in what a 10 inch circle.

[d.winsor]

I have been waiting for a response, but none is forth coming.  I am going to go ahead and call BS on this one, I think someone is trolling.  No turkey hunter in his right mind would look at 46 hits in a 10 and say they were satisfied with it at 60 yards.  Especially lead at 60 yards, of course the drury brothers said you could, and they probably have it on a video.  Then again you don't know how many takes it took to put it on film.  Then what do I know I have never shot Longbeards at 60 yards,  Patterning or hunting.  Even if I get a post back I doubt if I would respond, the thread content is lame.  Of course you could be satisfied with 46 hits and have no intention of shooting a turkey at 60 yards with it, though you never did clarify that.  Hope you get it worked out.

[kshutt]

I have been waiting for a response, but none is forth coming.  I am going to go ahead and call BS on this one, I think someone is trolling.  No turkey hunter in his right mind would look at 46 hits in a 10 and say they were satisfied with it at 60 yards.  Especially lead at 60 yards, of course the drury brothers said you could, and they probably have it on a video.  Then again you don't know how many takes it took to put it on film.  Then what do I know I have never shot Longbeards at 60 yards,  Patterning or hunting.  Even if I get a post back I doubt if I would respond, the thread content is lame.  Of course you could be satisfied with 46 hits and have no intention of shooting a turkey at 60 yards with it, though you never did clarify that.  Hope you get it worked out.

I thought that I explained that the 46 hits were on a VisiColor turkey target in my initial post. Did you read that? My 935 on the other hand only registered 17 hits at the same distance. I'm just simply trying to improve the performance of my 935. So thank you for calling me a troll, calling BS, calling my first post lame, and whatever else you said. My post, by the way, has nothing to do with taking a turkey at 60 yards. I just wanted to evaluate the new Winchester Longbeards and how they compared to Winchester Supreme HV turkey loads.

[d.winsor]

I must have missed something, I read your original post again and I didn't see anything about HV turkey loads.  Didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but I call it as I see it.  One more thing, I said "I think someone is trolling" I did not call you a troll, I don't belittle people.  Mike Honcho mentioned about talking about taking shots over 40 yards on turkeys, and you blew him off.  I don't know what you wanted anyone to think but you didn't get your point across.  Again sorry to have hurt your feelings.

[kshutt]

I must have missed something, I read your original post again and I didn't see anything about HV turkey loads.  Didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but I call it as I see it.  One more thing, I said "I think someone is trolling" I did not call you a troll, I don't belittle people.  Mike Honcho mentioned about talking about taking shots over 40 yards on turkeys, and you blew him off.  I don't know what you wanted anyone to think but you didn't get your point across.  Again sorry to have hurt your feelings.

I quite obviously didn't get my point across. I also didn't mean to blow Mr. Honcho off. I politely thanked him for the welcome, advice, and comments. Basically, about the time that Winchester released their new Longbeard XR's, a friend told me about this forum. I had also just watched a little video blurb featuring Mark Drury about the LB shells. He held up a target with several hits using #4 shot at 60 yards. I was impressed, but wasn't too sure about whether it was marketing or not; therefore, I decided to find out for myself.

My friend and I set targets up at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yards to test the LB 3" and 3.5" shells. I attached several of the VisiColor turkey targets to white paper that was about 26" X 28" to evaluate the pattern. I had similar results with both the 835 and 935 up to 40 yards, but at 50 yards the 835 was superior. At 60 yards, there was even more separation between the two shotguns and loads. I had never attempted a patterning type shot at 60 yards before, but curiosity had gotten the best of me.

What surprised me is that the 835 with a 24" bbl., shooting 3" shells would be superior to the 935 with a 22" bbl., shooting 3.5" shells, at ANY distance?! I looked again at the 40 yard targets and the 835 was even slightly better there. The disparity was just more obvious beyond 40 yards, and made me wonder if my choke choice was at an optimum for the 935.

I only joined this forum for the camaraderie and interaction with other turkey hunters. I apologize for not being up to speed on the official way to analyze a pattern (number of pellets in a 10" circle). I've never really been around many turkey hunters before. All of the hunters that I end up talking to are usually deer hunters. I watched a few turkey hunting videos several years ago to learn about turkey hunting, and that's how I got started. It may take me a little time to get acquainted with how you guys do things here, but I'll get there. 

[turkey buster]

You'll be just fine. Good rule of thumb on here...the 10' circle is the only "acceptable" way to pattern a gun on here, and if a turkey is at 40 yards and 6 inches let him get a foot closer.. Lol! All joking aside these are great guys on here full of great advise and willing to share it. What they won't accept is if someone does disrespect the game and takes unethical shots. A lot of us have misjudged a shot to find it was longer than we would've liked to shoot so it doesn't hurt to know what your gun will do if you make a mistake. Just never do like them jug head drurys on tv and start trying it yourself. 1 pellet in the eyeball at "100" yards doesn't mean it's got the kinetic energy to be lethal.

[turkey buster]

The reason for the 10 inch rule is so everyone is speaking the same language and making educated decisions when they want to try these combos with their guns