Mossberg 535 Turkey Thug

[Shaky Jake]

Just ordered a Mossberg 535 Turkey Thug. Anyone have one? Should I expect a good pattern with the 20" barrel? Any experience with these would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Shaky Jake]

I can't believe that no one on here has shot the 535.

[fountain2]

better hold on tight....

[allaboutshooting]

Just ordered a Mossberg 535 Turkey Thug. Anyone have one? Should I expect a good pattern with the 20" barrel? Any experience with these would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I had 4 of the 535s now and still have 1 of them, with a 2 barrel set, turkey and waterfowl. I much prefer the waterfowl barrel, even for turkeys but understand the convenience of the shorter barrel.

It's very important to "deep clean" the bore of that gun. Time spent with that process will pay great rewards.

That gun probably came with the X-Factor turkey choke, .670 exit diameter, which is really a good choke tube. It fared well in my recent evaluation of chokes and WLB shells. I did however use a 28" barrel and not a 20" for the evaluations.

The 535s are very light, easy to carry but do have a lot of recoil that is transferred to the shooter. Your 20" barrel may also have some muzzle jump. I'd recommend that you consider 3" shells even though it's chambered for 3.5" shells. A 3.5" shells shoot no further it just has more shot and...a lot more recoil.

If you clean the bore exceptionally well before shooting it, it should perform well for you. If the X-Factor choke is not included with your gun, you may want to consider an after-market turkey choke. There were several that worked quite well in my evaluation.

Best of luck.

Thanks,
Clark

[chatterbox]

Not to dissuade you, but I owned one of those beasts, and I hated it. TOO light, with too much recoil.
Good luck with yours. Two things I would do. Get a limbsaver recoil pad, and shoot 3" shells like Clark suggested.
Now I got decent patterns out of mine, and I found the .660 Jelly head choke worked the best, along with a deep clean of the barrel, should get you decent patterns.

[rockyfackler]

I have one love the trigger,try Indian creek blacsticker choke .665 with number 6's.Milan likes the turkey thugs from Walmart.l have also had my barrel ported.it shot 230 to 240 with that load.It does kick

[njdevilsb]

I own one with a 20" barrel and hunt with it every season.  It's not something I want to fire turkey loads through over and over, but no guns really are.  Mine shoots very well with a Pure Gold choke with both lead and Hevi.  Get some light target loads to dial it in, move to 40 yards and fine tune your turkey loads and you'll be good to go.  I would suggest getting a new choke such as the Pure Gold that I mentioned earlier.  I didn't really care for the one that came with it but it all depends on what your goals are.

[Shaky Jake]

Thanks guys. I've never had one with a 20" barrel before but I'm looking forward to this gun. Gonna take it to the range next week. I'll let you know how I make out.

[chatterbox]

Thanks guys. I've never had one with a 20" barrel before but I'm looking forward to this gun. Gonna take it to the range next week. I'll let you know how I make out.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[SumToy]

Put you something around 660 in it.   Get some winchester long beards or hv13 7's.    Hang on to that mule and bust it off

[chatterbox]

Put you something around 660 in it.   Get some winchester long beards or hv13 7's.    Hang on to that mule and bust it off

This!

[mcgruff1533]

I have a 535 Tactical Turkey which came before the Turkey Thug model.    Same 3.5" chamber, same 20" barrel.     The .670" X factor choke was worthless beyond 30 yards.    I tried countless choke and shell combinations.

I spent hundreds of dollars testing before breaking down and buying an Indian Creek .660" choke.    My patterns improved significantly.    Then i bought some 3" and 3.5" hevi shot loads using #7 shot.

Now, I finally have a solid 40 yard turkey gun using hevi 3-2-7 shells and the .660" Indian Creek choke.

+1 on avoiding 3.5" shells with this beast.   Its too light, and the recoil is beyond severe.    Its tolerable with 3" Hevi 13 shells and shoots killer patterns.

My search was long, but its finally over.

[Shaky Jake]

 Finally got around to trying my new 535 today. Didn't perform badly, having 170 pellets in a 10" at 40 yards with the factory X factor choke.

[outdoors]

SHOOT  THATS REAL GOOD WITH THE STOCK CHOKE    
SAVE SOME MONEY AND STAY WITH THAT
YA WRIGHT BUY ANOTHER CHOKE OR TWO AND SOME DIFFERENT SHELLS 
                             

[Crappiepro]

I have a 535 24" barrel, JellyHead .660 shooting the Long Beards 3" #6 and get a great pattern at 40yrds. It's got the Knoxx/BlackHawk stock with a Limb-Saver pad.
Good pattern with the JellyHead and the Longbeards in 3"
3 1/2" I have no Idea what it will do. I also had the Tactical Turkey and it was also a beast.