General load/choke question

[omgur2]

Please excuse my ignorance I am new to shotguns.
I have had a double 410 for 30 years that I used for small game but recently purchased a mossburg 835 with a turkey choke. What can I shoot through it other than turkey loads? I have been looking at other chokes and see some say lead no brass,etc. I want to stock up on self defense loads and specialty loads. I have also been checking out 28" barrels. Do I need to get a dedicated self defense shotgun or can this be a every thing gun? Thanks

[WVBob]

You can use it for anything you want to, but you might want to change chokes. Most turkey chokes are full (F) or full/full (FF) and that makes them a bit tight for most shooting. True, most chokes are lead only and others are for steel. If a barrel fits your 835 you can use it.

[R L Suehr]

On the 835 turkey gun I have the choke is extra full (full/full). It is designed for keeping patterns really tight at extended range. If I remember correctly the manual states to not shoot slugs with this choke installed as it can damage the choke. Any other shot loads should be fine IMO.

Personally I have a dedicated HD shotgun (Mossberg 500 w/ 8rd tube and 20" IC barrel) so I never really tried anything but the turkey loads through the 835. There are plenty of cheap new and used shotguns that would serve well in an HD role so I would probably just recommend picking up another cheap one for that role. If you want to go the cheapest route you could always pick up an IC choke tube for the 835 and just stick with that, but that doesn't really give you an excuse to buy another gun now does it? If you want one with a 28" barrel try a 500 with that barrel and then pick up a 18" barrel for HD. Makes a great field/HD combo. Mossberg used to sell a setup like this with both barrels but, I don't know if they still offer it or not.

[SauerGrapes]

''Turkey'' choke is merely a description. As already stated, x-tra full for tight pattern. Designed to shot said bird in the head, hence saving the meat.
Personally, I wouldn't shoot buckshot through it. HD, I like a cylinder choke since your only shooting 10-20 ft.

Any other load, have at it.

[JenniferG]

A 28" barrel for defense is a little unwieldy in tight spaces. The length of the barrel does a couple of things. The longer the barrel the longer the sighting plane. The longer the sighting plane the longer accurate shots can be made. The second thing about barrel length is full powder burning. With very short barrels the load cannot reach full power because the load doesn't have enough barrel length to take full advantage of the powder burning in the lower power loads. If you fire a short barrel (18" or so) into a paper target 15 to 20 feet you will see unburnt powder flakes embedded in the paper. There's a lot written on the subject and I've barely scratched the surface just to give you an idea why I write the things I do.

There is a happy middle somewhere in between the 28" hunting style barrel and minimum length 18" barrel. The 18" cylinder bore (no choke at all) with 3" shells with any kind of buck shot load will take care of any and all business in short distances. They used to refer to these types of shotguns as "riot guns or trench guns".

Now the reason you don't want to be shooting slugs or heavy buck shot out a choke that is tighter than modified. You may bulge your choke and or barrel shooting slugs or heavy buckshot in tighter chokes. If the barrel gets bulged it's finished.
http://www.briley.com/understandings...nbybriley.aspx

It appears Mossberg makes a 20" with the screw in chokes. The number is 90140. In my opinion this is an ideal length and variable choke potential with screw in chokes for home defense. You can experiment endlessly with choke and load combinations to get one you like the best.

http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/...-barrels/90140

[hog45]

The 835 is great for turkey/geese/other birds. However, as others have said, the long barrel is not good for home maneuverability.

Secondly, the 835 has a ported barrel, which is good for hunting, but will cause a lot of blast energy to go all over your house and mess up the drapes. You probably won't care if you are in a situation in which you need to fire a shotgun inside, but this gun and barrel combo is not designed for home use, so its worth being aware of.

With that said, a 12 gauge shotgun is one of the best home defense guns out there, and even if the barrel isn't quite perfect, it will still do the job admirably. There is no need to get a second shotgun just for the house unless you have the money, in which case I recommend buying a couple dozen shotguns, just in case. Or if you have the money and can find a shorter barrel, go for it, but don't feel like the gun won't work. It will work plenty.

I have one shotgun that I use for everything. I keep it at home with the 18 inch barrel, and if I am using it for hunting I swap out the barrel for a hunting barrel, then put the short barrel back on as soon as I'm home.

[win67]

It appears Mossberg makes a 20" with the screw in chokes. The number is 90140. In my opinion this is an ideal length and variable choke potential with screw in chokes for home defense. You can experiment endlessly with choke and load combinations to get one you like the best.

http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/...-barrels/90140

Jennifer, good advice as always, just wanted to add that last week I spent about 20 hours trying to track down that exact model of barrel, and found that although MGW lists it as "in stock", it's really not. There is a small outfit in WA state that had 2 in stock, and one is being shipped to me, so they should still have one as of right now: http://www.lowpriceguns.com/product.php_278599

About 12 hours after placing the order, I saw on pp. 105 of the Nov. 2014 Shotgun News that a company called CDNN Sports is offering one that is identical to the Mossberg 90140, except without the vent rib, for $69. I'd imagine it's made in Turkey or China, but for the price you can't beat it. P/N= TAR MOS1

IMO they really should make more of these. From reading this and other forums I gather there's quite a demand for it- the tactical shotgun market is crowded with OC barrels, despite the usefulness of having a short barrel that can hit stuff further than 15 yards away.

[JenniferG]

I have a 22" barrel on my Winchester 1300 (US Repeating Arms). I bought it as an accessory barrel with the Win Choke screw in chokes. Good luck finding one of those. They made them for about a year and then stopped. It's the ideal length for home defense plus I can shoot pheasants in the woods like up at State Gamelands #43 in Warwick Chester County. Those 28" barrels are pretty tough to swing in the woods too. That's what the gun was used for before it became home defense. I added the extended mag for adequate firepower.

http://forum.pafoa.org/shotguns-43/1...ml#post2892601

Even Remington made a 21" SP for turkey in an 1187 but I haven't seen one of those barrels as an accessory ever. Wonder what gives?

[Pete D.]

The length of the barrel does a couple of things. The longer the barrel the longer the sighting plane. The longer the sighting plane the longer accurate shots can be made.

Hmmm. That is true, perhaps, if you are shooting the shotgun as you would a rifle. Under normal circumstances, though, the "sighting plane" of shotgun is not much of a factor since the focus should be on the target and not on the sight.
Length of a shotgun barrel...for sporting purposes.....has more of an influence on the dynamics of swing than of sighting.
Pete

[JenniferG]

Hmmm. That is true, perhaps, if you are shooting the shotgun as you would a rifle. Under normal circumstances, though, the "sighting plane" of shotgun is not much of a factor since the focus should be on the target and not on the sight.
Length of a shotgun barrel...for sporting purposes.....has more of an influence on the dynamics of swing than of sighting.
Pete

Hmmmmm, perhaps, I've heard that said before. I've used my shotguns for deer and turkey hunting. I'm more concerned with the length of barrel for swing in tight quarters. If you're shooting trap a longer barrel of around 28" to 32" is an appropriate selection because of the balance and swing.

I did notice that my friend that has a 32" barrel fixed full choke Berreta single shot trap gun is able to reach out about 10-15 yards further than my Browning with the full screw in choke. I believe it's because of it's full use of powder burn and superior machining and design of the Beretta barrel. I believe that even if I were to break down and buy Briley chokes for my Browning I probably couldn't increase the reach to match that Beretta

I used my 22" barrel for hunting birds in a wooded atmosphere and a 28" barrel is heavy and unwieldy and you look like Elmer Fudd a hunting we will go walking through the woods hunting wabbits. My go to shotgun for just about all upland bird hunting is a 21" barrel Remington 1100 SP with the straight English style stock.