Finally decided to upgrade to a purpose built turkey gun. Been shooting my 11-87 that I set up with a thumb hole stock and rather large red dot, and it worked great and killed quit a few birds, but it was long and pretty heavy. Was at rural king the other day and they had a mossberg 835 with a holosun that I couldn't resist. Shot it Sunday with the factory choke and longbeard 6s and was pretty impressed with the pattern at 40, around 160 pellets in a 10" circle, and 50 or so in the head/neck. May try a different choke in the coming years, but I think this will work for the time being

nice , I have to warn you , that if you change out that turkey for an extended full or lesser choke as needed you may not shoot another shotgun
that 20 inch barrel Mossy will do it all

try a round of trap with that dot , even if your face doesn't get perfect on the stock the dot is still where the center of the pattern is , as long as you patterned it and adjusted it so.

the dot does not need to be centered up in the window , the dot always points to the same place

I may try it for some wingshooting, never thought of that with the red dot. I do still have several other shotguns for wings wingshooting, but if the red dot is an advantage, may look into one for on of my other guns mounted to the ventilated rib

My Nephew shoots a Mossberg it shoots the best pattern I’ve ever seen on a shotgun.

Definitely take a cheap box of shells and shoot some skeet with that dot. Some folks don’t like them and say they cause them to miss because your head isn’t completely down on the barrel. I wouldn’t trade mine for anything. In fact, I found a misprint on a sale and bought another FFIII just because they had it marked $100+ cheaper than they actually cost, lol.

I will definitely give that a try, but it will probably more than likely be barn pigeons rather than skeet haha

Only 835 I've shot (with a 3" turkey load) was brutal on the recoil. Very hard & solid punch against the shoulder....whew!

But that was nearly 30 years ago....12 ga.

That's a nice looking gun though.

I have an 870 turkey gun (12 ga) that has that same Mossy Oak Greenleaf camo. It's over 40 years old. Killed a bunch of gobblers with that gun.

Same here. With 3.5 “ shells, it knocked you silly. I sold it.

But you don't feel that recoil when your shooting at a longbeard !

I have used a Mossberg 535 tactical turkey with collapsable stock and pistol grip for about 14 years. No recoil pad on it and i used to shoot 3.5 inch, now 3 inch Longbeards. Cheap 40 dollar amazon red dot. Killed around 20 birds with it and it kicks like a mule. The red dot is a must for me because it allows shooting at some weird angles and even left handed (im a righty). As long as the dots on the neck, its a dead bird out to around 50. I use the factory choke came with it.

first time out with the dot on my 870 I shot a 23 I know I messed up those 2 , I was going so fast out of the house I got too quick and my pattern was small and I was off when I broke the trigger

I shoot a 22-23 with my 500 and the vent rib 20 inch most of the time as well , but the dot is an easy almost feels like cheating clay smasher

after I shot that I went to the Magpul stock with cheek risers and it fits even better now. haven't shot any more trap with it since.

my 500 sees most action as it is light and easy to carry
the 870 is nice but heavy mostly because it also has a 3 round tube extender and a light as well

I have 2 of them jokers and they kill on both ends.I added a primos Jelly head to it and tried the long beard xr #5 in 3.5 it has that combo has made it a turkey gun.

I shoot the three inch shells in mine and find it quite adequate.

Good luck with it.Congrats

If you want to lessen the recoil.....

2-3/4" shells with 1-1/4oz or 1-5/8oz of #9 TSS.

Felt recoil is about 30-35% less

456 pellets with 1-1/4oz of 9's, 593 pellets with 1-5/8oz of 9's. If your XR's are the 3.5" #6's you have 450 pellets now

No sense in blowing your shoulder up when you can use the same gun, have more effective patterns, less recoil, and better penetration

I was skeptical at first but I shot one of those 410's with TSS. They are pretty nice.

20 is a real killer, I hunt with a 410 too with 9.5 TSS and it out patterns some of the old lead 12ga loads I used to hunt with

I'm shooting 3" shells in it, and honestly don't find the recoil that bad. Yes it thumps some, but more of a shove than a sharp crack like a magnum rifle. May try 3.5s just too see how bad they really are, but in all honesty, the 3" longbeards do a fine job of killing birds. I considered TSS, but the price point compared to longbeards made me decide to stay with my longbeards, especially with as much luck I've had with them. However, I may try a carlsons choke or possibly a jelly head in the future just to see what it does for the pattern

I've patterned longbeards a ton. 160 in the 10" at 40 yards with 3" #6's is a good pattern. You can chase it with other chokes if you want but there isn't much room for improvement there. I could get XR's to 180 but that was with 3.5" #5's. With 3.5" 6's I'd guess you could get it to the 190's or maybe even touch 200.

Now I'm doing those numbers and higher with a little 410. Crazy stuff

If I was shooting a 12ga I wouldn’t buy TSS for turkeys. Predators yes, turkeys no. Those 3” XR’s are deadly on turkeys. To me TSS is mainly to make the smaller gauges equal to the larger gauges.