Today we're reviewing a pump-action BEAST of a shotgun. Like many Mossberg shotguns, the 835 has a unique history. In the late 1980s, Federal Premium was developing a new product - the 3.5-inch shot shell. They collaborated with Mossberg to have a gun that could shoot this round. The 835 was that shotgun, making it one of the first-ever 3.5-inch shotguns on the market. Today, we're putting this 3.5-inch 12 gauge beast to the test to see if the 835 has stood the test of time. Let's go!

If you have experience with Mossberg shotguns please let us know your thoughts on the TFL COMMUNITY!   

MOSSBERG 835 ULTI-MAG COMBO

• Specs

  • 12 gauge pump-action
  • 3.5" chamber.
  • 28" bird barrel & 24" slug barrel. 
  • The barrels are over-bored. This 12 gauge has the barrel circumference of a 10 gauge barrel.
  • Comes with 3 Accu-Mag Set chokes. Looking for aftermarket chokes? Check out Carlson's Chokes Use Code "targetfocused20" for 20% off.
  • The length of pull is 14" 
  • Drop at comb is 1 5/8"
  • Drop at heel is 2 3/8"
  • No spacers of shims in the box for stock adjustments.
  • 7lbs 10.7oz (With the bird barrel)
  • We got an average trigger pull weight of 6lbs
  • The trigger has a decent amount of pre-travel or 'sponge' before it breaks.
  • MSRP is $610

• Ergonomics

  • If you're at all familiar with Mossberg shotguns, you know that they keep it pretty classy with minimal changes over the years to their shotguns. One small but fantastic update on this 835 would be the safety. It's still the famous Mossberg top-tang style but the new safety is much easier to toggle.
  • As we said - This is a simple (yet classy) budget shotgun. Basic wood furniture with black metal barrel and hardware.
  • Plain but solid receiver - No engraving.
  • The rib is flat off the receiver and is vented.
  • Brass mid-bead and ivory front-bead.
  • The 835 is drilled and tapped for optics.
  • Basic contour and grip-checkering on the forend.
  • The loading port is a bit sharp on the edges.
  • If an alien asked me "What does a shotgun look like?" The image that pops into my head would most likely resemble the Mossberg 835. This is a bare-bones basic shotgun. 
  • But what this shotgun lacks in looks, may be made up for in the shooting experience. After all, the way this thing shoots is far more important than anything else.

• Recoil and Reliability

  
  
  • This is a heavier shotgun. You wouldn't want to carry this around all day looking for pheasants. But a heavier gun means better recoil management. The recoil (Or lack thereof) felt great. It was controlled and straight back into the shoulder.
  • While shooting, we quickly learned that this shotgun was a bit short for us. Even though the recoil was minimal, we'd still consider a  Falcon Strike recoil pad for the sake of extending the length of pull as well as recoil reduction.
  • This shotgun made crushing clays easy. The forward weight made it swing very nice. 
  • It consistently shot true to where we were looking.
  • One big negative we ran into was with loading the 835. The loading port felt smaller than it needed to for a 3.5 inch shotgun.
  • For comparison, this shotgun has significantly less recoil than our Mossberg 500 pump.
  • The good recoil management was also true while shooting slugs through the slug barrel, and 3.5 inch game loads.
  • The 3.5 inch shells didn't feel great, but we've definitely experienced worse. Our theory is that the over-bored barrel actually helped mitigate the deformation of pellets down range because when we hit, WE HIT clays... Like deleted them out of the sky...
  • If you can speak to the reliability of an 835, please let us know how it's held up on the  TFL COMMUNITY!    
  • In the grand scheme of shotguns, we're not sure that this one is going to be among the most reliable, but it'll absolutely get the job done enjoyably for this price point.

• Breakdown/Quality of Build

  • We're going to keep this section short and sweet: The breakdown and internal parts are very similar to the Mossberg 500. To check that video, (CLICK HERE)
  • In regard to quality, the barrels really stand out to us. The over-boring seems to just make this shotgun better.
  • Everything else? Basic. These pump guns a made to last as long as you treat them right. A large reason people like pumps is for the fact that they always seem to work - Rain or shine.
  • We have no reason to believe that this shotgun won't hold up over time if properly cared for. Very solid. 

• Speed Shooting The 835

  • In every review, we typically do a speed shooting test where we hand throw 3 clays and record the time it takes to get on the clays, and shoot all of them. This test reveals a lot about the functionality of the gun such as mountability, target acquisition, trigger, recoil, and reliability. 
  • Now, speed shooting a pump action in trick-shot type fashion isn't all that practical. With a semi-auto, this test can tell us how efficient a gas or inertia system is, but with a pump, it comes down to how fast we pump the gun. So for this test, we're going to learn more about the function, ergonomics, and point-ability of the shotgun.
  • Our first successful attempt was 1.71 seconds. For a semi-auto, this is slow. For a pump, not much to complain about. Just like in recoil, this 835 continued to shoot well and true to where to were looking.
  • Most importantly we learned that this is a dang good shooter. With about 5 boxes of Federal down, the 835's shooting experience was one of minimal hiccups, and maximum clay crushing.

Ducks, clays & deer... You can do it all the 835 Ulti-mag. This is a tank of a shotgun that should last you a good long time. With the bird/buck combo, you're getting a lot of gun for the money. The over-bored barrels are also great. This is a basic gun, but at the end of the day, it does its job, and it does it well. It is a very straight shooter. If 3.5 inch is important to you, then this is a great shotgun for the money.

Whether our targets in the field or our targets in life, we will only hit what we are focused on, so live the #targetfocusedlife