The best turkey chokes for a Mossberg 835, and the thread mistake that wastes your money

How we picked

Four turkey chokes that their makers publish for the Mossberg 835/935 Ulti-Mag thread, scored on the choke rubric published with our First-Season Score: load compatibility 30%, constriction options 20%, thread fit coverage 20%, build and porting 15%, and maker guidance 15%. Every constriction, thread note, load rating and warranty term below was read on the maker's own page and links back to it. We do not pattern chokes, so no pellet count here is ours.

Why an 835 needs its own tube

The Mossberg 835 Ulti-Mag is back-bored: its barrel is wider inside than a standard 12 gauge. Kick's publishes the number — the 835's standard bore size is .775 in, against roughly .729 in for a conventional 12-gauge barrel — and that single figure explains everything confusing about shopping for this gun.

• The threads are different. Carlson's interchange guide files the “Mossberg 535 Turkey Thug, 835, 935” separately from the Mossberg 500, and Kick's warns on its own page that “Mossberg has multiple thread systems that are not interchangeable.” A Mossberg 500 tube will not do, which is why our Mossberg 500 choke page is a different list entirely.
• The constrictions read looser. Carlson's TSS Turkey tube is 0.675 in in the 835 thread and 0.640 in in the Mossberg 500 thread. Those are the same tube doing the same job: the number is bigger because the bore it starts from is bigger.
• Numbers from other guns do not transfer. A forum post recommending 0.655 in is talking about a different barrel. In an 835, that much squeeze can blow a pattern apart rather than tighten it.

The four tubes, side by side

Every value links to the page it came from. “Not published” means the maker does not print that figure, and the score treats it as missing rather than assuming it.

Why Kick's wins

The Gobblin' Thunder scores 9.1, the highest choke score on this site, and it earns it on the two rubric lines everything else loses. It is the only 835 tube sold in more than one exit diameter — 0.670, 0.675, 0.680 and 0.685 in — so patterning can actually change something; and Kick's rates the line for lead, TSS or other non-toxic loads, so the tube does not dictate your shells. Add an extended, 4 5/16 in diagonally ported body in 17-4 stainless, and it is both the most flexible and the best-built option here.

The real cost is the small print: Kick's marks this product page non-returnable, with no exchanges, and publishes no warranty. So the thread has to be right the first time, and if you cross-thread the tube you have bought a paperweight. That is the whole case for second place. Carlson's Bone Collector at 7.8 has the widest published load rating of any tube on the page — lead, nickel- and copper-plated, bismuth, HEVI-Shot, tungsten and TSS, optimized for shot sizes #4 through #10 — it is ported, and Carlson's warranties it for life and will replace a damaged tube by mail. It is also the most expensive 835 tube Carlson's sells.

The last two are single-purpose tubes and are priced accordingly. Carlson's TSS Turkey (38020) at 7.4 is built around Federal Premium Heavyweight TSS and shot sizes 7 to 9. Carlson's Long Beard (70160) at 7.0 is built around Winchester's copper-plated Long Beard at the most open constriction here, 0.683 in. Each scores lower only because it answers one question instead of two.

What constriction a back-bored barrel wants

Every published figure for this thread sits between 0.670 and 0.685 in, and Carlson's most open tube — the Long Beard at 0.683 in — is deliberately the loosest turkey constriction it publishes for the 835. That is not a weaker tube. Starting from a .775 in bore, 0.683 in is already about 0.09 in of squeeze, which is more total constriction than a 0.660 in tube applies in a standard .729 in barrel.

The practical consequence is that you should resist the urge to buy the tightest number you can find. Soft plated lead through an aggressive constriction tends to deform and scatter; the pattern gets worse, not better. If you want to experiment, Kick's four-diameter ladder is the only way to do it in this thread, and how to pattern a turkey gun is the method. What all the numbers on a tube mean is in what choke for turkey hunting.

Pick the shell, then the tube

The 835 is a 3.5 in pump gun, which means it will digest almost anything and punish you for it. Decide the shell first and the tube follows in one step.

• Tungsten only. Carlson's TSS Turkey (38020). Cheapest named-TSS option in the thread.
• Plated lead only. Carlson's Long Beard (70160). Built around a shell you can still find on a shelf in April.
• Both, or undecided. Carlson's Bone Collector (80160) or Kick's Gobblin' Thunder. Both are rated across the range.

Which shells to put through it in the first place is the subject of best turkey loads for the Mossberg 835, and if you are still choosing between pellet types, TSS vs lead turkey loads settles it. One note on recoil: both tubes we rank first are ported, which Kick's says reduces recoil, and a 3.5 in magnum turkey load in a pump gun is the single most unpleasant shot most turkey hunters ever take. You do not need 3.5 in shells to kill a turkey at 35 yards.

Buyer's guide: buying an 835 choke once

Confirm the thread, in person

Mossberg uses more than one thread system, and the 835, 935 and 535 Turkey Thug share a pattern the Mossberg 500 does not. Pull your factory tube and read the markings, or check the manual. Kick's tube is marked non-returnable, so this is the step that costs real money to skip.

Buy the constriction the maker publishes, not the tightest one

In a back-bored barrel, the exit diameters look loose and are not. Carlson's publishes 0.683 in for its lead tube on purpose. Buy in the published range and change shells rather than tubes if the pattern disappoints.

Pay for porting if you shoot 3.5 in shells

The 835 was built for 3.5 in magnums and recoils like it. Kick's and the Bone Collector are both ported, which Kick's publishes as a recoil-reduction feature. If your shoulder is the reason you flinch at a bird, that is a cheaper fix than a new gun.

Read the warranty and return terms before the reviews

Carlson's warranties its tubes for life and will replace a damaged tube by mail. Kick's publishes no warranty on this product and marks the page non-returnable. That difference is worth more than any patterning claim if you are buying your first aftermarket choke.

The first-season mistake: upgrading the choke before patterning the gun

An 835 with a factory tube and the right shells kills turkeys at sensible distances. Put the gun you already own on paper at 40 yards first; if the pattern is acceptable, spend the money on shells and a vest instead. Everything about setting up a first turkey gun is in choosing your first turkey gun.