Purchased a Mossberg 535 ats.

[subatomicstang]

I just purchased this shotgun It came with 28 inch barrel a choke set, 24 inch barrel with a red dot scope on it and a turkey choke its cammo and i am gonna purchase a rifled barrel with a scope for shooting slugs! Seems like a great all around gun it will shoot 3.5 also if i ever feel i need it! Anyone else shoot this gun?

-Randy

[rstbkt69]

I have the 835 which your gun was based a little on. I like the way it shoots 2 3/4 shells. The 3 1/2 and slugs hurt like ..... well they hurt when you pattern the turkey tube. Mine put more shot on the turkey target with the remington heavyshot in the 3 1/2 out to 50 yards. Would anything else shoot well out of it, yes. Winchester turkey loads did well but I liked the heavyshots pattern better. One of the important things that remind us to pattern our new guns. My rifled barrel shot the sabot slugs with the big 300 grain JHP bullet way better than chunk of lead type slugs using a red dot scope. I don't remember exactly what my grouping was but I had too many flyers on the regular slugs for a rifled barrel. But that could have been me or the scope. I don't know how you can mount your scope on the rifled barrel for that model but I would suggest you get your gun tapped for a scope mount. The adapter for the receiver mount seemed to be some of my problem on my groups. But I can't be for sure it wasn't because of the red dot and the trigger interface. LOL thats me.

[subatomicstang]

the gun is tapped four small holes i believe i saw. I didnt get the cantilevered model i hear those tend to be lose.
Ive never owned a shotgun this is the only gun i have right now been a long time for me. Im going to use it for upland,skeet, turkey, and duck. Then later one get the rifled barrel and scope for other things.

How do i start patterning a gun what kind of shot do i start with basicly what am i achieving with skeept, upland bird?

[rstbkt69]

Go to an office supply store and buy one of those big tablets of paper that someone would use to make presentations with. Then make some simple stand with some cardboard or just lean it against bush or a simple leanto stand to hold up the cardboard. Tape one piece of the tablet to the cardboard and shoot at it. Vary your yardage. Start at 16 yds and move back 5 yards at a time. Change the paper after each shot and see where the shot is going. It could be off to one side , high or low. remember where it shoots and adjust your aimpiont or your sights if you can to get most of the shot in the paper. Then if you have more than one choke change out to another one and see how it shoots. Back up and see how far you can get and shoot safely with each choke. To me patterning is just knowing how your gun shoots once you shoot a paper you may want to take it off and write down how far away and what choke you were useing for future reference. By the way you don't need a big sheet of paper but its easier to change and keep track of than a lot of sheets of cardboard.

Just go to wallmart and buy one of the boxes of 100 shells for 25 bucks or so to get started with. I think they come in 8 and 7 shot. That is fine to learn how your gun shoots. No need to spend 10 to 20 bucks for some "nice" load just to goof around with But each load will shoot a little different and each shot will be different. Not to some degree that you need to pattern every box you shoot but just know it will be slightly different. now when you get into pheasant loads and 4, 5, or 6 shot you might want to pattern a couple to see what is happening with it. Smaller shot , or the larger the number, will fit more into a shot shell than your bigger shots of the same weight. Learn to read the info supplied with a box of shells to know what you are buying

I'm pretty sure the holes on top are for your scope mount but you may want to ask someone familiar with shotgun scopes just to make sure. And BTW, get a scope for a shotgun not a rifle scope. They are designed to take the pounding a shotgun will dish out a little better than most rifle scopes.

Others will chime in with more helpfull hints if I forgot anythimg.
Jim