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18.5" Barrel for 935 ?

E350

.22LR
Is there one out there which will fire 3.5" shells?

Or one out there which will fire 3" shells?
 
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Why would you want to shoot 3.5 out of a 18.5" barrel? Brutal recoil and noise.

I have not heard of one. But they make a 24" turkey barrel
 
You mean these?
I have owned them for years.
However, I would prefer to have a a shorter barrel indoors.
Will the 930 18.5 3" barrel work on a 935?
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Those are the shells. Can't tell you about barrel availability or compatability for your gun. Maybe others will chime in.

However, I live in bear territory and daily carry a Shockwave loaded with these slugs and 00 buck. Takes a little practice to get use to firing the Black Magic slugs from a short barrelled Shockwave but certainly doable. A Shockwave is also a nice size gun for indoor defense and completely legal without paper.

If I haven't said so, welcome to the forum E350.

Regards
 
@E350

The 930 and 935 barrels are not interchangable.
 
Just got off the phone with O.F. Mossberg customer service. There is no 18.5" barrel for the 935 (like there is for the 835). And yes it is true, 930 barrels will not fit a 935.

So I am left to purchase a 24" rifled barrel. there are two versions. A cantilevered version, where the optic stays on it when you switch barrels or a iron sight version where an optic could be mounted on the receiver which stays with the receiver.


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So, any thoughts about shooting 00 Buckshot through either? I would like to alternate Breneke Black Magic 3" rifled slugs with 00 Buckshot.

Any thoughts about cantilevered versus iron sight?

I don't know about optics on a close quarters home defense shotgun. Any recommendations, thoughts? I plan to add a Nordic Components tubular magazine extender and this light:

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Any thoughts about having a machine shop cut the 24" barrel down to 18.5" or 19"?
 
E350, guess I'm somewhat confused on why you're focused on using a rifled barrel, which, is typically maximized for targets beyond 100 yards and at the same time discussing optics for close quarter home defense?

Additionally, I recommend you research shooting 00 buckshot out of a rifled barrel. While it certainly can be done the rifling tends to spin the buckshot pellets and greatly spreads your shot pattern vice shooting buckshot from a smooth barrel. From what I've seen, with a rifled barrel you get a large donut shot pattern vice a typically tightly grouped, one inch spread per yard from the muzzle, at the same distances.

And as discussed earlier the Brenneke Black Magic bear loads can be shot from either barrel configuration without issue.

If you could precisely describe how you plan to use the weapon we might be better educated in offer advice based on our experience.

Regards
 
Ernst, thank you for your reply. I don't want to use a rifled barrel on my 935. I want to use a smooth bore barrel. Like I have for my 835.

All of the smooth bore barrels that Mossberg makes for the 935 say specifically on the side of the barrel: "Not for firing slugs." Or something similar, because they are over-bored to ~10 gauge in the barrel near the receiver which can apparently cause safety problems when firing slugs.

Can anyone recommend a barrel manufacturer who makes a smooth bore barrel for the 935 which can fire slugs safely?

Bears inside my cabin. Four times. They scare me.
 
E350, thanks for the clarification. I have no specific experience with the 935 or that restrictions on smooth bore barrels. Suspects others can chime in regarding their experience.

My recommendation(s)

Buy a new Mossberg Mavrick 88 12 gauge. Going street price is around $200 and likely as cheap as buying a barrel for your 935. Gun is excellent out of the box and there's some specific threads on the forum discussing it's preformance.

If you want something shorter in length for in cabin use I recommend a Shockwave. Not sure about the current price but it's an excellent weapon for what you're dealing with. I deal with bear weekly.

Third option, buy a used 500 and if the barrel length is too long chop it off. There are several folks on here who routinely chop barrels and can provide advice.

Regards
 
Thank you Ernst. But neither the 88 nor the 500 fire the 3" Breneke's. An 930 would, and I suppose I should have purchased that for my needs.

I think I will experiment with the 935 24" slug barrel. I had one for my 835 which I sold a while ago. I never shot 00 Buckshot through it though. Keep safe from "Does Bears!"
 
You will not get acceptable results shooting buckshot or any other shot out of a rifled barrel. It will spread really fast ant not in a consistent mannor. Rifled barrels are made for slugs , preferably sabot but also lead if you dont mind barrel leading.

Aside from the slug barrel I'm not aware of a non-overbored smoothbore barrel for the 935.

The gun is basically designed as a waterfowl and turkey gun, at which it excells.

If you had a 835/590/535/500 there are options but the semi autos are not flexible when it comes to barrel interchangability.

Unfortunately I think you are trying to make the platform something that it us just able to do.
 
Thank you Ernst. But neither the 88 nor the 500 fire the 3" Breneke's. An 930 would, and I suppose I should have purchased that for my needs.

I think I will experiment with the 935 24" slug barrel. I had one for my 835 which I sold a while ago. I never shot 00 Buckshot through it though. Keep safe from "Does Bears!"

A 500 will fire 3" Brenekees just fine.

I have shot 3" shells through a 500 barrel. No issues
 
Thank you Ernst. But neither the 88 nor the 500 fire the 3" Breneke's. An 930 would, and I suppose I should have purchased that for my needs.

I think I will experiment with the 935 24" slug barrel. I had one for my 835 which I sold a while ago. I never shot 00 Buckshot through it though. Keep safe from "Does Bears!"

E350, not sure where you're getting your info on Brenneke slug compatability but here's a lift from their web site:

Yes, all slugs, with the exception of the Brenneke Gold Magnum/Magnum Crush and all brass Super Sabot can be used. Both of these slugs are designed to be used only in full-rifled barrels and must not be fired from any type of choked barrel.

Reference: https://www.brennekeusa.com/service/faq/

I shoot Black Magic Slugs through my 500 and my 590 Shockwave. If you have a barrel restricted to 2 3/4 inch shell Brenneke makes that length in some offerings.

Regards
 
Mike, thanks for the clarification on the term "overboring." I was confused by the term. The term I'm familiar with was Back Boring, likely an old term not currently in vogue? This was done if I remember first by skeet and trap shooters and later adopted into waterfowl guns?

Here's some old verbiage I had sourced years ago. Not certain it's up to date but certainly explains the potential attributes of back boring (overboring)..

Back boring was the machining process of reaming or boring. A back bored shotgun barrel simply means that the bore has been altered to a larger inside diameter. Backboring of any particular gauge does; beyond any doubt, add to more wider center mass and will help reduce the length of shot strings in shotguns and when done within reason it does not decrease the velocity of the load. The reason that it does not decrease the velocity is todays plastic wads will expand a great deal to seal the bore of the shotgun and not allow gas to escape around the wad. NO gas leak, NO velocity lost!

Back boring means less choke constriction. As you open up the bore of a shotgun it takes less choke constriction to still get the same pattern as one with a standard bore. This is a big bonus to all that love to shoot trap and other sporting clay games because this puts more pellets into the center mass of the shot string and over all shortens the shot string reducing the time frame from first pellet strike to the last.

A back bored barrel will increase velocity in a 12 gauge reliably up to .740 diameter. All wads will expand to seal the bore up to .740 diameter. The reason you have increases in velocity is that you are changing the volume of the interior of the bore which changes the expansion ratio for the powder being burned. All of this works with the corelation of barrel length but by decreasing the resistance of the bigger bore you will get an increase in velocity.

A shorter shotstring will occur for the simple reason there is more center mass because of the larger bore diameter.

Thanks again Mike and regards.
 
My 500 barrels shoot 3 inch magnums no problem. Says 2-1/2 and 3" shells right on the side of the barrel.

My shoulder and back doesn't handle them very well, but the shotgun itself does without even blinking.

I don't blame you for wanting to keep out the critters from your cabin. Especially bears.

I hate bears.

I have shortened both of my mossberg 500 barrels to 18 inches and while it wouldn't be necessary for slugs or buckshot because you could leave it just the way they are, I went back in and threaded them to take screw in chokes too so I could use the gun for everything from turkey and long range squirrel hunting to bear and elk.

Shotguns can be very handy. I consider them as versatile as those survival multi-tools.
 
I know I am a little late to the game, but I just picked up a 935 used that has a choat extension tube and the barrel was cut down professinally to about 20 inches. Something like this would be a good option for what you were looking for. OO Buck at short range would be very effective against bears.
 
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