I was recently gifted an older 835 that Old Mossy was kind enough to date to 1988-89. I knew it was an early one as it is not drilled and tapped for a scope nor is the barrel ported. It would be nice if it was in nice shape, but it has been bubba'd up pretty bad. The stock has been shortened and a slip over recoil pad literally held on with electrical tape. It has been painted black, and I mean everything on the shotgun. The paint is super heavy and so wrinkled, I thought it had been in a fire. Then I got to the inside. The safety wouldn't work properly because the trigger was so filthy with carbon and paint that the disconnector wouldn't fall all the way down out of the way of the safety block. I had to disassemble it completely to clean all the crap out of it. After I got all that cleaned out, I notice the disconnector was mushroomed pretty bad. I got that cleaned up and now the safety appears to work as advertised. I also replaced the magazine spring with a proper one. The old one was a full 6 inches shorter than the new one and I installed a new red shell follower. I don't know if the spring was that worn out or if it was the wrong one. It has seen alot of use as the mag tube has very little of the original finish left on it and the inside of the receiver is not much better. I want to strip it, but it appears to have been sanded down before the crappy paint job was applied to it. I may have to send it off and have it re-blued or cerakoted. I have a new OEM camo stock set coming for it. After the action was all cleaned up, it runs nice and smooth and once the exterior is cleaned up, I think it will make a good shotgun. I didn't take any before photos because I wanted to tear into it so bad that it was driving me crazy. (Sorry, JohnA)
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