Savage 755A

[1Morgan]

I'm all over the place in here now...hehe. With me catching this affliction, I asked for the famil gun. It's a Savage 755A 12 ga it's been in the attic for years and needs some serious attention. I let my uncle look at it and he said it was safe to shoot to we got some target loads and ran about 30 or 40 through it. POA is great but the stock and forearm are cracked and it needs some rust knocked off the outside. It's a heavy gun, the last they were were made was around 1959. I guess i was just wondering if anyone was familiar with them, I'm gonna give it a try during deer season...just wanna be able to say, "i killed with the family gun".
 
I also bought a used Moss 835Ultimag for $150 with 3 chokes, fibre optic sights and ported bbl. Gotta love this economy. This will be my turkey gun but i'm thinking of buying a couple of other bbls for it so i can use it for deer and ducks. Would this be a good idea? or should I keep it for turkey only? (Clark? I know you are an 835 fan).

[CB on the run]

Is that Savage a 'humpback' like the Browning A5's? If so I have my father's in the safe. Forearm cracks are very common and had my gunsmith fix. He placed an aluminum tube inside. Slugs were inconsistant compared to my 'slug guns' even though my dad killed all his deer with it. I bring it out once in a while for wing shooting. It didn't like 2 3/4 mags when my son tried it for fall turkey a couple years ago.
I'm not sure if you use buckshot or slugs in SC but my question would be how's the trigger on that 835? With todays' sabot slugs and rifled barrels you need a good trigger.

CB

[mark hay]

According to ''GUN TRADERS GUIDE'' it is a round back receiver . Production on this model ended in 1959 .

[1Morgan]

CB,
It's a roundback but i understand the guts are the same as the browning. And ya have to swap the rings on the spring for high and low brass for them to eject properly. The 835 has a faily light and smooth trigger not sure if it's had some work or not. Deer season is 5 months long here and they let ya shoot pretty much anything at any time during the season (no joke).

[allaboutshooting]

Hey Dan,

I have never shot that particular Savage model. It has been my experience with most Savage guns, especially the older ones, that they were "overbuilt" and as folks in this part of the world would say, they are very sturdy. I believe that gun has a 2.75" chamber and that the steel used in the barrel was a bit softer than that used in modern guns so you probably will not want to shoot any of the tungsten-based shot or steel shot through it.

It's always a tough decision for me to make about shooting older guns, especially those with sentimental value. I like the idea of hunting with one, the way my father, older brother or some other family member did. Then I think about the fact that the gun may have some inherent weaknesses that modern ammo will bring out. I usually balance that out by only shooting "low brass" 2.75" shells, after I've made sure everything is as it should be with the gun.

As you know, the Mossberg 835 has a much larger inside bore diameter than the average 12 gauge shotgun so it does not do well with 12 gauge rifled slugs or any of the sabots. Mossberg does not recommend shooting slugs through the regular shotgun barrel that comes with that gun. You can, as you mentioned, fit a designated slug barrel to your gun and use it for deer. If you can find one of those barrels, reasonably priced, it would certainly be an option.

I do like those guns a lot and some of the very best patterns that I've seen have come from properly choked 835s.

Thanks,
Clark

[1Morgan]

Thx for the replies...guess i've need to decide if i'm gonna actually shoot it of clean it up and mount it over the fireplace....