Bought this gun maybe fifteen or more years ago, just because I didn't have a field gun and I got a heck of a deal on it on clearance. I had never actually fired this shotgun, except for a few rounds at a paper silhouette the day after I bought it, just to make sure it worked. It's sat in a closet ever since I bought it. I lived in the metro area of South Florida and there's just not that much opportunity down there for hunting, especially bird hunting. Well, I had the opportunity through my job to go to an industry outing that included a short round of sporting clays. Allow me to reiterate: I had never actually fired this shotgun before at anything that moved through the air. And I had never shot sporting clays before, either. That's what I'm blaming my misses on. The gun, and the sport itself. Couldn't possibly be my fault, now could it? In the end, I just missed breaking .500. I shot 32 out of 66 clays presented. Terrible, I realize.
Regardless...
I've discovered that there's a nice skeet and trap range not too far from where I live. They have beginner's classes once a week, at a really reasonable price. They have beginner's trap and skeet leagues, as well. I was thinking I might want to go spend the occasional weekend morning out making noise, and turning orange clay into smoke. I might even want to look into hunting occasionally - duck, I suppose, or goose, or turkey. Probably not turkey. I don't think I have the patience for it. I do enjoy getting out into the countryside with a couple good friends, though. So I want to actually shot this 835, rather than just let it sit there collecting dust. The gun came with one choke installed. I don't know which it is. I was thinking about putting together a set, just to have, and to use whenever I feel the urge. And since this is where I come to get all my gun purchase advice, here I am.
Would it be better to buy a whole set, from Mossberg, or whoever? Or see what the one is that I have, and piece together a set one-by-one? And which ones would be good to have?