I finally was able to get out to the range yesterday and try out my new 23" barrel on my 870. The first shot was a winchester #5 1 3/4 oz 3in shell with Remington .675 superful choke at 25 yards. I was able to put 187 hits in a 10 inch circle, not bad. The second shot was with the same shell but with my indian creek choke which yielded 201 hits in the same area at the same range. Then I put in a heavi-13 3in shell with 2oz of #6 shot (with my indian creek choke). That round put an impressive 301 hits in the 10 inch circle at 25 yards. I then moved the target back to 50 yards (this range only had 25, 50 75 and 100 yard intervals to place the target at) and shot another # 6 heavi-shot shell in. The pattern definitely opened up quite a bit and I had 97 hits in the same 10 inch circle. The good news is after an adjustment in my open sight at 25 yards, my pattern was centered on my aim point at 50 yards. Since my pattern only had 97 hits at 50 yards, should I limit my range to 40 yards?

On another note, I swung by Cabelas on my way home from the range and I picked up some of the heavi-shot 5,6,7 magnum blend, can't wait to shoot one to see what the pattern looks like .