i shoot 3in partition golds out of my 870 with hastings rifled barrel and 3x9 scope. being a sabot round plus the rifled barrel i can shoot out to 200. i dropped my buck last year at 173 yards with this set up. with smooth bore i would limit my shots to under 100 esp with no scope. my dad uses a smooth bore 870 with rifle sights and his limit is about 75 yards but he tends to hunt deeper in cover and doesn't like a scope. i would rather be able to see and shoot further