I personally love mine. I did polish the barrel with several different pieces of scotch brite, working from the roughest down to the smoothest to help with the pattern. This does help quite a bit or at least for mine it did. I shoot the Hevi 5,6,7 blended load and works great. I use a Hevi shot turkey choke as well and have had great results. As far as what you paid will have a little to do with what part of the world you live in as far as price. Here in MD I bought mine brand new for $335 about 3yrs back. Good Luck!