Originally Posted by retmil46

Same here. I'm trying out the advice of a gent named Randy Wakeman - optimize the gun for the ranges and game you normally hunt - not some arbitrary standard of so many pellets inside a 30" circle at 40 yards.

Only way to know that is to go out and shoot at a paper target and find out what kind of average pattern it throws, not only with different chokes, but with different size shot and brands of shells as well - to find the combo that's going to maximize your chances of hitting something.

I only put 4 shells thru that Fulton, just out of curiosity to see what it would do - and had absolutely no further desire to do any more testing with it! That thing gave me enough of an instant flinch that I had to take some time out and settle down before I got down to serious work with the Stoeger 20 ga.

I've got a set of Trulock extended choke tubes for the Stoeger - IC, M, IM, and Full. I found out in short order that the IM and Full tubes should be reserved for antiaircraft work - with a low-powered target load of 1 oz of 8 shot, that Full tube threw a dense pattern that was barely a foot across at 30 yards - the IM tube wasn't much looser.

I tried some old Activ target loads with 1 oz 8 shot thru all four choke tubes, then also tried Winchester high brass heavy game loads with 1 oz of 6 shot, and some old Federal Hi-Power 3 inch roman candles with 1 1/4 oz of 6 shot, thru the IC and M tubes.

The M tube produced pretty decent patterns about 2 foot across with all three loads. But with the IC tube, the two smaller loads threw shot hither and yon, as if someone had taken random shots at the board with a BB gun. It was only with the 3 inch 1 1/4 oz load that the IC tube threw a decent pattern covering most of the board.

That seemed to mirror real life. Whilst shooting at Texas doves, the best luck I had was while using the IC and M tubes, with higher quality shells - Remington Nitro Pheasant 3 inch with 1 1/4 oz copper-plated 6 shot, and Fiocchi Golden Pheasant 3 inch with 1 1/4 oz nickel-plated 6 shot.