Use something middle of the road.
Which is why I pretty much stay with Mod and forget the rest.
Me too. Again, I remember the days of paper shotshells without the sophisticated shot cup/wad but instead with an over-the-top round wad (even before the ubiquitous star crimps), soft lead shot, and full chokes and 30” barrels. I have no empirical data but I would bet that across the board, the combo’s of today’s 26” barrels, a mod choke, and todays’ shotshells will easily beat that combo of yesteryear at the 40 yd patterning board most of the time.
Here's is my opinion based on pheasants (not ducks): even at the tail end of the season where a 40-45 yard bird, having run the previous 30 yards, gets up into the wind with afterburners glowing, the next bird holds until he busts up 3 yards behind you. Nobody I know changes chokes during the day according to perceived conditions. A M choke fits the best compromise of the three (IC, M, and F) most get with a new gun.
