I prefer a SK2 or LM and small shot if forced to stick with a do all combo. But I’m not terribly convinced that choke is as important as most guys make it out to be. Gun fit and good shells are much more important IMO than all the fiddling I see some guys do with chokes.
I mostly shoot a Mod in my Browning Lightweight Double Auto, no tubes available back in the 50’s and it throws nice even patterns that actually are more or less Mod, depending on ammunition. But I have other fixed choke guns ranging from Cyl to Full that I rotate through and I don’t find that I kill any more or any less birds with any of them. Most of my shooting being doves and wild pheasants these days. But back when I was shooting a couple hundred ducks a year I still preferred small shot for everything but pass shooting, in the dekes or jump shooting would have me shooting way less cripples on the water than my buddies who shot 2s and BBs.
Of course the Browning is magic, it’s almost like the stock was built for me and I broke 99 out of the first 100 shots I put through it from the 16 yard line the day I bought it. But that’s why I’m not convinced choke is that important. If your gun fits you’re going to center birds and if you’re centering them you’re killing them.
Last winter’s pilgrimage to SD had me killing roosters with the Browning and my AL48 20ga. I used 1oz load of 7 1/2s in the 20 and 1 1/4 oz loads of 6s in the 12. Hunted 3 days and killed birds from 7 feet to the 40 yard line and couldn’t find any real difference in the killing power or ranging ability of either gun or load. I killed my 9 birds with 13 shots with one runner that I had to ground sluice after knocking him down on a straight overhead shot while blocking. Of the 9 probably 3 were inside 10 yards, one or two out around 40, and the rest. being in the middle.
