Gun: something in 12 ga 95% of the time, 10 ga 4%, 16 or 20 the remainder.
12 ga: over water- Modified. Field IC and/or Light Mod as birds are close and these chokes pattern larger goose shot well.
10 ga: Mod. Gives the best long range patterns in my gun.
16 & 20: Mod. It's the choke I have found to work best in these two.
12 ga :
1 1/4 oz of #2 steel. No particular brand though generally stay away from the lowest quality. This is my over water preference.
Field hunting: 1 oz #3 steel handloads ( 2 3/4") or whatever #4, 3, or 2 factory loads I won't use over water.
10 ga:
Factory #1 steel, 1 5/8 factory. Really reaches out and touches ducks. Good goose load too.
20 & 16 gas:
Prefer something other than steel but get by with factory #2 for the 16 ga and 3" # 2 or 3 in the 20. Have shot a lot of #5 tungsten/poly in the 16 and a fair bit of #4 bismuth in both.
Velocity in the 12 and 10 ga loads run in the 1350-1450 fps range whether factory or handload. 16 and 20 factory steel ~1300 fps, factory bismuth and tungsten/poly ~1250 fps.
