I certainly can't find fault with anything that has been said so far, but there is always another side of a story. Let me preface this by saying for the past 25 years, I have been shooting trash birds all summer long, and into the fall. Some weeks, I would shoot a flat of shells a day, three times a week. The primary bird was starlings at a dairy with pigeons close behind. For some years, I have kept a log of the number of birds killed and it was between 1,500 and 2,000.
Most of my shooting was done over blueberry fields and a couple of diaries. Needless to say, I was a pretty pathetic shot to begin with, but sharpened my skills as time went on. With skills vastly improved, I became one who experimented with various loads of shot.
Since I shot so many rounds each season, I gravitated toward loads that were 7/8 of an oz hovering around 1200 fps. With a full choke, I found that consistent kills could be made in the 60+ yard range with that load. I had trouble early on believing it possible as did my shooting partners. These loads worked extremely well in the 12 ga. w/.030 choke and a 16 w/.025.
One of the major results, that birds hit with less choke and smaller shot did not necessarly result in quick kills. With the #5 shot and 7/8 it is murder on long range pigeons as well as close range ones.
The main thing is, I am an avid shotgunner and have developed the subconscious to the place it really is easy to kill birds as I don't have to think about lead. Shooters vary in skill level from poor to very good, so you may see a need for open chokes and l l/8 loads. Different strokes for different folks.
