A cylinder 20 ga pattern does not have a sufficient core at even 35 yds for the type of targets McIntosh was describing.
Sam--Maybe we're reading different articles, but in MM's piece in Shooting Sportsman, he scarcely mentions clay targets--other than saying that flyers are basically useless either on live birds or clays--let alone describing any specific target presentations. And while I agree that cylinder with a standard 20ga 7/8 oz target load is a pretty poor choice for a 35 yard clay, that might well change if the shooter decided to use a 1 oz load, or got really carried away and used a 1 1/8 oz short magnum load of 7 1/2's. Wouldn't be that much difference from shooting the same load through a 12ga with no choke.
