Modern loads do seem to perform better than those of the Victorians, though plastic cup wads do not necessarily out-pattern felt wads, according to some recent research. It underlines the usefulness of patterning your gun with loads you propose to use. However, experience quickly tells me the range at which a given gun and load is performing and when it is time to haul in the range at which shots are taken or push it out.
Personally, I shoot a lot of 'high' game birds with very little choke using 30g of No.6 shot. However, when shooting bigger, tougher birds like geese, it helps to tighten the choke, up the payload and go down a few shot sizes.
I think most people use more choke than they need and heavier loads than they need when shooting game.
Certainly small bore guns with light payloads need tight choking if a killing pattern is to be delivered at range. One just needs to understand what is going on and be pragmatic rather than dogmatic.
