I'm glad to see that not everyone has been brainwashed by the modern view that shooting anything beyond forty yards is unethical or impossible. If you doubt that long shots on game can be made consistently, or that the old guns were built with special features that made them tools for the sport, you have not looked into the matter.
The proof of anything is repeatability. I grew up watching men shoot trap for money. They consistently backed up from the trap circle into the parking lot, and shot targets about to hit the ground. Of course, what you can do depends primarily on the toughness of your target.
In my better days, I made some streaky runs at long range, but I have seen better shots kill birds at 75-80 yards with the certainty of doom. I never saw anyone do it that wasn't shooting an old gun. If you study the geometry of those guns, you will understand why they hold a pattern longer. A shotgun barrel is like a violin... it has an optimum harmonic. When shot is consticted slowly, it tends to stabilize the pattern. Modern barrels are pipes with washers on the end. Also, using high power loads tends to blow the pattern instead of tightening it. Light loads produce tighter patterns.
If you think that I am delusional, measure several old gun barrels marked long range "from end to end" and see what they have in common. People used to buy guns from Purdey "unbored" and send them to Ithaca to let them be brought "up to nick." They didn't do that for hyperbole.
