My experinec with the gun as it is choked is that on quail and doves I was deadly with bbl 1 with the open choke and bbl 2.
But with roosters I have never had success with bbl #1. It's always been with bbl #2 and the full choke. Because of that I went to the pattern board. I determined that the open choked bbl had amny bird sized holes in the pattern with 1oz or less shot at 16-20 yards. The other bbl however had a much more dense and centered pattern. I hunt very wide open country with very wild birds, most flushes are at minimum 15-20 yards. Maybe I should start loading up a 7 1/2 1 1/8oz load for bbl #1. Would that solve the pattern density issue? If I use plated and buffered shot, I would think it pretty lethal at the ranges cited. I know I can keep pressures low enough with the 7625 I've been using. I was pretty shocked when i patterned bbl#1 and the holes in the pattern. It was kind of like "no Wonder". These roosters out here don't go down easy either. I hit 3 birds last weekend that bbl#1 just kind of made them shimmy a bit on take off - no doubt they were hit, but they flew off a long way. I pursued and got second flush on one of them and missed. Nothing leaves me more sad than that.Knowing there is a bird out there that is probably going to die because I didnt load up properly. Every bird I hit with bbl #2 dropped like it was struck by lightning. That's what get's me about this country i hunt and the tenacity of the birds.
