Vicki Ash and the author with the Mod. pattern. Based on the Ashes’ tests, Modified may be the most useful overall choke.

Shotgunning Implications
For the average shotgunner, all of this information is interesting, but the question is, how can you put it to use?

It is safe to say that Gil and Vicki's tests show that the old-time shotgun makers knew a thing or two. The two classic combinations--IC/M and M/F--are very hard to beat for the average game shooter facing a wide variety of situations, and in three cases out of four, IC/M is probably the best choice.

What amazed me was that at 25 yards Modified has just as good a killing pattern as IC, and at 40 yards a Modified outer killing pattern is considerably better than IC, which is already deteriorating badly.

For practical application of this combination on birds, measure 30 yards and learn to recognize it at a glance. That is both the optimum distance for IC and its maximum, for beyond that it fades rapidly. At 35 yards, Modified takes over, delivering a larger killing pattern than IC, so it is more useful from 30 to 50 yards--the outer limit for this combination.

With M/F, it is less clear cut. However, Modified becomes the more useful of the two by a substantial margin, delivering a smallish (24-inch) but consistent killing pattern from about 35 to 50 yards. Full is at its best for a brief moment at 45 yards. Because birds are rarely at one specific distance for more than a split second, it is obvious that Modified becomes the dependable workhorse choke of this combination.

So if you are a shotgunner with one single-barrel gun, with a fixed choke, who wants to hunt a little of everything in every season under all conditions, what choke should you choose? Modified would be the best choice, followed by IC.

For a double gun, IC/M would probably be the best combination 75 percent of the time. The key, though, would be to learn exactly what 30 yards looks like and then stick rigorously to shooting the open barrel in close and reverting to Mod. at anything beyond 30 yards. It is a shocking revelation that Mod. has a larger killing pattern at 35 yards than does IC, but it's a fact--a fact that can be put to very effective use.

Gil Ash, standing and looking at his three-dimensional display of choke patterns, told me that he has yet to set up the display without seeing something, some nuance, that he has not noticed before. I feel the same way writing about it. This article only scratches the surface of the lessons that are waiting for any shotgunner willing to take the time and do a little non-shooting study to improve his actual-shooting performance.

The great thing about shotgunning: You never stop learning.