Let the birds get in close and the shells/choke/guage won't matter. In the years I've been goose hunting I've come to the conclusion that it isn't the "arrows" being shot, it's the "indian" doing the shooting. Shells don't make up for poor shooting or calling the shots too early/late. Let's be honest, guys bitch about sky busters, but when you've been laying in that blind since before dawn and that flock flares at 60 yards, most guys come up blasting away at rapidly departing targets and then blame the shells for not knocking 12 lb heavily armored honkers out of the sky. I shoot blue box federal and Fiochi BB's at 1550 fps out of a standard modified choke and have NO TROUBLE knocking the snot out of honkers under 30 yards. Get out around 50 and it gets sketchy with both energy and pattern density and I find myself passing up those shots and then try to figure out why those geese flared in the first place. Usually, I can find an open spot on a blind, decoy snafu, or some other screw up that can be fixed so the next flock sets in the pocket nice and close. 'course that's just my opinion.
