2. Pattern
I asked earlier for a reason.
Like Lee, never had #1 buckshot do worth a flip to MY standards.
I know about stuff like -
It is like a grenade going off and all them pellets getting scrunched slamming into that forcing cone, down the bore and exiting a muzzle.
Pellets deform from the force and using the force of each other against themselves. Now harder shot helps [more antimony] plated shot helps to harden more and resist this deformity. Buffering assists.
Remember it makes no nevermind what a barrel is marked, a bore is said to be, what a choke is marked , what the box of ammo says...
Only Mr. and Mrs. Pattern Board know for sure.
Forcing cone IMO is the most important aspect in so much of load performance, and recoil mgmt. Not the choke.
Matter of bore not choke -Brister
Brister also knew, as did Stan Baker and others ...and some of us here as well...al little something about how many POC [points of choke] or Thousandths of an inch do what.
Too many pellets will deform more than less and therefore result in poorer performance in pattern's an pattern density.
Remember them pellets do not all arrive all at the same time, shorter shot strings are best, deformed pelletes attribute to longer shot strings.
The target may be moving, and with a long shot string you do not get effective hits , even in "room" distance, target may get to cover and not get a hit from "all them pellets".
Brister discusses this, with pictures no less.
Go get a tire and stick a pc of plywood in it, have it rolled out, and shoot a moving target with your buckshot loads. Now see how many pellets actually hit it. Even better is to have newspaper as backdrop to get an idea where the rest went that missed the moving target.
Keep in mind target presentations are not always going to be "straight on"...so shoot angled stationary targets first, then replicate the same with moving ones.
Less is more
Well...you may find less pellets with shorter shot strings, out of 2 3/4" shell, with hard, plated, buffered shot, not only affords quick accurate hits, also better patterns, pattern density and threat mgmt better.