As the gents above have stated, "going beyond full" was achieved long ago. See Burt Becker, Nash Buckingham, the old "Super Fox", etc. The problem is that shotguns will always remain a short range weapon for the vast majority of shooters, not so much because of the limitations of the choke/load combination, but because of the skill level (or lack thereof) of the individual pulling the trigger. Shooting flying is not an easy skill to master. The late Ted Williams, who was quite handy with both a shotgun and a baseball bat, equated hitting flying targets regularly with getting base hits regularly.
When Hevishot first appeared, with its much superior ballistics to steel, I thought it would be of great value to Joe Average Waterfowler. Because smaller HS pellets will do the same damage as larger steel pellets, I figured that hunters could shoot more open patterns and improve their results at ranges well inside expert territory. But because HS doesn't open up any better than does steel, the result has been that it's been a boon mostly to the crack shots, extending their range somewhat--while perhaps encouraging Joe Average to take even longer shots than the ones he's already missing with steel.
Learning to shoot halfway well at reasonable ranges is what the vast majority of hunters and shooters need to learn to do, rather than counting on some magic choke/load combination to turn them into the next Digby. Like I overheard a veteran range NCO tell an Army recruit back almost 50 years ago: "Soldier, that M-1 rifle will kill things a lot farther away than you can hit them."
As for Dr. Jones, I think a lot of us will pay more attention when he tells us what % of targets really do break as a result of just a single pellet strike--since we already know, from examining lots with one hole, that there are plenty that don't.
Last edited by L. Brown; 12/06/11 10:37 AM.
