McIntosh was not the only writer who thought highly of cylinder bore. Bob Brister had very positive comments to make about "no choke" as well, although he also touted the value of a whole lot of choke for long shots. But if you're hunting upland birds and you're only average to slightly better with a scattergun, cylinder isn't a bad choice. It should pattern 70% at 25 yards (same as full at 40 yards), and with some work at the pattern board and proper shell selection, you can certainly make cyl work out to 30 yards. I'm talking bird hunting here, not sporting clays or trap. Most people simply aren't good enough, or even close, that they should be taking 40+ yard shots at birds. They'll be very lucky to deliver a killing shot at that distance. In fact, the best thing would probably be a miss, because all too often a few feathers get pulled and the bird keeps flying.
It's harder to get the necessary experience hunting wild birds these days because of declining populations, but if people spent a fraction of the amount of time with a decent dog learning how to hunt upland birds, they'd find that they'd seldom need 40 yard shooting skills. Most of the time, 30 will get the job done.
For those that want to read the entire McIntosh article: "More Things We Can Do Without", Shooting Sportsman, Sept/Oct 2010. But to summarize, McIntosh points out that choke isn't as necessary these days because of modern ammunition, primarily the plastic wad. Remember when, in a 12ga, standard choke constrictions went by .010" intervals--and full was .040 constriction? It's a good bit more open than that today, thanks mostly to improvements in shotshells. Thus, cylinder today isn't cylinder from a century or more ago, with black powder or early bulk smokeless and cork or fiber wads. But McIntosh makes it clear that he's focusing mainly on upland hunters, pointing out that turkey hunters and those who shoot waterfowl at long range need more choke.
