Most shot gunners were generalist. They shot just about everything with one gun. While full choke was over kill for some situations it did well over all or almost every gun would not have been choked mod and full. With adds that claimed "hits hard, kills at 80 yards" full choke were the norm.
Shell quality might be good but plastic wads made full into much tighter than designed full patterns. There were some guns over choked to great extent. I have a pair of Baker heavy waterfowl guns which are choke .050-.055 with barrels thick as cannon barrels. Had Baker used Ithacas choke numbers they would be fives or maybe 5.5's.
