"Assuming" patters of equal percentage & like distribution the range of different loads are equal to the Sq Root of the charge. Thus 1oz should have 89% the range of 1oz. The 1oz would thus be equal at 36yds to the 1 oz at 40.
"IF" on the other hand you fired the 1oz out of a 12, a sixteen short magnum & a 3" 20 magnum I have grave doubts you find a Yards worth of difference in the three. I think you would find as much difference between any two different guns, even in the same gauge, as you would from gauge to gauge.
As to "Discipline" I believe you will find as many, Probably More, shooters who when they have a "Big" gun feel they can hit anything they can see.
I recall reading a story in a hunting mag years ago where the writer was making the case for a pump gun as the ideal Duck gun. One of his reasoning pints was that the hunter would only shoot twice & reserve the third shot for cripples. "Maybe" he hunted that way, but my thoughts then & still are the "Average" hunter as long as there is a bird in the air & a shell in t5he gun Will Shoot. I have grave & serious doubts that hunters who enjoy & use a double leave any more cripples due to the "Lack" of that reserve shot than do those using pumps or semi-autos. The Discipline to know the limits applies just as much at one end as it does at the other.
