Note that I am in perfect agreement with not reaming out these older guns. I have for instance a very nice 16 ga H grade LAC gun with 28" bbls having full choke in both bbls. While the use I would make of this gun does not call for full chokes, full choked will it remain with loads to compensate.
Another thing I often see recommended is for short range use with a too tight choke is to drop shot size based on a generality that larger sizes of shot often give a slightly higher pattern % than do smaller sizes. This seems totally in reverse to me. #6 shot for instance have 30% more shot per ounce than #5 shot of the same alloy. Changing from #5 shot to #6 shot is not going to reduce the pattern % by 30%, but it will put more total shot in any given circle size.
All of this of course does take a bit of shooting & trying but it is remarkable what can be accomplished if one is willing to work at it a bit.
