>>1621228I'm a hard core goose hunter
>as in I shoot close to 10 flats of shells a year at geese/kill upwards of 500 snow geese a year during the conservation orderAnd I've all but given up on BB's and BBB's. Even with some of the best extended length long-range chokes on the market and 3.5" shells I'm demonstrably more lethal with #1's, and I'm 99% positive it's because I have the pattern density to land head/neck hits consistently at long range. With BB's or BBB's I get almost twice as many cripples that I then have to chase over hill and dale because 1 pellet broke a wing and 1-2 more are in the breast meat but nothing hit a vital organ.
The other thing is, regardless of brand of shell or choke or shotgun #1's will pattern tighter and more consistently than BB's through the same setup. You really can't go any tighter than a medium imp-mod before you start blowing the pattern but you can get all the way down to a steel-full (Carlsons, Pattern Master, Briley, etc) with #1's and still have 60% of pellets in a 12" circle at 65yds.
Also, Fiocchi makes a 1 1/5oz 3" load at 1550fps and it patterns extremely well. It's my go-to for most waterfowling, I buy it by the flat in #3's and #1's. It also happens to be cheap (Roger's Sporting Goods has it for $110/flat). Pretty much the only time I'm not shooting it is when I'm using Hevi 13 on an expensive guided hunt somewhere new, or late-season Canadas where I'm shooting 3.5" shells (when I use Black Cloud Snow Goose for dat flitestopper wad).
