Until you see the price of the non-toxic shot go down, I think you are asking a lot of any cylinder bore gun to take birds at 35 yards. A Bigger Bore may let you throw more shot, but its not going to improve the patterns. A longer barrel will help with the pattern, but slow the swing, unless its balanced very well.
I worked up a load in my 12 gauge, with 30 inch barrels, using an old duck hunter's load of 2 3/4 drams of FFg and 1 1/4 oz. of #5 shot to kill pheasants out past 30 yards, and I Have killed one bird at a paced off 33 yards. The bore has no choke in it.
Another member had one of his 20 gauge barrels jug choked to FULL Choke, and killed a turkey at 40 yards. Both of us were using lead shot, proving that with the right loads, and, in his case, with a jug choked barrel, longer range kills are possible. But, we are not shooting at waterfowl with non-toxic shot. I know from my own testing that steel shot, fired from a cylinder bore gun is not going to do it out at 35-40 yards unless you get lucky and get a pellet to the head. I have spent enough time at goose clubs, watching steel shot bounce off Canada geese to have little faith in steel shot beyond 30 yards.
Our Mike Brooks makes wonderful Long Barreled fowlers, but not everyone else does.
A long barreled fowler that is not balanced and feels very muzzle heavy can be used well for duck and goose hunting, but its a bit of a distraction trying to hit busted pheasants flying any direction. Unless you have a very fast lock, and learn the timing of it, the pass through technique of shooting moving targets is going to have to be married to the " sustained lead" technique, in the form of a longer follow-through period, to hit those pheasants with any flintlock fowler.
N. Dakota is known for both its pheasant hunting and its pothole country. The later supports a lot of duck and geese hunting opportunities. I think you have to decide how you can do both with the same gun. A modified Jug choke should work for both pheasants, and with 30-35 yard ducks and geese, but not much further, unless the Ecotungsten shot prices come down to where mere mortals can afford to use it. However, if you jug choke the gun to any constriction, it may not be as accurate a round ball barrel with such a choke.
Personally, I would recommend working with a fowler with a 36-38 inch barrel, as a compromise, and with better hopes of getting a gun that balances well. I would stay with 12 gauge, simply because the 10 gauge gets to be a bit much on upland game.
Again, its a compromise. You can download any smoothbore to shoot lighter gauge loads. You just can't make a long barreled, 8 pound gun move as lively as a shorter barreled, 5 pound gun. I am used to hunting pheasants with an 8 lb.+ shotgun, so the added weight is not a problem. But the balance point of my gun is between my hands, so that moving the long barrel is no problem. A well-made fowler will also have its balance point between your hands.
Of course, my advice is no better than anyone else's, and its always worth what you paid for it. :rotf: :surrender: :hmm: :hatsoff:
