I always thought my Smith lightweight 16 bore was the perfect grouse gun. I killed a lot of birds with that gun and even used it from time to time on early wild pheasants. But it wasn't a Parker so it had to go. I never found an appropriate Parker with cut barrels. I could have opened my chokes on the IC guns, but I would never do that.
With respect to larger pellets being better for shooting through brush, it just isn't so. No pellet can hit brush and stay on point of aim. I used to laugh when people talked about using brush buster calibers for deer. The theory was that a larger bore with a heavier slower bullet could shoot through brush while a smaller higher speed bullet couldn't. The pseudo experts long ago said that calibers like the .35 Remington were good in the east and calibers like the .243 for the west. They were full of applesauce. The .243 is a great deer caliber east or west. I have taken deer with the .243 while shooting many crop damage permit deer. We'd shoot them and then call the warden to come pick them up in the barn. I used many calibers from the .243 through .300 Winchester magnum, just to see how the different calibers stacked up. None of those calibers, including the .35 Remington, would shoot to point of aim if any obstruction whatsoever was hit.
And so it is with shotgun pellets. A larger pellet, whatever the size, will never continue to point of aim if it hits an obstruction. What you need is a large number of fine shot. The more shot you put in the air, the better chance you have of some not being obstructed and shooting to the point of aim.
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