Worth Matthewson wrote, in his book Big December Canvasbacks that for many years after the mandate of steel shot for waterfowl he continued using his tightly choked L C Smith, with 2s and 3s as I recall. He had to take it to a gunsmith for some minor repair not concerning the barrels and the gunsmith measured his chokes, surprising Worth about how tight they were. The old warrior had been belching out those big steel shot loads for years with no discernible damage.
If I were to do so though, I'd stick with smaller shot sizes that that. I have, however, been shooting steel, up to and including size 3s, in my 30" barreled BSS for ages, with no damage. I had the left barrel's choke opened to the same as the right came from the factory, .018".
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