last season i shot the federal 3.5" 1 3/8 oz 1550 fps loads, went through about 7 boxes of it. i'm using a briley extended LM tube out of an old style SBE. i liked the results. if you are shooting much #4 shot, you don't need a tight choke. C or IC should be enough. the smaller pellets run out of energy before the bigger ones do if they both have the same muzzle velocity.