Without question you are. Why any one would want to torture themselvesthis way is beyond me. It's almost impossible to hang on to.


You get no more knockdown power in a 3 1/2" as you do in a 3". If you are going to shoot a 3 1/2" shell, why not just shoot a 10 ga. It's much more efficient.

OK, so, to answer your question....Your gun will pattern certain loads better than others. The only way to know is to shoot them......all. Problem here is obvious, money don't grow on trees. So, IMO, a good place to start is a 3" load of either 4's or 5's in Hevi-Shot. Now, I have a Stoeger pump (pretty much the Benelli Nova) and it patters a 3" Winchester SuperX #5 really good.