RE: Federal Black Cloud Shells?
as for the black cloud, i don't have any personal experience with it...for my money all the fast steel loads do a good job, and kent fasteel is a proven performer as is the old federal premium high velocity loads (I'm partial to the 1.5 oz loads).... but from what I've seen there were several folks that shot better with the black clouds than they had in the past(but I have my theory on that, particularly now that swampcollie points out that they all seem to pattern to an IC no matter the actual choke...you see I think 90% of the duck hunters are shooting too much choke and miss shots because of it...but that is a subject for another post)....
back to the black clouds, they seem to be similar to the faster steel loads, which perform well.... but, mymy adviceto the original poster is two-fold....
first, you should talk to your outfitter/guide service before you go to see if need to supply the shells or if they are going to supply the shells, and second to the best of my knowledge you can only bring in a maximum of 200 shells to Canada for hunting there.... what I'm getting at is this, you may not have a choice of what kind of ammo you get, just be forewarned....
now, I don't consider a Canada hunt to be high volume (the duck limit is 8 per day, and the most liberal canada goose limit was 5 per day if memory serves) so that means you are looking at 13 waterfowl per day 200 shells ought to be more than enough depending on the length of the trip... my point is this, in the grand sceme of things the cost of your ammunition will probably be a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the trip, buy good ammo (and other equipment for that matter)because the last thing you want to dois cut corners and ruin a great trip.... on that note you will also want to give your ammo a test run through your gun to make sure it feeds well, some guns are a bit finicky about loads...also shoot that gun as much as possible to get you, the shooter, in good shape for the trip....
I've rambled and I apologize,I hope I've brought up a couple of points that will be helpful...as to choke, start with IC, if you don't shoot often you will be better served with a larger pattern on decoying birds for a bit of forgiveness, and furthermore, depending on the load steel patterns tighter than lead, so an IC choke will pattern like a Light Modified, or Modified choke and you will have plenty of choke for anything out to 35-40 yards....