You need to shoot your gun and see. My browning will put all pellets of 3" mag 00 buck in a 10" circle at 40yds. Very confident at that range. My max would be 50 if I had a good shot, but I know my gun can do it.
That said...I haven't used my shotgun in at least 10yrs. I agree that buckshot is responsible for wounding more game than anything. Some of my buddies hunt w dogs and they all use buckshot. Every week I get reports of them "missing" deer that ran by at 30yds to 50yds and they unloaded their gun at it. They say "Dang, I missed again".
I'm not a big fan.