RE: chokes
I am not a long-time sporting clays shooter.... but, I will relate something (to you) which helped me. When I bought my shotgun, it came with both a modified and a full choke. I knew already that the full choke would be rather useless for skeet/trap... but, I tried the modified. My shooting friends all recommended getting a "skeet" choke, as the modified type is designed for quite a smaller pattern than the skeet type. I subsequently did purchase a "skeet" choke... and my scores have risen considerably. Some of that may have to do with practice... but, I did notice an IMMEDIATE improvement in my scores, as soon as I began using the skeet choke.