[Virginian]

Steel behaves exactly like lead through the choke. It's just harder and less likely to compress. You will get slightly better patterns because of the harder pellets. I have shot, and patterned, many steel loads thru full choke tubes. As with lead, in the larger shot sizes an Improved Modified will often give a tighter pattern. I have never seen a blown pattern. The current shotcups are worlds better than the early ones. About zero chance of scoring a barrel. I also shot a lot of steel through a Richland Model 711 10 gauge Magnum choked Full and Full. It never suffered any damage, but I knew there was some risk involved. There is nothing like a 10 for big birds with steel. After tungsten came along, I went back to the 3" 12 gauge.