shotguns and round ball

[single action]

Mike Lange is building me a 12 ga caplock shotgun. The barrel I sent him has a modified choke.
I have fired many modern shotguns that were choked modified with slugs with no apparent damage to the gun or myself. In fact, the shotgun I (and many others in my family) killed my first deer with was a 410 choked full. It fired many slugs and survived many children without any obvious injury. and when fired with shot will still shoots a very tight pattern, so I assume no damage has been done.
However, This was before the internet was invented. It seems now as I read through many blogs and web sites, that one should never fire a slug through any choked shotgun.
My question is, would it be safe to fire a patched round ball through this choke? It seems to me that it would be as the ball would be undersized with the patch providing the tight fit.
I will have to wait until the finished gun is back in my inpatient hands to be sure, but I think the barrel mic'd at .716. Any Ideas on a ball size to start with?
I have even seen lee hollow based slug molds that are a smaller diameter than that, I wonder if that would work. I know that wouldn't be authentic, but Im not really worried about authenticity ( sorry guys) but in a good versatile shotgun that I could hunt rabbits and squirrels  with and possibly short range deer during muzzleloading season.
I don't NEED to shoot slugs or round ball in it as I have a t/c 56 sb that shoots round ball very accurately out to 50 yards, I would just like to, BUT seeing the quality of work Mr Lange puts out, I sure wouldn't want to take the chance on ruining the gun when it gets here.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

[Baldy]

I don't think it would be any problem.  Use a fairly thick patch with a ball that fits -- after all, if it goes into the barrel OK it will surely come out OK as well.  You can even shoot it with a bare ball.  Just put in a wad first drop the ball (or roll it) down the barrel and put in an overshot card to hold it in position.  Sometimes the accuracy of this method can surprise you.

[bugflipper]

Well we kinda have two different issues. Let's start with shotguns that shoot shells. Folks tend to parrot info they see online and not research the matter for themselves. Even though millions of people have shot slugs out of shotguns, now everyone wants to say not to do it unless you have a slug barrel or cylinder bore. A slug is .69" in 12 ga unless it's a sabot. If the choke is under .69" you have a swage. Turkey chokes and very few x-full chokes are .69" or smaller so you don't want to use them. But folks picked that up and ran with it turning it into all chokes. Full and down is fine in 12 ga with a slug.

For us it doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Not telling anyone to do this but say you had a mod choke at .715" and hammered a patched .72" ball down it. It would swage to somewhere under .715" allowing for the extra thickness of the patch. In other words we can't load a ball or slug from the muzzle end big enough to damage a choke, unless of course we damaged it by hammering it in.

If you cast then lee has a 7/8 or 1 oz slug. They are .69" and work good patched, just like a .69 ball. I shot a 1 oz for years in an 1850's SxS. Started getting worried with it and went down to 7/8". Now it rests on the wall since I finally got up enough money to get a modern 10 ga SxS. If you don't cast then patched .69 cal balls would be the way to go. You can go up to blue jeans for patches if the accuracy isn't there with 015 or 018 pillow patches.

[William]

The only shotgun I own is a modern 1950's era pump in 12 gauge which I haven't even shot for going on 15 years or so but I learn so much from the exchange of information on this form I feel that I am ready for just about anything. 

[single action]

Thanks a lot guys! I appreciate the advice. I was thinking the same thing, if its small enough to go in, its small enough to come out with no problem. 

[Patocazador]

This is a bit late but I have found that unchoked barrels shoot patched round balls better for me than choked barrels. I'm talking better accuracy. However, there are exceptions to every rule.
I also found that out to 50 yards I get almost the same accuracy out of my 12 ga. SxS CVA with a patched .690 ball as I do with a unpatched .715 ball with Spanish moss wadding. Both barrels are cylinder bore.
Buckshot, however, gives me better patterns in a choked barrel (00 buck).