Has anyone used any type of wad or device to get a fast spreading shot pattern?

I just shot sporting clays for the first time. There was one statin with "rabbits" at about 10-12 yards. Even with skeet chokes, the pattern didn't open up enough. Still managed to break some, but it was more like shooting a rifle.

The thing with spreaders is that they generally work with tight chokes. I like the polywad inserts (a lot), but they aren't going to do anything for you in a skeet choke. They'll turn a full into a skeet, but that's about it.

On close targets like that, choke becomes pretty irrelevant in most cases. Really not much you can do but focus on the leading edge and don't hit your toes! HTH, Dutch.

I know of a quail hunter who slightly deforms his lead shot with a mallet prior to loading it into the hopper.

I don't have any personal experience with this, so I can't say if it works or not.

Anybody have an opinion?

Thanks,

MDL

Kenati, I've read about a couple of experiments that played with that sort of stuff (including the old European "cube" shot).

Long story short, no significant difference up to about 25, maybe 30 yards, minimal difference between 30 and 35, and HUGE difference from 35 yards on out, to the point of being useless (shot leaving the pattern completely).

However, it is known to make the shooter feel better.... HTH, Dutch.

Well, I tried some of the Spread-R wads by Poly Wad. They look like a big thumb tack with three holed in the disk. The disk with the holes is designed for open or skeet choke.

With these Spread-Rs, you need to reduce the normal load by 1/8 oz of shot to make room under the crimp and to keep the pressure down.

I tested some 1 oz Spreaders against my standard 1-1/8 oz loads at about 15 yds. The pattern opened up somewhat. Not a huge amount, maybe 15-20%. What I did notice was that it moved some of the high density center shot towards the outer edge of the pattern. Overall, it does seem to improve things somewhat. Not enough to make me look like a decent shot, but never the less, an improvement.

I just got some 1-1/4 wads, so I plan to rerun the test with 1-1/8 oz in both the Spread-R and the control load.

I'm sorry but I think Dutch speaks of what he knows little of.

Several years back I operated my own business where I patterned loads for customers. With time and the correct components I could get a shotgun load to do dang near anything.

The Polywad spreader disk was the single most effective device I could find to get a load to open up, irrespective of the choke involved. The next most effective thing was to shoot soft shot. I mean "SOFT" too!

I can get a load to open up in differing degrees by trying different sized Polywad disks. Their no rule that says you have to use only the 12 ga disk in a 12 ga load. On average I can get a load to open up 5" at 15 yards. I ran a test in a SxS that had 7 thou and 11 thou choke. I was able to get that 7 thou barrel to throw upwards of 40-41" spreads at 15 yards. You might try the red Win WAA12R wad to start with.

Good luck and sorry about the rant.

Big Al

Kenati,
Once upon a time; a friend and I used hammers and a cement floor to pound several pounds of shot. Of course we also "pounded" a few 12 ounce beverages. We ended up with shot that looked like a flake powder. We never patterned the shot, but used it quite a bit for rabbits in thick cover. It was a little scary. Sometimes we'd hear the little discs screaming off the side at almost right angles to the line of fire.
YMMV
Take care, have fun....
Roger D. in Southern, Indiana

quote:

Originally posted by A/C guy:
Well, I tried some of the Spread-R wads by Poly Wad. They look like a big thumb tack with three holed in the disk. The disk with the holes is designed for open or skeet choke.

With these Spread-Rs, you need to reduce the normal load by 1/8 oz of shot to make room under the crimp and to keep the pressure down.

I tested some 1 oz Spreaders against my standard 1-1/8 oz loads at about 15 yds. The pattern opened up somewhat. Not a huge amount, maybe 15-20%. What I did notice was that it moved some of the high density center shot towards the outer edge of the pattern. Overall, it does seem to improve things somewhat. Not enough to make me look like a decent shot, but never the less, an improvement.

I just got some 1-1/4 wads, so I plan to rerun the test with 1-1/8 oz in both the Spread-R and the control load.

They have worked the best (for me) with light charges as in 1 oz. of small shot (#8-1/2 or 9) .

I can't personnaly say how they patterned, but my Grandfather's last shotgun (now mine) was a Savage 775 (alloy framed copy of Browning) in 16 ga. that he used to hunt quail in NW Arkansas. Choked modified and he used factory spreader loads for the first 2 and a regular load for the third. His last hunt was with me in 1972 (at the age of 72) and we shared the honor of 3 birds each on a covey rise. His last and my first. Problem was we both shot the same bird for our third (he wasn't worth eating, he was so shot up). He took his shotguns seriously and patterened them for fit and shot spread. His theory was that the modified choke allowed him to get the third bird that was out of range for a more open pattern spread and the spreaders were more than adequate for the close birds. Worked for him!

A/C,

Good advice you've received here on this topic.

Here in Europe spreader loads are very popular and surpisingly commonly available. They're used in both the Field and at Clays. There's alot of reasons for this that aren't applicable to this thread but almost exclusively they use either a wad with a center post in the cup or a small clear plastic "X" about 3/4" long that is inserted into the wad to sorta quarter the shot charge. Both will definately open your patterns.

These plastic "X's" are very effective and I've picked them up off the range just to see if I could get reloads to open up as well as factory fodder. Yes, Martha, they do work good. The caveat is though; like has been mentioned above they perform best when choke is Full (and Fuller) and at high velocity.

Just my $0.02.