I posted some of this information on an earlier thread, but then patterned some Fiocchi Interceptors, and thought it would more useful to repost this as a separate thread providing a comparison of all three loads together.

I shot these patterns to see if using these loads would allow my "pheasant" gun to work for grouse and woodcock. I used a Verney-Carron 12 ga. sxs with 28" barrels stamped 18.4mm and choked R 0.008 and L 0.023. For an indirect comparison, this gun shot 70% and 65% patterns at 25 and 35 yards using Federal Top Gun loads (1 oz. of 8s).

The three shells patterned were RST Spreaders (1 oz of 8s), Polywad Spred-Rs (1 1/8 oz 8s), and Fiocchi Interceptors (1 oz 8s). The RSTs and Polywads met the nominal pellet counts of 410 and 461 respectively, but the Fiocchis had 423 pellets. I shot five patterns for each load at 15 and 25 yards (reflecting typical grouse and woodcock shots).

15 yards:
RST - 92% (range 90-93%)
Fiocchi - 86% (range 84-88%)
Polywad - 77% (range 69-81%)

25 yards:
RST - 71% (range 57-80%)
Fiocchi - 64% (58-74%)
Polywad - 41% (range 36-55%)

So, based on these patterns, the Polywads open faster, but lose pattern efficiency quickly. The Fiocchis offered some improvement for the IC choke in the right barrel, but the RSTs did not fare as well in that regard. Both the RSTs and Fiocchis had less variability in their patterns than the Polywads.

I used HunterJohn pattern sheets that have a life-sized duck outline in the center, and counted pellet strikes on the duck to measure density at the center of the pattern (maybe not statistically accurate but seems to make field sense). I came up with the following percentages of pellet strikes:

15 yards:
RST - 27% (range 24-31%)
Fiocchi - 24% (range 20-33)
Polywad - 10% (range 5-20%)

25 yards:
RST - 13% (range 10-14%)
Fiocchi - 12% (range 11-14%)
Polywad - 5% (range 4-8%)

Based on these patterns, the RSTs and Fiocchis had significantly more pellet strikes on the pattern "center" compared to the Polywads.

My take-away was that, at least out of this gun, the Polywads will provide a more open pattern, but the trade-off is less density in the center and a pattern that will not be effective much past 20 yards, even out of a tight Mod. choke. Overall, the Fiocchis offered the best performance for opening the IC choke while maintaining good performance at 25 yards out of the second barrel - both in terms of overall pattern efficiency and pellet strikes at the center. YMMV of course depending on the gun and load used.

Great info, Doverham. I have wondered about the comparisons and you have provided data, not speculation. Granted, results will vary gun to gun but your work provides a good starting point.

It is my understanding that the spreader loads are best used for opening up patterns in tighter choked guns than IC and weren't developed specifically to open up IC choked shotgun patterns. Gil

Thanks Joe.

Gil - The Interceptors are really target loads (they only come in 8s and 8.5s to my knowledge), and the other two are specialty loads for vintage fixed choke guns, so I think they were developed for different reasons. Fiocchi at least does not suggest that the Interceptors were developed only for tight choked guns.

Note that Fiocchi also uses softer shot in their Spreader loads. From their catalog:

As a practical matter, these results are consistent with the conventional wisdom that spreader loads don't help much with more open chokes.

ah have tried awl three brands an still cant seem tu hit most o dem clay birds afly hin on da skeet range!

Does anyone have pressure data on the 1 oz & 1 1/8 oz Fiocchi spreaders?

I've not been able to find it published & I seem to remember reading somewhere that all Fiocchi USA ammo is SAAMI Spec which could be problematic for use in some guns.

My 20 yd testing with RST 12ga 1 oz 7 1/2 spreaders out of .008" choke indicates similar results with only about a 2" increase in effective pattern over the RST 7 1/2 Lite load but the spreaders are much less "center dense" so in my opinion still worth using (at least in that particular gun).

It would be nice to have a spreader that opened more than the RST & less rapidly than the Poly Wad in I.C chokes & @ appropriate pressures.

Looks like handloads with the polywad disk & shot on top of the disk is going to be the best way to achieve that from the info supplied on this thread.

Doverham, if you reload using the Polywad inserts, you can improve center density while still achieving spreader results. Two ways of doing it: Mike Campbell places a layer of shot on top of the insert. I use a one-hole punch and cut out 3 half moon notches around the edge of the insert.

I don't have any pressure data on Fiocchi spreaders but I can tell you they are plenty brisk having shot nearly a case in the previous few months on rabbit and close in blooper SC targets. I would be cautious about using in any vintage gun.