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The reloading recipes that use these Ballistic Products brush wads are straight walled, Fiocchi, Cheddite, and Rio hulls. Can these wads be substituted in recipes for other straight walled hulls such as the Federals that I have the primers and powders for. I am trying to reload a spreader for fixed tight chokes.

What gauge? (PM sent)

ClayBuster says their straight‐walled wad recipes are good in any staight-walled hull, American or European. I realize that does not answer your question directly, but it gives you something to consider, esp. if the gun in question is stout and you are not flirting with the edges of its capabilities.

I am not familiar with brush wads.

Spreader wads.

Aren't brush wads the short ones with no petals?

Yes they are.also sell a spreader insert

Randy, your simplest solution is to use the wads that you usually do and load deformed shot or 'Plumb Bago' as the Europeans call it. Any soft or chilled bird shot is easily deformed on an old cookie sheet w/sides [to keep it contained while deforming it] w/a suitable bludgeoning devise. It doesn't need to be fancy; most anything of a hard metal with some heft will work and it does not take much force, just a few sound raps will usually do. It's easy enough to inspect your progress. Deformed shot does not drop well in most loaders, so it's easier to make a dipper from a cut down shotshell w/a spent primer still in place and use that, if nothing handier is available. You can wire or tape it to a handle to make using it easier, if wished. Spreader loads made in this fashion are VERY effective and simple to fabricate. I have found them much more effective than using some of the specialty wads marketed for 'spreader loads'. You can verify that for yourself if you have access to a grease plate. I've done that and used them on occasion for both close in sporty clays target presentations and in the field w/very satisfying results as the patterns bloom much quicker than using specialty wads. And, yes, you can get patterns to open more than one constriction, predicated on how flattened the shot is. Just Saying.

Simple yes, and if shooting clay maybe ok. However if shooting game I would not.

Orvis used to market flattened shot spreader loads, while they worked they really tore up birds compared to round shot. Moreover they seemed to stop midway through the breast more often than round shot and definitely caused more feather draw into the wound channels.

Spreader wads and inserts is a better way to go with live birds.

When I handloaded for my Ithaca NID 10 ga. 3.5" which was full choke in both barrels that shot 95% at 40 yards in a 30" circle when shooting buffered 2 1/8 oz. large shot in the old BP pattern driver wad with 4 petals cut into the plastic wad. For close in birds, we cut away all but the gas seal and about .5" of wad above the seal and loaded 2.5 oz. of #3 with diy x inserts of shirt cardboard, the load opened up to 55% at 40 yards. Gil

A few years back I was loading some spreader loads for my tight choked 16ga LC Smith. BPI did not sell the brush wads for 16ga so I cut the shot petals off of some SG16 wads and used them along with the Extreme spreader inserts. The loads patterned well and I was able to shoot well at the state shoot that year and won my class in the SXS event.