Now, so far I note, no one has posted any Accelerometer results. I would most certainly love to see such input. I am quite willing to be "Proved" wrong. I will not however simply cave in to "Anecdotal" evidence in which the "Tester" cannot even verify at what velocity his loads left the bbl, other than to say "I took them out of the XXXX FPS block of the loading manual".
As to Thomas yes I understand he was an "Engineer" (So was Casey Jones & he Wrecked the Train) & I am just a low life machinist. Matter of fact "Mr ED" pointed out quite sufficiently my low grade status a while back. I don't however roll over & die quite that easy.
Now as I recall, correct me here if I am wrong Larry, This test which Thomas cited was not carried out at the time of his report. I do seem to recall him stating it was "Formerly" done. Now let me state this as simple as I know how; I have little doubt these tests were carried out & that the results were as stated. I am in no way calling Mr Thomas a liar. What I do find though is that "If" there were data available giving details of the types of powder used etc, & he failed to give full particulars, that was iresponsible reporting. If on the other hand no details were available; for him to publish it & create a cockeyed story as he did to substantiate it as he did was even more irresponsible. To paraphrase him "A shell loaded with fast powder will recoil less because the shooter doesn't have time to feel it". My friend "I Ain't That Thar Igorant Yet".
A few years back when Alliant Powder Co was introducing a new powder to their shotgun line, Select maybe, not sure & not worth hunting up the old manual, They alloted two full pages of their reloaders guide to explainging how this powder would "Reduce Recoil" for the target shooter in comparsion to a typical "Fast Powder". No doubt they were comparing it to their own Red Dot. The burn rate of this new powder fell between Red & Green Dots. The reason, according to them, for this reduced recoil was because it was "Slower", thus a lower pressure peak & slower acceleration. I feel absolutely certain there were people on the Alliant Team equally (or superiorly) qualified as was Thomas, yet their claims were diametrically opposed to those of Thomas. I personally feel that in spite of these folks qualifications, the statements they were making, while technically true, were of such a mi-nute' magnitude as to have no practical effect upon the shooter. They were after all trying to "Sell" a new powder & yes they were "Still" selling their old standby Red Dot. I also "Very Strongly" suspect the test cited by Thomas was performed using one of the older bulk powders in comparsion with a dense powder. No doubt the company promoting the tests was at the time selling shells loaded with both types. No doubt also it was during an era in which the dense powders were proving more economical for the amunition Co's to produce, load & handle etc. No doubt as well there were at the time "Old Die Hards" who desired to cling to the old. It is certainly a possibility this Co was desiring to phase out the bulk type powders, but were afraid of losing customers if they just went Cold Turkey, & that this was a promotion for the dense type of powders.
Now I realize you have already referred to this line of thinking as un-founded ignorance, but I never claimed to be overly smart, but have been made well aware over the years of many "Marketing Ploys".
Bottom line is "If" I were desiring to reduce the recoil generated by my current favorite shotshell powder Alliant Green Dot, I would really not know which way to go. You & Gough would indicate I should switch to Red Dot, but everyone else seems to be of the opinon Unique would be the direction to go. Guess I'll just endure the Green, I kinda like having my teeth Rattled.

Miller/TN
I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra