PPD,
I am very familiar with the use of very tight chokes on quail. It can be very distructive on birds with shots in the 17-18 yrd and less area. I am not familiar with spreaders in a .410 either. Given the long column of the shot in the shell/bore, I'd lean toward trying what TW proposed. You might also check over on the .410 forum.
If he is shooting 3" shells, I recommend he go down to a 2 1/2" shell for the short shots and also go up, yes up, in shot size. This reduces the pattern density. I've found Winchester 2 1/2" #6 shells at discount stores and they were great on quail at close range.
I do have a gun that I hunt quail with that has a cylinder bore in the right barrel. I have a long forcing cone in that gun and shoot 3" shells. The cylinder bore produces excellent patterns at 25 yrds. It has killed a lot of quail this past season, but the first thing it killed was a farm raised rooster inbound at about 20-25 yrds with a 3/4 oz Win #6 load. I agree with Bill S., forcing cones on a .410 are very influential in the pattern, especially as distance increases and damaged shot start flying astray. There is a high percentage of the shot that makes contact with the forcing cone/bore in a .410 (especially a 3" shell) compared to larger bores.
