Maybe not related, but I can recall a shotshell reloading article probably in Gun Digest from maybe the mid seventies. It was about spreader load experimenting, I guess before spreader type wads and inserts were available. Anyway, the author used cut square and flattened disc shaped shot. Very foggy now, but I believe he was getting usable short range patterns that quickly fell apart well out of typical distribution.
When I did a bunch of patterning, I believe my reject loads at long range probably lost pattern density due to some shot steering well out of the hoped for pattern. The steel plate was five by five feet and I'd give the whole thing a quick roller. I'd shoot at that arbitrary 30" circle and count. With decent high antimony shot, I could account for high nineties percent of the shot. Soft bargain shot, sometimes a little over 10 percent didn't even stay on the five by five, so I couldn't have even estimated if it resembled a pattern.
I believe soft and hard shot can kill exactly the same, but I believe it's easier to come up with effective patterns with hard shot, all else being equal. I played with it a little, but couldn't see a worthwhile help from buffers or plated shot. Probably because I use low pressure 7/8 or 1 oz. loads for every thing, just switching shot size. I still suspect, don't know, that distorted flyers skew way out of extrapolated patterns.
