Hey Stan,, I havent ordered from RST or Polywad in some time but it does appear their prices have gone up a bit as I would have also choked at those prices plus freight. Perhaps ORM-D shipping rates have increased as well,, just dont know. I have never patterned any of my RST or Polywads properly but Im mostly a grouse and woodcock gunner these days and therefore, dont burn through my stock too fast and could always rely on grabbing a few boxes in 12-16-20 ga at the Vintagers or other events they attend. Not sure of your intended use (maybe bobwhite quail?), but something got me thinking about safety of the dogs with these spreader loads after hearing/reading of flyers out of the pattern they may be more susceptible to produce. Not sure of the reality of this phenomenon, but it made me very (maybe overly) cautious this fall when more than a couple of tightly held birds flushed and didnt clear the dogs before a safe shot materialized but then was lost in the cover or already rocketing around the backside of a spruce.. Im probably not articulating this very well but, what Im trying to say is I now have a slight nagging fear that spreaders may not be too safe over dogs and I hold off more conservatively on snap shots I probably would have taken with just pain old RSTs or Vintagers.. With that comes the decision to shoot tighter chokes or have them opened up a bit - which is obviously a gun-by-gun consideration for most of us that may need to keep things as they left the factories of the Northeast USA back in their day...
