I tried spreader loads a long time ago, and the only time I would consider using them again would be if I absolutely felt the need to shoot a very tightly choked gun, and didn't wish to alter the original chokes. And I don't like the idea of altering original chokes either. There is a better solution to both problems. It is more fun and more interesting too. Just buy more shotguns. Don't try to turn a duck gun into an upland bird gun, or vice-versa.
I have a choice of several open choked guns for early season grouse, and I have a number of tightly choked guns for turkeys or late season pheasants. And I have guns that are choked in between those extremes. I do not golf. But if I did golf, I don't think I would try some clamp-on accessory that enabled me to use a 9 iron as a putter. And I don't know any golfer that would either.
My only pattern testing of the spreader loads I used was some informal shooting at large sheets of paper or cardboard. I don't recall any wild extreme flyers, but my patterns had some large enough holes to concern me. I also don't even recall what brand I used. I can tell you what I do know... from shooting a very large amount of objects from a slingshot as a kid... from perfectly spherical ball bearings, to fairly round iron ore pellets, to round stones, to misshapen stones... objects that I could actually see in flight. I would be much more concerned that a dog or fellow hunter might get struck by flattened or reclaimed shot than I would by flyers from well outside the pattern of a spreader load. Misshapen projectiles can and do have some very erratic and unpredictable flight paths. These tales of a poor dog getting raked by dozens or up to 100 pellets are either horrible accidents or careless shooting. I would not question the possibility of one or two flattened pellets going well outside the bulk of a pattern.
