Spreader Loads Question

[Stan Hillis]

I use Fiocchi Interceptor spreaders "heavily", or maybe regularly would be more accurate. My Perazzi MX8 is choked .020" and .020", fixed. I will use spreaders on a real close rabbit or crosser ............ anything that is close and might be irregular in it's flight line, on sporting clays. I have been using the Interceptors for several years and have gone through several flats of them.

I mention them only because they utilize the X shaped insert that divides the shot column into quadrants. My testing is that they open my pattern considerably at close ranges. I don't use them past about 20 yards, rather then depending on myself to center the modified pattern with a normal load. My shooting buddies have commented often how much they open my pattern, seeing the shot swarm hit the ground when used at a rabbit target.

I've loaded many different types of spreader loads for my own use, including the little disc and post inserts that you put in after the shot charge has been dropped. I did not like the patterns they yielded at all. They were very sparse in the center. The only way I was able to get them to work well was to remove some of the shot charge from the shell, put the insert into place, and add some shot back on top of it, or either punch three holes in the disc with a paper hole puncher. Either way, that's just too much sugar for a dime for me. I like reloading, but that is just too slow and tedious for me.

I actually use the Fiocchis in some of my stronger vintage doubles, from time to time, such as my Super Fox. I am cognizant of the pressures they likely generate, and am cautious about what I use them in. They're deadly effective, though.