16ga.com ~ View topic - POLYWAD - SPRED-R

Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 27 Location: UTAH

Has anyone tried the polywad spred-r shells, or inserts? And if so, what do you think about them?
Thanks,
Rich

Member Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 467 Location: SC PA

I've used them to a limited degree in my L.C. Smith 16. Mostly casual clays in the field w/family. My bores are both choked a very tight full. I threw several shots onto paper just to see if there was a difference in the pattern and found there was a very visible difference between a standard load and them. I can't give you percentages but would guess it opened up the pattern a full choke+. Also, pattern density was very uniform. I'll continue to use them until I finally decide to have the chokes opened. I like to carry the gun for turkey as well and haven't yet been able to bring myself to have the choke work done. Guess I just need to buy another 16ga Elsie with more open chokes!

Marcus

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

The inserts work ok but for a limited amount of shells cut the petals off the wad Wink

Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Minnesota

I use them for early season Woodcock and Grouse when the foliage is thick and you only have sight of the bird up to 10 yards, very nice shell that does not tear up game when you have to snap shoot.
The shells from the factory are great , if you want to order 9 shot you have to order in advance,
I also load them in my 28,20, and 16 ga.
in the 20 I normally load 7/8 once shot, drop down to 3/4 oz to allow room for the spreader insert, on the 16 ga 1 oz , I drop down to 7/8 oz shot to allow room for the spreader insert.
As for the 28ga I drop 3/4 oz and then remove enough pellets to allow room for the insert, and you also have to remove the little tabs from the insert edge.
Another neat thing about using this spreader is you can use hulls that have worn crimps from being reloaded several times , the spreader insert seals the load perfectly , so you can get one more bang out of a worn hull.
Can't say enough good things about Poly wad products and the folks at Poly wad are great to work with, never to busy to answer questions.

Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 15 Location: SW Michigan

Tried the x-spreadr in my Hevi loads to open up the pattern. Didn't seem to help much . . . if at all. Now I just custom cut the wad petals.

Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Posts: 56 Location: tulsa

I have tried them on both 12 and 16 loads. They worked. I am not a ballistic nut, but in general they opened up a choke from full to modified or one designation. Simple loading was just to reduce the shot 1/8 ounce of and use the Spread R wad in its place. Say your load was for 1 1/8 you would use 1 ounce of shot and the Spred R wad leaving everything else the same. They would be a great way to use those old Remington hulls that always leaked shot out of the middle of the crimp. . I have not tried them in a shotgun that already had an open choke. I think their cost is justified if you are trying to open up chokes and leave the barrels alone.

Tulsey - this is exactly the type of info/review I've been looking to read/hear for this product.

Did you pattern out standard/spreaders and stuff? Can you describe the process a bit?

Thanks,
Sprocket

Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Posts: 10

I have used them in my 12b guns and they opened the pattern up considerably. From Full to Imp. At 15 yards I get 12" pattern, with polywad spreaders I get 30"+. It is thin in the center. At 15yrds I notice a soda can sided area that had maybe only 12 or so pellets. At 25yrds I would say the pattern was thin in general. So much so I thought there no need to try 30yrds.
For up close with a tight choke the are wonderful.

Using a standard "brush wad" I was able to get a more open pattern than a modern shotcup, but not much. Probably close to what the original intent was.

Member Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1257 Location: Nebraska

This won't show a heck of a lot of detail, but the patterns on the left were shot through .0145" of choke, those on the right through .017" in a barrel that had been opened up from whatever its factory original Full measured. Spred-R reloads on the bottom, all patterns were at 20yds. There were too many holes to bother marking in the M12's standard load pattern, and the image is kind of small but believe me, the saturation is heavy. The Spred-R did its job in both cases. For actual use, I've only carried Spred-Rs for late season pheasant hunting with the M12 where we might run into quail.

I did shoot Spred-Rs through the IC barrel of .0045"; the effect wasn't quite as pronounced but it's there. The Spred-Rs used 7/8oz of 9's if I recall correctly, the standard rounds used 1oz of 8's. Spred-R load is on the left.

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

I just loaded up some 7/8 oz spread-r loads, using the 2-1/2" Fiochi hulls I got from the Rev. I went and shot a couple rounds of Skeet. Low gun with my 32" barreled hammer gun, choked full and full. Shot an 18 and a 20, so I think they work. Smile

Member Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 425 Location: Maine

Did some patterning a while back with a friend's .021 choked 16g M12 marked "full"
B&P F2's gave "full choke" patterns, just as a point of reference. Inserting a piece of soda straw into the middle of the shot column gave light modified, and the polywad inserts were very open, cylinder bore sized patterns. Used 1oz. chilled 6's in the two handloads.

I've been loading the 16 ga and 20-28 gauge inserts for two seasons now. They are just super. They work well in any tighter choked barrel from quarter choke to full. They work by retarding the shot column from stringing out which results in an open pattern. So they do not depend as much on the gun's choke as other types of spreader inserts that work from inside the shot charge.

They are easy to load and very reasonable if you buy bulk. Just pay attention to the instructions concerning the length of the insert stem. The stem is crucial to the insert's performance. Do not crush the shot with the insert cap when crimping either. If you follow the reloading advice, you will get very uniform results with very nice open patterns every time.