A few years ago, I made a half-organized attempt to find out what Pattern Control post wads would produce in the way of patterns from the usual mod-full combination in damascus barrels. I think I loaded Nitro 100 and small shot, probably 9s so I could keep pressures low and have a LOT of pellets to count. To some of the post wads I added a 5/8"-long chunk of Tygon tubing slipped on to the post (Bill Murphy's idea). I think there were a few ClayBuster 1100-12s in there as a control. All loads were an ounce of shot and I made up the difference in volume in the straight post wad (it's an 1 1/8oz wad same as the Red PC) with puffed wheat. No large (6 or better) shot so wouldn't have had much to say about hunting loads but I thought it would tell me something about the effectiveness of the post in producing wider patterns from tight chokes and maybe I'd see the infamous "donut hole" from the loads with the CB wad. Two of the guns were Lefevers (bores were around .732" or greater) and the other a very heavy-barreled Syracuse Hollenbeck and I've forgotten how it was bored but wasn't under the American standard .729". One of the Lefevers was ic/mod; the other two guns IIRC were the usual 25/40 points constriction give or take. I didn't see the "donut" from either of the wads or the modified "super-spreader," Tygon-enhanced wad. About all I found out was that the spreader wads did produce wider patterns and took some pellets out of the core as against the non-spreader CB. None of the guns ruptured or showed any sign they couldn't deal with a quick 6200psi.

I've promised myself that I'd run some sort of fiber wad test on this Merkel (38 and 45 points choke) ever since I've had it (and before I get it opened) and the thinking behind this parallels Ted's in the original question: Euroguns with tight bores (.719") of a certain age (in this case late 50s) ought to have some logical connection to wad material with a limited obturational effectiveness available at the time of manufacture of the gun. I know the slight overbores in the Lefevers, produced (1902) in the era of fiber wadding and bp, appear to give this the lie, but it's still the conjecture I'm operating from. I think I'll try the over-the-counter Eleys as I'd like to know what this gun (as is) is supposed to do with shot in the #6,5,4 range. Have to find a plastic wad&shotcup load for comparison I think. I'm curious if there's a mylar sleeve or tube in those Gamebores? I'd hate to think that all I'll be doing is getting shot deformation from setback and barrel scrub. I guess the real questions for me are two: 1) Will the gun produce even distribution of shot from fiber loads superior to that from plastic wadded?, 2) What components for a spreader load producing good-looking result from same gun?

jack