I just picked up a new (to me, and perhaps to Lord Newport in 1903) Henry Atkin SLE in 12. The barrels are choked .708 and .720, so I am calling that essentially Improved/Modified. Most of my hunting is grouse and woodcock, with preserve pheasants thrown in maybe once a year or once every year and a half. That being said, I would like to do some wild pheasants and even travel for driven birds in the future. I assumed that I was going to open the chokes up a bit, but now I'm wondering if simply using spreader RST and Polywad cartridges for my hunting doesn't get me to a similar result without having to tinker with the gun, and preserving tighter chokes for farther shots.
The problem is, I have no concept of what the spread is on the spreader loads, having never used them before. Any advice, warnings disagreement, or agreement is appreciated.
