<P>I have been loading the 3.5" 12ga. for slightly more than the last four years. It has been a royal pain in the rear at times to get high velocities and good patterns in the same loading. I noticed, however, that loads I made with the shorter Rem. #6 lead turkey load hulls, almost always patterned better than did the ones made using the longer steel shot hulls.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">In loading the shorter case, I had to reduce the powder charge and shorten the wad from that used in the case with the normal length. I also had to make certain adjustments in the press to load the shorter case.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">In conversing with steel shot loader on another site, he confirmed what I had observed about my own loads, that light, fast shot charges in long wads with a large amount of filler often patterned worse than a similar load in a shorter wad with little or no filler. </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">So, if you are not getting good patterns in your high velocity 3.5" steel loads, you might consider switching to a load using a shorter case, such as the Kent, or even to a 3" hulled load. Kent's often pattern well with the right choke.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The pics. below show two patterns I fired tonight with the shortened case and wad. It was a 1 3/16 oz. load of BBB's at just over 1550 fps. at 40 yards out of the Baikal MP 153 and .675" Terror choke.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P>