It is understandable that split shots secondary bullets do not deal headshot damage, but at the moment if you are close enough to an enemy that both the primary bullet and a secondary bullet are hitting, the secondary bullet takes priority and deals the reduced damage. This does not seem to be...
Merc mag can only damage one enemy per shot, even if it pierces and hits another or you are using split shot.
Also, when split shot is active the secondary hit targets hit through a pierce do not take 50% reduced damage.