A Shooting Sport Rant

Last week while grouse hunting up north I found myself needing to buy a box of shells. No problem, I'll just pop into the local sporting goods store, and grab a box off the shelf. That's exactly what I did. But I was reminded of a conversation I'd had with my friend Sterling a week before while grouse hunting. I paid $17.50 for a box of 20 gauge, high brass 7 1/2s. But price isn't the subject of this rant. The fact that by next season any un-used shell which has been rolled in my pocket, thumbed, and been allowed to commingle with other shells will be indistinguishable from any other shell is my problem. For $17.50 per box, the manufacturers could at least mark their products with ink that doesn't wear off so easily. While I usually dedicate one pocket for 7 1/2s, and another for 6s, by the end of the season shells often end up mixed together some how. When it comes time again to use these shells, I sure would like to know that it's a 7 1/2 I'm dropping in the right barrel, and a 6 I'm dropping it the left barrel. Is that too much to ask? Rant over.