Dayum! This is the first time that I ever had a speed-strip rot away before it wore out.

I'm guessing that this particular strip is as old as my "grown and on her own" granddaughter.  I unceremoniously toss any strip into the garbage if it fails to retain any of the cartridges during the routine shake tests, the fumbling during range-time sessions, or during the practice sessions at home when I'm using snap-cap dummy rounds.  This particular strip has been my carry reload for a couple of years now and was given the shake-down test daily. The cartridges in my daily carry revolver were exchanged with those in the reload strip monthly.  I have long noticed that the pliability of this strip was getting suspect but I never once thought that it would suffer dry rot; live and learn.  I screwed up and waited too long.

I went through all of my kits and inspected each speed-strip and found two more that looked to be the same vintage as the above; although they were functionally sound they also exhibited the aforementioned loss of pliability so I tossed them out.

Once upon a time I believed that I had enough spare speed-strips to last for the balance of my lifetime. I was wrong.  It's time for me to order another package or two. 

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😎

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