I do have available simple magnifiers, optical vernier microscope , digital microscope and, at my university, a scanning electron microscope. My favorite technique for shape analysis is, however, to simply use a camera together with a good quality ruler! A jpeg image of the shot particles plus ruler can easily be magnified to above the stipulated 30X. This also has the advantage of producing a permanent record- useful for satisfying customers. Further refinement suggestions are to spread the shot onto a nylon mesh of appropriate gage and to use image analysis.
