I submit a lot of my own coins and this is what I have discovered.

I look through about 1 to 2 thousand coins to find my Business Strike submissions. I can dismiss about 3/4 of the coins within a second of looking at them. The remaining coins are mostly ms64 with a few ms65's mixed in. When I come across, what I consider to be, a ms66 or better I put them aside. Out of $1000 worth of quarters I am lucky to find a roll of coins to put aside.

Since 2005 I have been able to look through 10 or 20 Mint sets and come up with most of the MS69 coins I need for a registry set. There are always those one or two coins that seem to be difficult, but by and large the mint has perfected its production techniques to the point where they can produce a nearly perfect product.

On some of the coins (like the halves) I have been able to see die differences between the SMS and the regular business strikes. But others ( like the nickel ) I can't see any difference other than the finish, which is not a good indicator since it is very difficult to tell the difference between a lustrous BS and a SMS near the end of its run.

I know from my own submissions and from what I have heard from other people, that SMS and BS find there way into the wrong holders. No biggie if a BS finds its way into a SMS holder, but when SMS coins get slabbed into BS holders the buyer can get stuck for hundreds of dollars with no recourse - since both grading companies consider this a "Mechanical Error" not covered under their guarantee!