My new gun (and its mystery item)

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I picked up my new S&W 340PD yesterday, yippee! I haven't fired it yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so.

Probably a newbie question: The package included a little brown envelope containing a spent cartridge case. The envelope has a little sticker with a tester's name/signature, plus some specs on my gun. I assume the case was part of a test firing at the factory (?) Is there anything special I should be looking for on the cartridge case, or is it just a memento from the birth of my new baby? :)

The manual doesn't mention the envelope, and www.smithwesson.com's FAQ's don't mention it either (I guess everybody else must already know why it was included with the gun! :)) This is only the second new gun I've ever purchased, and the first (a Sig229) didn't include such a thing.

Thanks in advance!
 
My gun came with a fired case from the factory, also in a small envelope. Its just a rnd they used too check the function of the firearm, not sure if Ruger is required by law to do this, but they do it.
 
Some states, require you by law to turn that little yellow package, UNOPENED, into your local law enforcment angencies anytime the gun is sold or trasnfered. Its basically a fingerprint for your gun making ot possible to link it to you if it was ever used in a crime, yada yada yada....not a very effective tool, but just another form of control the goverment likes to put in place.
 
Yep, Maryland, for one, requires a spent cartridge case, as part of its highly effective :barf: "anti crime", "gun control" program. Smith (and all other manufactures) therefore provides a certified spent cartridge case with each handgun.

What is interesting is the head of the Maryland State Police recently recommended that this process be discontinued, since it is COMPLETELY ineffective. The process also presumes autoloaders, but you still get used cartridge case with revolvers.
 
Thanks all for the replies -- very helpful! :)

After reading your replies I poked around a little and found the following from an online Ruger SP101 manual (it's too bad S&W doesn't include the same info in their manuals!):

WHY ARE WE INCLUDING A FIRED CARTRIDGE CASE WITH EVERY RUGER PISTOL AND REVOLVER?
Certain states and jurisdictions now require that all newly manufactured pistols and revolvers must be accompanied by a cartridge case, which has been test fired from that gun at the factory. The case must be placed in a sealed container bearing certain information concerning this test cartridge. At the time of retail sale in those jurisdictions, firearms dealers must forward such test cartridge to a designated destination such as their State Police Laboratory. As independent Ruger Distributors have nationwide markets without territorial restrictions, we have decided to include a fired cartridge case with all new Ruger pistols and revolvers, to minimize the possibility of inadvertent noncompliance with these laws. Retail customers located in other states, where laws or regulations do not require the dealer to so act, may be assured that the fired cartridge case they receive with the firearm at the time of retail purchase is proof that your new Ruger firearm has undergone our normal test firing procedures during manufacture.
 
RWK is correct about Maryland. But, BY COINCIDENCE (of course), shortly after the MSP testified that the program had never solved a crime and the legislature was set to repeal that law, an anti-gun state's attorney in Prince Georges county, BY COINCIDENCE, reported that a murder had been solved by tracing the cartridge case found at the crime scene. Of course, this was BY COINCIDENCE, so no one should think there could be any connection between this miraculous vindication of the program and the plan to end it. It is really strange how things in the gun control business often happen BY COINCIDENCE, isn't it?

Jim
 
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