"Is there a better way?"

That is probably a question I should be asking you. Maintaining a variety for a century is a remarkable achievement, and a testament to sound seed saving practices. Your ancestors obviously passed on their knowledge along with their seeds... a practice which has become ever more scarce, as our children abandon their heritage with ever greater frequency.

Ron, I am truly in awe of your accomplishment. IMO, you should not change a thing, regardless of what advice you may receive to the contrary. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

Thanx zeedman - a little back story to explain my concern - My father knew nothing about saving seeds, and as a kid, neither did I. So my dad "ate the best and saved the rest". When I started learning about plants, seeds, genetics, and plant selection, I realized he was doing it incorrectly. I've been "saving the best" since, and the pods and peas are getting larger. I am at the point that I can be even more selective with which seeds I save, so I'm trying make sure I do save the best ~ Ron

It sounds like you are doing it the best way now. One way to test if the missing seeds are pollination or genetic, is to plant only missing seed pod seeds separately, in a field far enough away that no cross pollination would occur, and see if a trend of missing seeds begins to establish.

Thanx happydayhey. I don't have enough room to do a test plot, so I'll keep on doing it the way I have.

In addition to selecting the largest, fullest pods, you might want to take note of the vines that bear heavily compared to it's neighbors, then select the best from there..you can also select for earliest bearing vines.

Thanx DonnaR. That's a good idea.