I am learning the wide mouth versus small mouth jar challenge. I am beginning to get all wide mouth as they are much easier to use.
Yes, wide mouth jars are *much* better for canning meats, and are vital for freezing. However, the cost of lids for wide mouth is a good 35% more than the regular mouth size, and when you can several hundred jars yearly, it adds up.
I ran out of my case of regular mouth jars, and don't have the cash (at least, that I'm willing to let go of right now with the damned property taxes coming up next month) to buy another case, so I've been canning using the Tattler reusable lids I bought about 10 years ago. They can be frustrating... i get about 8-10% seal failures, no matter how careful I am about headspace, etc. It's been improving... part of the issue is the necessity to *not* tighten the rings as firmly as you do for the regular metal lids.
But they do work, and once you get a good seal, they seem to hold as well as the older metal lids ever did (years and years) and much better than the newest lids, which are advertising (on boxes of new jars) that they "stay sealed for up to 18 months", which pisses me off every time i see it! And once the investment is made (and I git a great deal on them back then) there is no ongoing cost. I experimented when I first got them, and reused one of the rubber rings over and over... I think I used it 11 times before getting tired of it, snd it was still holding shape and sealing. I bought extra rings, knowing they'd eventually get tired and wear out, but I'm not sure I'll live long enough to need them.
Summerthyme