I know of only one Damascus barrel which failed due to other than an obstruction. This was a 28 Ga at the Vintagers which had been honed down to 9 thousandths at the failure point. Naturally, it would not have passed proof house tests. As for old fluid steel vs old Damascus barrels, they were proofed to the same amounts and neither should be fed numerous modern loads. irmpowder.com has many very light loads listed to consider. There is a 24 gram load at 100+ fps that delivers 3200 psi. There is also a 1 oz 1100+ fps load at 4200 psi. These are much lower than old Damascus loads. The Damascus loads I have seen listed ranged from 6500-8500 psi. There are some testing differences and pressure measuring point differences. Luckily there are many who would buy those dangerous old Damascus barreled guns any of you might offer for sale. Just for wall hangers, you know.

I was at Keith Kercher's one time when a fellow brought in an LC Smith for rebluing. The fellow raved on the gun about how many ducks and geese he and his grandfather had shot with the old gun with magnum loads. Keith asked him if he wanted it blued or browned since it was Damascus. The guy turned green and traded it to Keith for a real steel gun.