Originally Posted By: Timothy S
Jim, Mr. Bell did not conduct his testing in a highly scientific double blind method or anything else like that. Nor did he use a particulary high amount of guns in his sample group. And in one test, if my memory serves me correct he was shooting one gun with increasing loads until the barrels would blow up, and here an obstruction was needed to help finish the job. But all he did is show that damascus steel is a heck of a lot stronger than most people used to give it credit for.

Tim

Tim:
I spent about 5 years working in the research department dealing with statistical analysis. This is one of the reasons I raised this point as I suspected that a non-scientific study was conducted. Without a statistically valid sample size and a rigorious testing methodology nothing can be generalized of the population.
All that really can be said is with a small amount of two different types of barrels no difference was found in the relative strenghts of the materials used. This to me is potentially a very dangerous assumption. I think many of you have minimized potential problems by using low pressure loads and not shooting a gun whose barrels are obviously damaged but you can't eliminate the risk.
Jim

The 2nd Amendment IS an unalienable right.