I own a couple of English guns with sleeved barrels. They are both proofed at 3(English) tons per square inch. I shoot them with the same hand loads (under 7000 psi) that I do with my other older guns. Do I need to be this conservative? Would their use with commercial target loads be beyond realistic safe pressurelimits for the barrels, or would this be a bad idea because of increased recoil and attendent wear to the rest of the gun?

John Vibber
author of "Kingdom Come: A North Country Mystery"
available at amazon.come