Absolutely foolhardy, IMO.
Anywhere between the hands... I'd agree completely. Several inches ahead of the forearm, and the risk drops dramatically. I have two 20 ga. Ithaca Flues that have wicked looking longitudinal splits in the forearm area. I'd be surprised if either did not cause the shooter some left hand injury. The cause was likely snow, mud, a stuck wad, or some other obstruction. I have a 12 ga. L.C. Smith OO Grade I bought for $40.00 for parts. The owner told me he fired the gun with snow in the barrels and split the left tube ahead of the forearm. No injury, just a different sounding report and he saw the leaves in the tree to his left get blown around. If you saw the damage any of these guns, you might conclude that we are crazy to ever pull the trigger on any shotgun, and none of these were welded.
I agree there is some risk of failure if this repair was attempted. Risk of failure does not have to equal risk of injury. I said from the beginning that I had reservations, but sometimes, risk can be managed or mitigated. There are a lot of variables to consider. I sure wouldn't want Goober down at the gas station to weld 'er up with his Lincoln buzz box and whatever damp rod he had laying around. I don't currently own a TIG outfit, but if I did, as an experiment ala Sherman Bell, I'd like to pick up a cheap single shot, or even a junker double, and duplicate this hacksaw damage. Maybe even make multiple cuts at say 2 inch intervals along the barrel... weld them and proceed to load it till it let loose. Then we could discuss the results and argue that one or two barrels proves nothing. So then I'd need more test samples. Please send me all of your high quality small bore doubles to further the cause of science.
