It was just less than 10 years ago I became interested in double guns. Was at the skeet range with some friends and one was shooting an LC Smith. He let me shoot it a little, and I was absolutely hooked. His gun had steel barrels, and after a cursory glance at popular "knowledge", I also reralized I needed a steel barreled gun. I looked around and overpaid for an I grade Lefever with fluid steel. I enjoyed the gun very much and wanted more, but realized that fluid steel barrels on old Lefevers were simply not a dime a dozen. So by necessity I began to look more closely at damascus guns. It's not been so long ago that I can't remember that the "expert" articles and the forum conversations were still 25 to 1 concluding that damascus was not safe. It was confusing and frustrating, because as soon as I had convinced myself that it would be safe, I read one more thread or article that seeded doubt. Many of those came from this forum even.
Finally, I decided I would get a damascus gun, and bought a G grade Lefever for a very fair price. The owner assured me he'd shot it safely without issue, and I picked up a case of RST shotshells and headed to the range. The two buddies I was shooting with would not stand near me, and I remember the great reservation I felt shooting that first round. I kept feeling the barrels for bulges, and looking down the tubes for tell-tale signs of impending doom. I must have broken less than 10 birds on a game of skeet because I was so focused on my loss of life or limb that could happen at any moment.
I lived, learned, kept shooting that gun, and lost my fear and ignorance. Then I bought more damascus guns and shot them without being blown up. With each new one, my friends continued to act the same way, standing back and commenting about my stupidity. They loved the old doubles too, but "wouldn't take the risk" of shooting damascus guns.
It took a few more years, but they have recently all come around, and are shooting damascus guns as well. We all like quality american guns (LC, Parker, Lefever, etc), and are confident in the quality of these barrels. None of us would be unwise enough to pick up some junk old twist gun and think to do the same thing.
I guess my long winded story leads to this statement. Even someone who wants to understand has a hard time becoming confident on this topic because of the massive volume of mis-information. One may want to become educated, but I remember that it was very difficult to make that leap. I'm glad I did, or I wouldn't now have some really amazing and functional pieces of classic american sporting culture.
