Other than perhaps trivial information pertaining to barrel wall thickness, these comments are useless as regards whatever decision Brother Swoobie may ultimately make with his "dream gun"; but I was visiting with Buck Hamlin earlier this week when this very subject arose. Buck said that some years ago, the now departed Lanny Samson came across a thoroughly well-used Damascus barreled Lefever (didn't remember grade) with a burst right barrel (just past the forend tip)that he had purchased for parts; and he commented to Buck how extremely thin the tube was at the rupture point. As Buck was conducting strength testing on Damascus barrels at the time, Lanny sent him that Lefever with the understanding that Buck would run heavy loads thru the left barrel until it failed. On receiving and examining the gun, Buck was amazed at how hard this gun had been used, as portions of the original stock wood was simply worn away from having been carried and used. Barrel wall thickness at the rupture point was .010; and Buck was convinced, based on the condition of the gun, that the gun had simply been shot so much that barrel walls had worn thin from shooting.
So with the intent to blow the left barrel, Buck measured bore diameter and started his experiment with a box of 2 3/4", one and five-eights ounce short magnums; and the original 2 5/8" barrel chamber was not lengthened. The left barrel digested that box of shells just fine, and with no change in bore diameter; so he then moved to phase 2 of his experiment. The chamber was lengthened to 3", and 25 rounds of 1 7/8 ounce magnums later the barrel remained intact with no measured changes to bore diameter (all loads used were factory rounds given to Buck by duck/goose hunters to make sure they didn't accidently violate mandated steel shot laws; all shot was lead and mostly lead #2 and BB sized pellets); so Buck now moved to test phase 3. The left side chamber was now opened to 3 1/2" and gun subjected to 3 1/2" two and one-quarter ounce lead turkey loads; the left barrel ruptured after only a few shots. Buck then measured barrel wall thickness at the rupture point, which was almost perfectly aligned with the bursting point in the right side tube; and wall thickness there measured .010 also. Obviously whatever strain this particular Damascus tube could withstand means nothing as regards application to another, and perhaps even thicker tube; but having this information would certainly make me feel a bit easier about shooting a gun with a barrel tube almost twice as thick provided that barrel was judged sound and low pressure loads were used. But regardless, experiments such as described herein clearly indicate that good quality Damascus tubes are capable of far more abuse than any members here would ever consider dishing out.