Bill:
I am aware of that but the walls of the other guns do not have a history of cracking. Granted it is the small gauge Flues that had this problem.
My thinking is that SBT guns had a lot of use. In most cases they were really put to the test because of the reason they were bought in the first place.
It is also not the barrel that concerns me but the long years of stress on the metal of the guns and the wood.
As the one in question has been restocked, I wondered if it had cracked from too many SAAMI loads over the years. If this be the case, then the metal may be a tad weak.Flues were simply not built to handle that pressure. Opinion, I know, but that is mine.
I would be interested in what your thoughts on the reason for dropping the Flues and introducing the NID.
For what it is worth---I have a deep appreciation for Ithaca guns and have owned many. At one time, I collected grade 4 Flues. Beautiful, elegant and about as nice as one could want in a shooting stick.
Best,
John
