.015 and .017 are too thin for me as a new purchase. I own and shoot a Pape 20 bore hammer gun with one barrel at .018" at the 27" down the barrels. I do not worry about failure, I worry about dents. I do reload low pressure loads for it like I do all my guns needing sane loads. Since it has 2 1/2" chambers factory American ammo is not an option.
Many here have shot barrels with holes, in the barrels, near the muzzles. We call it porting and pay for the abomination. Is there any real difference between a small hole drilled through the barrel and one rusted through in the same place? Knew a fellow who shot a twist barrel, which had a seam, weld, that had cracked about three inches from the muzzle. Crack was about 3/8" long based on examination. He told me he shot it waiting for it to fail and then he was going to chop the barrels back to the point where the barrels were good. That had been over seven years hunting he said and it had not failed yet. Personally I would not have done it, but his point was the weak area was 27" down the barrels and not close to the hands or face and the pressures at that location had not been high enough to fail. Where the weak area is is almost as important as anything. Do a good examination, use your judgement and proceed with caution.
