That’s a bunch of good and thoughtful replies; thank you gentlemen for contributing.
Let’s deal, briefly, with how damage from misuse happens…
When a Bad Thing happens (think the chokes of a set of barrels are damaged) due to misuse there seems a common impulse to blame the damage on a single shell. While that scenario is possible I’m of the opinion it’s quite rare. Think trying to put an ounce and a half of shot, at 1500 FPS, through the full choke of a thin-walled light game gun barrel. This kind of incident was mentioned in the original article.
I think misuse damage is more commonly like a currency inflation that begins small and difficult to perceive and then, eventually and suddenly, ballons into a currency crisis.
Spanish shotguns tend to be hardy beasts that will tolerate quite a bit of abuse without any obvious sign of damage until the day comes when some part or parts (think chokes, stock, etc.) suddenly gives up the ghost(s). And then we all stand around staring at the shotgun and somebody opines “musta been a bad shell”.
Well, maybe not.
Here is a thought that may be worth consideration:
If a type of shell is unpleasant to the shooter when fired in a light game gun, it may be just as unpleasant to the gun in which it is fired. Humans heal; guns don’t
