Preacher, the wall thickness of my Lefever barrels, and the means I use to evaluate them is 100% irrelevant here. I think your silly and unreasonable request is little more than an attempt to deflect from my legitimate question. My comment and question concerned why you would posts links to recommendations concerning safe barrel wall thickness from others such as Dr. Gaddy, Jay Shachter, and Dudley, yet totally disregard those numbers when using your one-and-only Damascus barreled shotgun, an OE Grade L.C. Smith
We have had many discussions on barrel wall thickness here over the years. You know as well as I do that virtually nobody here would consider the .016" minimum wall thickness of your gun adequate, especially at 14" from the breech. If someone here asked whether it would be wise to buy a gun with .016" MWT at that point, the general consensus would be to avoid it like the China Virus.
.016" is about the thickness of a paper matchbook cover. That's why matchbook covers were commonly used to set ignition points gaps in the past, when feeler gauges weren't handy.
You mention the number of various loads that were fired in your 0ne-and-only Damascus barreled gun, prior to measuring them. Yet you say there was no dimensional change from firing all those shells. How can you know that to be true, if prior measuring had not been done???
What is even a bigger concern is whether or not your own measurements are accurate. I say this because I vividly recall how you argued for three days that lengthening the chambers of vintage American doubles would result in an INCREASE in wall thickness at the end of the re-cut chambers. Miller and I had to provide pictures and detailed explanations to finally get it through your skull that removing metal in that region would not, and could not, INCREASE wall thickness. I'm not sure we ever really convinced you. As you yourself have frequently stated, barrel evaluations should be done only by those who have the proper measuring equipment, AND the EXPERTISE to use it. You cannot simply Google your way to becoming an expert. It takes a combination of facts, skill, experience, and intelligence.
You also frequently admonish and lecture guys about a lack of "personal responsibility" when they persist with using guns that you deem unsafe without ever having examined them. Here is an example from the document you provided the link to:
"The following is a recommendation for evaluations that should be undertaken prior to using ANY vintage barrel; Pattern Welded, Decarbonized, or Fluid Steel. The shooter may choose to do more, or less, based on his (possibly misplaced) confidence in the safety of the barrels and tolerance of uncertainty. Choosing to make no effort to determine barrel integrity is foolish in the extreme.
The man pulling the trigger is ultimately responsible for subsequent events. If we only shoot/hunt alone, we can choose to use whatever shotgun and load we wish (if legal). But most of us shoot clay targets with others, and hunt with a friend, son, grandson or granddaughter. We must ask ourselves what will be our explanation should a piece of shrapnel from our gun pierce the skull of a friend or child, leaving them paralyzed, mute, and bedridden for the rest of their not-much-of-a life? And what is our plan to pay for the lost wages, pain & suffering, and life-time care?
If we choose to use a Damascus barrel “proven to be intrinsically dangerous” we WILL lose the personal injury lawsuit if no effort was made to evaluate that barrel. And there is no doubt that a host of “experts” would willingly testify in the civil trial as to our irresponsibility."Now, when you talk about the potential of losing a personal injury lawsuit as a result of a barrel rupture injury, how do you think you would fare if your one-and-only Damascus barreled gun caused an injury, and it could be shown in court that you knew the barrels were dangerously thin, according to your own admissions, and data you provided from other experts in the field? Do you think that your uninformed and unproven opinion that a leather covered barrel guard was enough to protect those innocent women and children around you from being maimed, paralyzed, mute, and bedridden? Could you prove the pressure of the load that was used at the time when the gun barrel ruptured? And look at your post #58 for MWT's from that Parker Forum thread where you posted that the minimum at 16" from the breech is .022" for Standard STEEL barrels, while yours is .016" at 14" from the breech. Your friend Homeless jOe would advise you to donate your one-and-only Damascus barreled gun to a Cracker Barrel to hang on the wall.
But that would leave our self-styled shotgun barrel "expert" with zero Damascus barreled guns. That's the great thing about the internet... anyone can pretend to be something they aren't, and some people will be fooled. I found this quote at the end of your barrel evaluation essay:
Mark Twain
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
