Here's link to a Guns Magazine article by one of Bodinsons that contains some comparisons of bp and smokeless. For some reason, the bp loads in the article are FFFg--seems a little fast for shotgun. The transition from bp to bulk semi-smokelesss to nitro and the attendant confusion arising from the simple volume equivalency of the first two but not of the third (the origin of "dr. eq." on factory smokeless shells) has been suggested as the source of the original whispering campaign against damascus. It could be that the incidence of damascus "accidents" was high enuf to be noticable during this transition and that a significant no. of guns were sacrificed to overloads. Also, the economies of fabricaton of the new fluid steel would have been meaningless if it didn't sell because of a standpatter faith in damascus. Scare campaigns work better without qualification or elaboration--thus damascus unsafe, fluid steel safe. Why the signs above quarries say only "Keep Out" rather than Keep Out Unless You Know What You're Doing".

jack