1. Recommendation of having each and every gun checked by a qualified gunsmith is absolute! One would ask "what is a qualified gunsmith"?
2. I see nothing wrong with information gathered on how damascus barrels/guns behave under present shooting conditions whatever those would be.
3. Such information will not serve to reassure each and every damascus gun owner that a particular gun will behave in a certain way, but will serve as general knowledge based on facts and study of these facts. It will serve as a predictor factor and not as certain factor. I am asking about prediction and not certainty.
I believe that we can design a study using the forum's members damascus guns and do it as a prospective study where we would look at certain events that we can define according to our purpose and goals. I am not a specialist in statistics or studies, but I believe that we can draw certain conclusions about behavior of said guns within certain conditions. I am curious of the sample size and lenght of study to make it statistically significant.
Simple measurements of the barrels and shooting them would be the main activity of the study.