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Old 09-08-2018, 10:01 AM
Mike, SC Hunter Mike, SC Hunter is offline
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Originally Posted by Bill Bates View Post
Not one bit.

Each of those shotguns was originally proofed with nitro powders when manufactured. They have good wall thickness and the bores are pit free.

Heck, that Parker was manufactured in the mid 1920s and was proofed with the same heavy nitro loads as all other Parkers manufactured at the same time. I'm sure it has never seen a black powder load. I'm pretty sure the William Read also has never seen a blackpowder load.

The reality is that shortly before turn of the last century nitro powders were the norm. The old myth that Damascus barrel shotguns were only designed to handle blackpowder is just that, a myth. Damascus barrels went away because of labor cost, not a safety issue. Fluid steel was much cheaper to produce compared to manual labor intensive Damascus barrels. Worse the artisans that made Damascus barrel slowly died out and were gone by World War II.

The English still nitro proof Damascus barreled shotguns regularly. They are proofed with the same load as any other shotgun.

I do shoot lower pressure loads in them but not because I'm worried about the barrels. I shoot low pressure loads because I'm dealing with 100 year old wood.

Here are the barrel flats and proofs on the William Read. The service load is stamped on the barrel and it is a smokeless load.

There was a Remington damascus 12 dbl in our family that was being hunted with that started to flake and unravel at the muzzle. It was sawed off and put back into use. Started again and was regulated to a closet prop.
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