Bill, great observations in your original post and there is no need for an apology. Disagreements are not a bad thing and often shed light on controversial topics that help others down the road.

I have collected and restored Damascus barreled shotguns for years and have done a terrific amount of research on the topic of strength and durability. It was not until Sherman Bell wrote a series of articles on BP vs. smokeless and the testing of Damascus barrels in the Double Gun Journal that pure research came to light on these topics. For the first time, facts and findings became available for those who wanted to know the answers to many age-old firearms questions. Too bad the information is not more widely available.

Old tales, a friend of a friend of a friend's first line accounts, and opinions without facts, do not hold up for me. I am in the camp of Bell's article title "Finding Out for Myself".