[Mike Irwin]

The big problem with Damascus-welded barrels isn't the steel itself, which is usually more than adequate, it's the welds BETWEEN the steel.

Hammer welds, to begin with, aren't known for their great strength. There's a lot of incorporated slag and voids, which means even with a new barrel there are a lot of "weak" spots.

In and of itself, and with very low pressure ammo, that's usually not a problem.

But, given that many of these guns started out life being used with black powder, the by corrosion-causing by products of which often get into the voids and are virtually impossible to remove, and that the welding flux often used was highly acidic, the barrels begin to weaken almost from the day they are made.

I've personally witnessed several very nice looking Damascus guns that have had holes develop along the welds due to years of corrosion.

I've also seen a set of barrels on a very high-end for its time shotgun tested with an air pressure device pumping colored smoke into the plugged barrels.

The left barrel had 4 "jetters" as the tester called them where colored smoke was coming out, while the right barrel had ELEVEN!

My old gunsmith up in Pennsylvania had a single-barrel Damascus shotgun that someone had brought him hanging over his work bench for public view.

The shooter had apparently tried it with newly made Winchester pheasant loads, which resulted in a very unique looking partially unwound barrel.

That's a long way of saying, don't shoot a Damascus shotgun.

Interestingly enough, you'll still find very high end Damascus shotguns that were made well in to the 1920s. Even though fluid steel was common, a Damascus barrel was much more desirable, and a lot more expensive, because of the extra work that went into it and because of the patterns that a master barrelsmith could forge into the barrel.