Your post reminds me of something I've mentioned before:
My friend Kirk Merrington has a drawer in his shop with about a dozen failed shotgun barrels that he's saved from customer work. ALL of them with blown out chunks and catastrophic failures are fluid steel barrels. The composite barrels that have failed mostly bulge or split in minor ways. What's more, English proof houses have always considered "Damascus" barrels fully on par with fluid steel for proof testing.
Thus, a barrel's condition and wall thickness dictates safety. Not the material it's made from.
This may not make you feel any better, but it's the truth.
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