Date of manufacture is not a concern to me.
The barrels of any old Parker (that's really all I collect and shoot) that I intend to shoot will have passed muster at every critical point along their length - juncture of chamber/forcing cone; 8" from the breech; midway along the length, and at the beginning of the choke taper. They will have no deep pits and will not have been honed beyond 10% of the nominal bore diameter for the particular gauge.
Folks say that any barrel wall thinner than .0025" is not safe to shoot but there are people who shoot guns with .0019" confidently...
Look at a piece of .0025" shim stock and you wonder how that thin of a barrel wall can withstand even a 2,000 psi pressure rise... but it can withstand 2X that much if it is far enough from the breech...
I have no fear of any composite barrel material on a Parker as long as they meet the standards above... Damascus of any description originally supplied on a Parker, Twist, Stub Twist, Plain Twist, Laminated both early and late, Bernard and certainly all of the fluid pressed steels.
The gun will be tight on face and the wood will be tight to the frame and be uncompromised.
And of course I will only shoot ammunition that the gun was designed to shoot.
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"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
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