The Myth is strong

[Mike Franzen]

I remember reading those Bell articles. The thing that stood out to me was in order to cause a failure he had to lodge a 20 gauge shell in a 12 gauge barrel and then fire the gun causing it to blow. When I got my first damsacus gun I still held my breath and said a prayer before I pulled the trigger.

[Parker Bachelder (Brad's Profile)]

The terms Damascus, Twist, Laminated Steel are simply names for different types of composite Barrels. No one can make a definitive statement as to the shootablilty of composites. The key to shootability is the quality of manufacture and materials used.
During the hardware store gun era, a large number of Doubles were imported with very poor quality Twist, Laminated and Faux pattern Barrels. These guns were cheap and did not hold up to much use. I suspect that these poor quality composite Barrels were prone to failure and may have greatly contributed to the universal condemnation of Damascus.
The composite Barrels used by the major manufacturers were the highest quality available and very costly.
Every set needs to be inspected prior to use, however great confidence can be taken in unmolested "High Quality" composite barrels.

Brad