Indeed Keith. Unfortunately, once myth begins, it is repeated by the 'experts' over and over

Gerald Hunter Dont Blow Your Head Off! Gun Digest 1962
Composite barrel metals are brittle, to begin with. The laminations were put together without accurate control, so the walls are not uniformly strong. Each joint of forge-welded metals is a potential pocket of rust or corrosion which holds together today but which by tomorrow may be ready to bust wide open.
Damascus barrels, once thought safe with black powder, are no longer safe! Theyre getting older every hour and those hidden rusty and rusting areas are growing larger, the barrel walls thinner, and that hundred-and-first shot may blow em up.

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