I keep a log of every shot thru one of my favorite hammer damascus 12ga. guns, so far it's 11,402. When I got it the first thing I did was pick a nice low pressure 7/8 load at 1150fps and 6000psi. I am not afraid of a blow- up as much as I don't see the point in beating up the old gun and myself with recoil. This summer I'll probably run another 5 to 5500 more rounds thru it on skeet and sporting clay ranges, I have all the faith in the world in this gun the next one maybe not, as stated before each gun must be judged on it's on merits. I do feel the low pressure nitro handloads are kinder on the gun than blackpowder loads, just my opinion. See ya; Bonehill