It never ceases to amaze me how many people simply cannot read & then grasp what they have read. James said;
I wonder if the "wad without the base" was the one before the big bang? The base could have been jammed in the forcing cone.
Now that is quite obviously not speaking of the base wad from the hull, but the base of the CB wad which is missing in the pic.
If the shell pictured was a standard Remington 12 G. Trap load the breech pressure to be expected would be in the order of 10,000 P.S.I.
The specifications of the "Reload" used have been stated several times & pressure was supposed to be on the order of 5500-5800 psi.
No question in my mind it was Excess Pressure, & had nothing to do with the fact it was a damascus bbl.
Quite possibly the idea of faulty ignition wth the shot charge moving & then becoming an obstruction to the powder gases catching up has a lot of validity to it. While low pressure is good, it just may be than "Super Low" pressures can under certain situations be "Super Bad". Many years ago I adopted the policy of loading for older guns, whether damascus, twist or early steel of staying with loads between 7K & 8.5K & so far have had no reason to believe these pressures to be detrimental to the guns used.
