Keith, I remember reading the same "unwind" theory, from a British gun writer back when fluid steel was the new kid on the block. There was also the famous British test, 1890's I believe, in which good Damascus won out as being stronger than the best fluid steel. Of course fluid steel has improved a lot since then, and much of the bad rap Damascus gets comes from cheap guns (mostly from Belgium) sold in American hardware stores back around 1900 or so.
Larry, you're right but not in the way you think. In the Birmingham tests the best English laminated barrels did win the overall total score, even outdistancing the Whitworth fluid steel. However, the devil is in the details. Three barrels of each type metal were used in the test. That is, three of the English Laminated, three of the Whitworths, etc., down the line. The barrels were scored by averaging the combined grains of gunpowder and shot each type consumed before failing Birmingham proof standards. With the English machine forged laminated steel, in three rods, one barrel failed after the third proof, another on the fourth, and the last one on the fifth. The Whitworth barrels all withstood four proofs before being rejected. So, the Laminated barrels withstood an average of 4,248 grains of powder and shot total during their test and the Whitworth 4,227 grains average. Therefore the English machine forged laminated barrels were given first rank. There is more data concerning this test but this was the crux of it. It is interesting to see how variable the results were in the laminated barrels and how consistent the Whitworth barrels were. Each welded barrel had its own characteristics which often differed dramatically from its sibling.
It is also interesting that most of the continental damascus barrels failed miserably, many of them not accumulating more than a third of the powder grains of the English laminated before failing.
Having said all this, I love my Belgium welded damascus barrels and these tests don't worry me at all. I load to reasonable pressures and these guns have stood up well for more than a hundred years (or 150 years) and keep on ticking with the best of 'em.
