Jim: you asked for "an example of a fluid steel barrel with a hole blown out of the side"
I am in complete agreement that barrel failures can be explained by human error:
In the choice of barrel material
In manufacturing/boring/honing
In the choice of shotshells
In the choice of shotshell components or the loading thereof
In failing to check for barrel obstruction
Etc.
I guess I should have been More specific Drew. I was referring to a fluid steel barrel blow up due to an inherent structural failure either due to the materials used or the manufacturering process itself not an obvious obstruction. ANY barrel obstructed such as accidentially dropping a 20 ga shell into a 12 ga and then firing the gun will suffer this kind of failure as you pictured above and it don't matter what it's made from. I have also seen this happen before from what appeared to be cleaning material left in the barrel.
I personally don't care what anyone shoots including damascus barreled shotguns. It's still a free country and a personal choice and there's enough information available for them to make their own informed decision.
My point in this thread is a single "pinhole" may be just the tip of the iceberg so to speak and I would be more concerned about what can't be seen and this particularly applies to damascus barrels. Many barrel failures can be blamed on humar error but I don't accept this as the sole cause for failure.
Jim
