I imagine you have done as much Damascus research as anyone. I've read a lot and never encountered any published references. That's why I questioned earlier if any of the European Proof Houses might have done and published testing to predict what barrels were most likely to fail proof. Maybe you could press the person who posted that on another forum to elaborate. I'll bet you won't get an answer. To me, the real experts are the ones who can say, "I don't know, but I'll try to find out."
In fact, I've only seen a couple articles on destructive testing which were very limited in scope... the Sherman Bell articles, and the articles by Missouri gunsmith Buck Hamlin who progressively loaded a Lefever with lengthened chambers and pitted barrels until it let loose with "nuclear loads".
