Craig-

Thanks for sharing the photos of your shotgun--she is a beaut! The damascus is pretty hard to miss on that one.

I shot my Meriden at a club and nobody said a thing and if I was getting dirty looks...they must have been behind my back. Several folks did go up to the rack and look at the shotgun, I think the hammers attracted more attention than my subtle damascus.

As for others' observations, I agree I should probably invest in a reloader and "roll my own" but for now I am using a known 5000psi 7/8s oz load. Being a humble Meriden, I am confident that the gun was not valuable enough to have ever been reblued, re-cased, or restored, so the gun's over all good cosmetic and near new (tight) mechanical condition gave me a comfort level in shooting it.

I suppose nobody proofs guns in the US, correct?

Here is what I mean about the condition of the Meriden:
Very clean bores-


Strong original case color