Roster knows a lot about a lot of stuff. But it's unfortunate he writes for Shooting Sportsman--a magazine read by quite a few people who shoot Damascus guns. He comes up short in a lot of areas where proof, pressure etc are concerned.
He needs to spend more time talking to Vic Venters, who's done some good articles (and chapters in his book "Gun Craft") based on spending time at the Birmingham Proofhouse, talking to current and former proofmasters, etc.
That being said, Damascus guns ARE potentially unsafe . . . if you shoot the wrong ammunition in them. But then so are a whole lot of vintage fluid steel-barreled guns.
