When I purchasedmy old English Damascus hammer gun, it was afflicted with one "medium" internal pit and two or three pinholes in the right barrel. The left barrel was flawless. I had Mr. Merrington inspect it and he deemed it sound. Next, I subjected it to 100 x RST 3/4 oz 2 1/2 ultralight 7 1/2's, 4800psi at clays. No additional pits. Next, it digested 100 x 7/8 RST lite loads #6 5400psi in a driven hunt and 30 x 1 1/16 oz #5's in a preserve hunt (same day) 6900psi. Following that outing, am now up to 8 pinholes in the right and 4 in the left where there were none previously, at least to my untrained eye. Are additional pits inevitable with these old guns, or is it possible that have I abused these barrels with the shooting described above, resulting in additional pitting?
