Bell is only updating tests that have been done previously. Basically, his tests were a repeat of those the late British gun guru Gough Thomas had done for him by Eley Cartridge. In those tests, 2 3/4" Eley Grand Prix shells were fired in two test barrels. One was chambered 2 1/2", the other 2 3/4". (Bell and ballistician Tom Armbrust used the same barrel, starting with a 2 1/2" chamber and testing a number of loads, then lengthening just the forcing cone, and finally lengthening the chamber to 2 3/4".) Pressure readings were taken at 1" and 6" from the breech face. Pressure and velocity were virtually identical, whether the shells were fired in the 2 1/2" chambered barrel or the 2 3/4" chambered barrel. Note that the Eley shells in question were sold as being safe for use in guns with 2 1/2" chambers--JUST AS TODAY, BRITISH SHELLS FROM COMPANIES SUCH AS GAMEBORE AND MEASURING 67 OR 67.5MM, WHICH WHEN FIRED ARE EVERY BIT AS LONG AS SOME OF OUR AMERICAN 2 3/4" HULLS, ARE LIKEWISE NOTED--RIGHT ON THE BOX--AS BEING SAFE FOR USE IN GUNS WITH 2 1/2" CHAMBERS.

Thomas (who was an engineer by training) concluded, based on the Eley tests: " . . . if advantage is taken of the range of powders with different burning characteristics, nowadays available to cartridge loaders, to design a cartridge for use in chambers shorter than the case length, the extra length of case by itself constitutes no danger."

Roster was correct, in the last part of that column, to point out that American factory ammo most certainly should NOT be used in all foreign guns, even if the chamber is of the appropriate length. But that last section also raises the question of just which guns we need to worry about, because he did not further specify. Is there danger in using an American 2 3/4" shell in a new Beretta or Merkel or AyA with a 2 3/4" chamber? Most of us, I think, would say there is not. But there certainly IS such danger--again, regardless of the length of the factory chamber of the gun in question, and also regardless of whether the gun was made here or abroad--if the SAAMI service pressure of our factory loads exceeds the service pressure for which the gun in question was designed.