In reference to Mr. Bell's tests a few years ago, the only barrels that 'blew' were reamed out excessively, leaving a miniscule barrel wall thickness, another that gave way under the strain of an overload of Unique(?) powder, and one where he purposely obstructed a bore. Aside from these cases where Sherman went out of his way to make the gun unsafe, the others held up quite well. A few of the guns came off-face a few thousandths or split stocks that were in poor condition to begin with. He stated in his articles that numerous measurements indicated no bulging or expansion in any of the barrels.

GMC(SW) - USN, Retired (1978-2001)