1. There is no known way to measure the strength of the weld seams between the different layers of steel in the Damascus wrap.that included bore and wall thickness measurements.
True but proof testing has shown that properly made damascus barrels can be safely shot with modern loads.1. There is no known way to measure the strength of the weld seams between the different layers of steel in the Damascus wrap
Not all damascus barrels were proof tested only with black powder. Depending on when they were made they could well have nitro proofs.2. Smokeless powder reaches maximum pressure further down the barrel then the black powder they were proof-tested with.
That can just as easily be said about fluid steel barrels as well. There are many vintage shotguns and rifles, shot with corrosive primers that were cleaned properly and show little sign of pitting. The greater concern is that the barrels were honed to remove pitting making the barrels unacceptably thin but this is not exclusive to damascus.3. To further compound the problem, all of those guns are old enough to have been used with corrosive primers of the day, and it is a rare one indeed that doesn't have pitting in the bores.