You know, I have to respect two flints for keeping the old shotguns history alive, and I appreciate him doing that. But, I have more respect for all of these shotgun guys that have told two flints to be careful and why he should be careful. All these shotgun guys may not have only saved two flints life, fingers, hands, arms, eyes and possibly 3 certain body parts that would be just plum awful to go on living without but, they could have saved others that visit and read these forums and took the shotgun guys advice. So two flints, thank you for keeping old firearm history alive but please, for the sake of GOD, take their advice and hang that Spencer on the wall an use it as a conversation starter. Has anyone on these boards ever seen a Damascus barreled shotgun detonate? I mean explode into pieces? I have. I've been near hand grenades when they exploded and there's not a nickles worth of difference between a hand grenade and a 12 GA. SXS double barrel Damascus barreled shotgun detonating. At least with hand grenades you will hear an occasional "hit the deck!" or "get the hell down!". With a Damascus barreled shotgun you don't have any warning, of any kind, at any time. A man that had a Damascus barreled shotgun to explode on him had the shotgun checked by a knowledgeable, certified gunsmith. The gunsmith told the man the shotgun was in very good condition but he recommended that it not be shot and to put it on a wall to be looked at and talked about. The gunsmith even offered to disable the shotgun to where it would not fire for free but the owner wouldn't let him. The shotgun owner didn't follow that advice. He now has 3 less fingers, long scars up his left arm that looks like they belong on Buford Pusser and one eye that is a false eye and he can see about 12 or 15 feet in front of him out of his one "good" eye, if you could call it that, and 1 tooth left in his mouth. It's just not worth the risk...believe me. If you could see the shotgun owner that had his Damascus barreled shotgun blow up in his face, you would say it's not worth the risk either. Kudos to all you shotgun guys for trying to stop a dangerous situation before it became one. You can only tell a person, you can't make them do what you ask. Same as leading a horse to water but you can't make it drink. I wish you nothing but good luck two flints if you do shoot or continue to shoot a Damascus barreled shotgun (cause you're damn sure going to need it). It's not a question of "IF" it's going to fly apart, it's a question of "when" it's going to fly apart and how many people around you, besides you are going to get hurt or killed by flying shrapnel from that exploding hand grenade shotgun. I seen a man lose every penny to his name and his house because he decided to shoot a Saturday night special revolver that shaved lead every time it was fired. He was around a group of people bragging about how he had bought the P.O.S. revolver for nearly nothing and telling how he could hit dimes stood up with every shot. Well, he had to prove it to those people and sure enough the P.O.S. revolver shaved lead and put a man's eye out. A court battle followed and in the end, the man who lost his eye sight was the new owner of the man's house, bank account and his pretty red Chevy 4X4 truck that wasn't a year old at that time. All I can say is God Speed Two Flints. I hope they can find all your body parts for your funeral. You can't say you weren't told.
