Chaning your mind about something based on " What I heard ", will lead you to locking yourself in your house, in a closet, and never coming out! :youcrazy:
It is one thing to listen to some comment and investigate the matter yourself further, and quite another matter to make major decisions based solely on rumor. That is why gossip gets people into court, being sued for slander, and the cost to a person's reputation, or business, or both.
Some of us pursued this matter just to find out the real TRUTH about this reported blow-up. It became quite evident, to me, when the lightened picture was displayed on this forum, that the incident is another example of a bore obstruction. Someone, Not necessarily the owner, put something down that barrel before he fired it again. And, its quite clear that 100 grains of powder Was not the power source- it had to be multiple loads for this particular rupture to occur.
That may not be common knowledge. But, I have more than common knowledge experience with ruptured barrels, and have had one personal experience myself. I have saved the end of a shotgun barrel that blew on me, to show students in my Hunter Safety class What NOT to do, and what will happen if they ignore my teaching. :shocked2:
A friend who taught H-S for more than 40 years had a bag full of blown barrels, that he was given by a retiring gunsmith, that he brought to class to show students all the ways that both rifle and shotgun barrels are damaged. It is NOT DIFFICULT to understand from looking at the barrel What caused a rupture, once someone has taken you through the process of examination.
Replicas are being made from much better metal than was used in the originals. Even the softest of steels is better-stronger- than the best iron used in the day. So, the thickness of a barrel, compared to that on an orginal gun, should not be a deciding factor for anyone concerned about safety.
Years ago, I helped a friend build a light 6 pound field piece( cannon) and he ordered a barrel from South Bend Ordinance that was cast STEEL, and also had a 1/4" thick steel liner in the barrel for extra protection. The Steel liner was " proofed", or rated, strong enough to take all the pressure one could generate stuffing the barrel full of black powder and a couple of cannon balls, without the surrounding 500 lbs. of steel barrel! Now, no one is going to buy a " cannon barrel " that is made of 1/4" steel tubing, or pipe, because it just doesn't look like a cannon barrel! But, if the issue was only one of safety, the 1/4" thick steel barrel would do the job.
If you want to " Proof " a barrel, The Dixie Gun Works Catalogue has been printing material for years from old sources giving " Proof Loads " from various European Proof Houses. The problems with " proofing" is that such a charge only proves that the barrel did not rupture when that SHOT was fired. It does not tell you if the barrel won't blow on the next shot, or the 1,000th shot. The way to make guns work, and survive for your life time, and those of your children and grandchildren is to use reasonable loads, NOT PROOF LOADS, or anything approaching them, in the gun, and to do regular maintenance, cleaning and checks of the bore and exterior of the barrel. If there is any sign that something is not right- water leaking out the back of a breechplug was recently reported here-- get the gun to a qualified Black Powder gunsmith.
If you ever acquire an original barrel that is in bad shape, from years of corrosion, consider having a barrel liner, made of modern steel, put into the old barrel. This preserves the original barrel's exterior, while giving you new metal on the inside of the barrel to use for shooting. :hmm: