Bill: At the risk of revealing the depth of my ignorance, why has it ever been necessary to send barrels to England for their method of proofing and a stamp? Why/how is their method superior to what has been done in the US for generations? It seems to me that the only real difference is that England created a "formal" governmental process (as yet another way to generate revenues no doubt), and in the US our makers observed some sort of unpublished industry standard. Over the years I have used and enjoyed a number of Damascus guns from different domestic makers. Prior to using these guns (as I had witnessed a fluid steel barrel burst and saw the injury it caused to the shooter), I always had the barrels thoroughly checked beforehand by a well-known mid-western gunsmith (for proper thickness, flaws, etc), had the chambers opened to 2 3/4" if they were "short" (three inches if there was enough barrel thickness); then all furniture was stripped from the gun and each barrel proofed twice with heavy proof loads. None ever failed, and no damage of any kind was detected. Now this gentleman was experimenting with the strengths of Damascus barrels years before Sherman Bell began publishing his work in the DGJ; but we just recently saw the results of Bell's testing with 18-ton Remington proof loads, and the results were that all the barrels (twist, Damascus, pitiful conditions, etc) survived without a single hitch or failure. So again, why is sending a barrel to England for proofing necessary other than for the "feel good" factor? Can their method be that superior? Other than inspection and measuring, what do they do other than stick a hot load in a barrel and touch her off from a safe distance? I know that you are a gunsmith, would it not make more sense (cents) for you (or someone else so motivated) to adopt British published standards (since the Brits apparently are so much more skilled than we Americans) and offer that service here? To me this seems like a no-brainer; even the Brits insist upon all barrels being tested at the customer's risk. Why not provide this service yourself, then place your own expert proof testing and inspection stamp on the tubes? What say you?