No Mike, I cannot tell you precisely why, or what circumstances lead to all the dire safety warnings as regards Damascus tubes; but I can perhaps give you some theories. The truth is that many period Damascus gun barrels did indeed experience problems with nitro powders; but the dirty secret is that the vast majority of such problem barrels were low quality tubes fitted onto imported guns retailing in the $7-9 price range at places like Sears and thousands of hardware stores across the country (on gunshop.com such guns are referred to as a JABC; "just another Belgian klunker"). And although Damascus barrel bursts were never a serious problem with the high-quality Damascus and Twist barrel steel tubes used by the best American (Smith, Parker, Lefever, etc) British, and European makers; those cheap guns with low-quality Damascus barrels unfortunately served to give all Damascus barrels, regardless of the name on the gun, a "bad reputation". And of course this new "fear factor" was devasting news to the owners of fine Damascus guns, but just imagine what the same Damascus fears/warnings did to stimulate industry wide new gun sales? Certainly period makers had no objection to promoting this idea, as doing so was in their best business interest just as the introduction of steel shot; and the subsequent declaration by the gun industry that firing such steel shot loads would likely damage/or destroy any prized "old-fashioned" two-barrel gun with soldered ribs, proved to be such a huge boost to new gun sales in the 70s and 80s (and don't these steel loads also carry a warning on the box?). It is my belief that the gun and ammunition makers regularly conspire in efforts to formulate a new "sales angle"; and for a more recent instance, just imagine all the "special purpose" sales resulting from the introduction of a 3 1/2" 12-bore shell? But I also don't object to these sometimes sneaky approaches because it is in our overall best interest as shooters that the gun industry continue to survive and thrive in spite of today's very difficult and demanding competitive conditions and politically charged atmosphere. Just my thoughts.