Phil,
In one respect you are accurate that we "test" our guns each time we fire them. However, most "proof" loads that I have seen published are based on double charge double projectile surviveability, not just normal loads. This implies that the gun has at least a2 to 1 safety margin for the recommended max load.

One poster earlier mentioned that Savage proofs theirs at 1.3 times max recommended load. That seems like a small margin of safety to me as each load can vary due to fouling, loading technique, etc. It has been said that they have tested the gun to >100,000psi. Why would they only proof to 1.3 times their load max if they have that kind of head room?

I personally own several CVA guns and initially became concerned about all the questions about their products. To date I have not found reason to suspect them of being anything but safe when used within the guidelines established by CVA both in the manuals and in recomendations I've recieved directly from them.

I do still have concerns due to the fact that 2 of the guns I have are for my 2 boys. I would like to have more concrete evidence that they are safe if for no other reason but to satisfy my desire to protect my kids. I would also want the same level of confidence no matter what company made the guns. After all, do we really know that there are more spanish barreled guns (as a percentage of guns manufactured in Spain vs elsewhere) experiencing failure or does it appear that way because there are so many more of them out there?

I have decided that I am going to do some proof testing on one of my CVA rifles. The object is to verify the strength of the gun or blow it up, whichever comes first. I do not want to get into the details at this time as the test plan is being reviewed by an experiencedgunsmithand there may/will be changes in the testing methods discussed over the next week or two. I hope to conduct the test sometime in the next month or so depending on the weather and my schedule. If there are any gunsmiths or experienced gun testers out there that would like to contribute info/ideas/data to the testing, please PM me or email me.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.