I certainly doubt its stronger than a heat treated 4140 barrel. Certainly wouldn't compare the steel any ML rifle (other than theSavage)to a high powered rifle's steel. BTW. I didn't say the word american anywhere, if you check again, you will see that. My statement wasn't regarding american anything. The steel any ordinary blued "Muzzle Loading" barrel, even an american made one, wouldn't typically be as strong, in tensile strength, as weakest Stainless alloy I am aware of. I know for a fact that the stainless of both my Sidekick and my Apex is of greater tensile strength than the steel of my T/C hawken.Furthermore, I'm 99.99% certain that the Stainless Apex has stronger steel thanthe TCOmega with Blued barrel.Considering the fact that the TC Omaga is a full 1.25 lbs lighter than an Apex, I also wouldn't be surprised if the dimensional properties of the Omega would not support equal pressures with the APEX given this one caveat. The steel of the Apex must be as strong as the Omega. Since I am perfectly convinced that the steel of a stainlessApex is stronger than the steel of an blued omega, I think it likely thatthe Stainless Apex's barrel could support more pressure than a bluedOmega.

I've got no reason to suspect that there are voids in the steel of the Apex any more than I have reason to suspect that there are voids in my sidekick or hawken.

Basically, I think its senseless to worry about the strength of the steel in a Spanish made Stainless muzzleloader. I think the fear is unreasonable andserves no purposefor safety. Ifeveryone wanted to pitch inand put a Stainless Apex against a Blued Omega with an independent lab, we could put to rest the actual properties and strengths of the steels used and even blow them up.I certainly couldn'tand wouldn't argue withrealresults from people who have nothing to gain from the outcome of the science. I personally don't think that I can "take for granted" that the bluedOmega is stronger or capable of withstanding more pressure than the Stainless Apex.