I gave them a call and Gordon was away from his desk. I asked one of the other people about the issue and was told my 1997, older frame, with an original 243 barrel was safe, but it was not safe to put a new 308 barrel on it. She could not give me a "why" that's just the way it is. She was very nice but I still do not understand. She did say that the steel was changed in 99 but we have been told that right along and I don't have a problem with that. Are the older frames with the original asterisk barrels on them safe? I still don't know and I'm not sure Gordon could explain it. In all the years I have been reading on this site I have never read about a handi frame blowing up or anything close, so that says a lot to me.