Quote Originally Posted by Lee Enfield View Post
Proof firing reduces the life of the parts.

Proof firing a single time can in theory be justified - proof firing repeatedly is the ultimate in stupidity.
IMHO proving/proofing is mostly a money-mine, left over from the days before legal remedies for negligence when many guns, and probably not always the cheapest ones, were made from horseshoe nails or whatever bits of iron the "rag & bone" men etc. scrounged up.