You need to make new friends. Great places to do it are gun shops and local rod and gun clubs. I am not trying to demean the friends you already have just that with new interests you need newer friends. I wish you well in your new found hobby. You are about to open up a whole new world by...
Definitely both contributed never shut the dampener all the way. Even with hardwood you will at the very least get smoked out. You were actually luck the creosote didn’t ignite causing another calamity. We try not not burn straight pine if avoidable for that very reason.
I haven’t had one of those since I was in Baudette Minnesota for a moose hunt about 25 years ago. Saw my first wild wolf on the trip. Sat around our campfire at night listening to them howl. Pretty eerie.
Were it me, it would be the last Weatherby rifle I ever purchased and I would let them know such. But then not many companies stand behind their products these days. There are a few but they are few and far between.