Flashbacks of sanding down orings for me!I'd answer that question with a qualified yes.
I've found it takes no small amount of trial-and-error monkeying to find the right amount of cushioning/restricting of the hammer-blow against the valve-stem; often involving assembling, testing, disassembling, adding or subtracting o-rings, retesting, and so on. But when/if you find the sweet spot, I've seen disproportional increases in shot-count at the expense of 10-15% velocity.
Also, you'd have to consider disproportional increase in shot count a "smooth out" of the shot curve. Example- if you accept a (say) 30 FPS extreme spread, and your shot count increases by 40% while remaining within a 30 FPS extreme spread, at only a 10-15% cost in velocity, I'd say that qualifies as a smooth-out of the shot curve. And though not necessarily "the best I ever had", to quote Roger Daltrey, "I'd call that a bargain".
By the way, I've found snug-(outside diameter)fitting rubber WASHERS work and hold up better than o-rings for B Staley tunes.
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