.22 Magnum ????

How in the world? I think I'd never trust that barrel's integrity unless I could spend the
bucks on X-ray and other metallurgy studies to assure the strength and integrity of the barrel.

You might well get away with what you are thinking, and then again it might go boom in your
face thereafter. Yikes.

Disclaimer-- Since I used the word "might" above: I might also not have a clue of what I am
talking about. Best wishes and I hope you find a way to have good fun with that.

Hopyard said:

How in the world? I think I'd never trust that barrel's integrity unless I could spend the
bucks on X-ray and other metallurgy studies to assure the strength and integrity of the barrel.

You might well get away with what you are thinking, and then again it might go boom in your
face thereafter. Yikes.

Disclaimer-- Since I used the word "might" above: I might also not have a clue of what I am
talking about. Best wishes and I hope you find a way to have good fun with that.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply Hopyard. The gun is going to the gunsmith on Wednesday. He seems to know his stuff and has been in the business a long time. I do not know how it happened but the gun does not look very old. It shows absolutely no wear. I think somebody screwed up and either fired a round through a dirty barrel or they were siteing it with a bore sight and did not remove the bore sight before firing. (FUNNY)
Anyhow I can not imagine what happened with out talking to the original owner.
I really would like to salvage the gun..........if possible.

For sure you could have that barrel cut and re-crowned if it is structurally sound otherwise.
If the re-crowning is done correctly you will have absolutely no loss of accuracy.

The gunsmith will probably 'slug' the barrel from the bulge aft to the breech to check for any other damage. Shortening the barrel is a decent option as long as it is at least legal length. Assuming the gun is scoped, you won't notice any decreased accuracy with a shorter barrel, and velocity effects will be negligible.

Replacing the barrel might be more costly than the gun warrants, but let your 'smith guide you on that.