Hi, I was hoping to get some opinions on a shotgun I have. A few years ago I was hunting hogs and ended up clogging barrel the. Shooting a slug through it. Shot went off fine but later I noticed that there was a bubble in the barrel about an inch and a half from the end. The barrel just widens a little then shrinks back down for the last inch. I've shot lots of birdshot through it since then but never any more slugs or buckshot. It's an old bolt action and isn't worth a lot and replacement barrels can't be found. My questions are would it be safe to shoot slugs or buckshot out of a compromised barrel? And also if it is not then how much would it widen my pattern if I cut the last 2 inche's off the barrel? It is currently a full choke. Thanks

I wouldn't shoot slugs through a damaged barrel. A good gunsmith can cut it back, rethread it for chokes, and install front bead pretty easily.

I knew a guy that had a remington 3200 with a bulged barrel it patterned and shot fine but he wasn't using slugs. Shot loads including buckshot should be fine slugs would be dependent on wall thickness which can be mesured by a gunsmith with the proper tools.

Have a gunsmith cut it short and replace the front sight/bead. You'll have a cylinder bore barrel that should be fine for slugs after that.
If you do want to use it with chokes, have the gunsmith do like precision_shooter said.

That portion of the barrel that is bulged is damaged and quite possibly weakened. Continuing to shoot shot (either bird or buck) or slugs could result in the weak spot letting go on you at the most inopportune time. Possibly injuring yourself as well as anyone around you.

Silver Sharpie + lathe = barrel cut behind the bulge.

Provided it is still 18" long.

hand saw + file = barrel cut behind bulge. No need to complicate things.

Thanks for the replies! Guess I'll cut it off and shoot slugs for now then see about getting it threaded. I love how light this gun is and how well it shoots so I would hate to throw it out.

it kills me to see threads like this - you have barrel that has a visual indication of a problem and no way to tell what's happened to the rest of the barrel that you can't see visual clues on. Do you really think hacksaw garage science is the best answer or maybe it's better to have a qualified gunsmith look at the barrel and magnaflux it or something else to look for defects you can't see?

If it isn't worth that expense, ditch it.

I mean you're only going to set off an explosive charge in it..... next to your face.

The bulge is in the last two inches of the barrel...when pressure is at it's minimum and barrel wall thickness is it's least. The bulge is a small one and didn't burst, now why would there be cracks further up the barrel if the bulge was the giving point? It's fine! The fact that it didn't split in front of the bulge near the muzzle is a good sign. Barrels always bulge before they split, while the barrel did reach an elastic limit and the bulge set, it didn't go high enough to burst.

What TDK said!!!!

It's a shot gun. Relax. Hack it off, file it straight, touch up the blue. Use sense. I wouldn't use slugs in it.

My question is did you shoot the slug with a choke? Would that be the initial problem?

Glad you asked. I was wondering how the barrel got clogged in the first place, only so I can hopefully avoid making the same mistake. Lord knows I'm capable.

The barrel got clogged with mud. I came up on a group of hogs and after shooting the first one ran after the rest of the group and tripped on a log and the barrel went into the mud. I didnt realize it until after i caught up to them and shot another one.