New Problem Found with 96 Krag Rifle Barrel

[TerryR]

Hi Guys, more help info needed.
Since I put together the CMP Barreled Carbine. I started to slug bores, on my 98 rifle, 96 rifle, and the CMP Barrel. I always noticed the patch in the 96 would be nice and tight cleaning, then 2" below the muzzle, while pushing, the patch would float thru real easy, then catch again. So............. I SUPER CLEANED THE BARREL! I can see a ring where the barrel is expanded. Still can see the rifling in the swell. This bore shines, that's why I bought it. Didn't check it very good did I! I just thought it was a dirty area etc. So I took a quality straight edge and put it on the outside of the barrel, sure enought I have a bulge 1/2" towards the recvr from the front sight. I've been shooting this thing for a year plus now, till I got the CMP barrel on the other rcvr.
Any ideas what caused this? I still groups real good! It's original to the recvr I believe as the bluing matches superbly!. Shows alot of use with the bayonet as the bluing is worn. Is she just a wall hanger now?
Thanks for your help.
TerryR

[Parashooter]

Barrel bulge rule #1 - If you can't easily see it and it doesn't affect accuracy, ignore it!

How did it get there? Somebody fired a bullet into a barrel obstruction. This momentarily "checked" the bullet, causing it to upset slightly and bulge the barrel. Read Hatcher's Notebook, which has a whole chapter on the subject.

[madsenshooter]

I have to agree, if it still shoots good, leave it. If knowing that it is there bugs you, I have a counterbore cutter, cuts the barrel out to 8mm id. My 96 barrel that had the mud dobbers nest in it recently received the treatment. I should've done some before and after testing, but didn't. I've always thought that a steam of gas expanding around the bullet faster than the bullet is traveling would stabilize the bullet during the time that it free of the barrel's vibrations, don't know the validity of my reasoning though.

[TerryR]

Thanks guys, you answered just what I figured. I was kinda thinking the same Madenshooter about the gasesflowing around the bullet when passing thru the larger void. It shot good groups, I'll just leave it. Heck, that BULGE might have been there since Back in "97"! 1897 not 1997! Newby Doughboy stuck the Big Ole Long Rifle Barrel in some Mud, then decided to Blast it out! 103 yrs later she's still firing!
Take care, thanks! TerryR

[Griff Murphey]

Another possibility is doofus bubba couldn't "figger out" the caliber of the rifle and grabbed a handful of loose rounds from the flea market, pounded the bolt home, and fired. Could have even been a rimmed pistol cartridge of some kind. The first one spit out a bit of lead. The second one bulged the barrel. I have a 96 cavalry carbine that came with bullet fragments stuck in the chamber from just such an incident. I have a friend in Georgia who bulged a CHAMBER in a Krag shooting cast bullet handloads, but that's another story. That was fatal to the barrel because cases now fireform and won't eject.

[kragnut]

Slightly OT: Mythbusters did an episode where they hammered, literally, a .30 caliber bullet into the muzzle of a pretty decent Carcano carbine, then fired another round (inside a heavy steel shipping container). I was surprised at how little damage there was to the gun, though the barrel bulge was far more visible than the one you mention. The stuck bullet was pushed out of the bore. Needless to say, don't try this at home.

[jnz]

The Carcano was much better designed out of much better materials than it has been given credit for. Years ago on the old Gun and Knife forum, a guy in Australia (this was before their govt became a bunch of gungrabbers) had an old Carcano barrelled action that he tied to a tire with sandbags around it and started feeding it overcharged rounds by firing it with a string around the trigger. Even with a triple charge, it just became a little hard to open. He finally put a round in it that was topped off with powder, with the bullet compressed on top of it. It did blow up like a grenade at that point.

[Leadman]

It is interesting to read Ackley's book and how he did destructive testing on various rifles. Some he had to resort to large loads of 2400 to get then to come apart.