Browning A 5 barrel bulge

[Battis]

I saw a Browning Auto 5 20 ga in a small gun shop last weekend. There was a barrel bulge a few inches from the muzzle. I'm pretty sure it's a 28" barrel. Can the barrel be cut below the bulge or would the damage extend further? I asked the price: the owner said, "Make an offer."

[Mk42gunner]

Without seeing it, the answer is maybe.

Robert

[Frank46]

Yes you could have the barrel cut back but most likely would loose any choke the barrel had. Or after cutting the barrel back you could install some choke tubes. Frank

[Hooker53]

Don't cut it. In some cases I have rolled these back in place with a pipe cutter. You take an old set of the cutting dies and grind the cutting edge off flat so all you have is rollers. Iv seen some make a set of rollers just for this. Turn the barrel slow In a lathe and turn the jaw in slowly and sometimes it comes out better then you think. Just do it slow. That way you don't work harden the barrel in the bulge area.

Roy
Hooker53

[toallmy]

Good to know , make them a offer .

[pietro]

.

Re-fitting a bulge, unlike refitting a dent, can result in a barrel that's very likely to fail/burst at the repair spot/location - best practice indicates cutting the barrel off behind the bulge, refitting any vent rib (I cut just ahead of the nearest rib post behind the bulge).

Unless an open/straight choke is desired, if the new muzzle barrel wall's thick enough, choke tubes can be fitted.


ILO reworking the barrel, I would suggest making the gunshop OWNER (only) an offer that took into consideration the cost of a new/different barrel from the likes of (google) Corson's barrels or the barrelxchange.


.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I agree, a bulge is more difficult, and easier to get wrong, than a dent. It isn't particularly bad if it is a ring bulge, the same all the way round. In theory that can be reduced and lengthen the barrel slightly in the process, although that might be hard to measure. But a bulge on one side only is likely to make built-in stresses, or cause the barrel to become slightly crooked.

A single barrel gun has a number of advantages. The bulge won't be made one-sided by the ribs and packing pieces, and it is easier to get at. It is also likely that there will be more metal in the barrel, because they can afford more weight. Double guns are often considerably thinner a few inches back than they are near the muzzle, and you can find yourself cutting back to very thin metal indeed. That doesn't increase its liability to a burst, because it was that thin anyway, and it is quite difficult to burst a shotgun near the muzzle, other than by an obstruction. But it becomes very easily dented by a blow, and it is too thin to fit screw-in choke tubes.

Brownells stock, or used to, choke tubes with a special thread to suit thinner barrels than usual. I don't remember the brand. Another thing I very imperfectly remember seeing was choke tubes made to be soft soldered invisibly into a specially reamed muzzle. These could be made if they are no longer available, and with the Browning you don't have to worry about unsoldering the ribs of a double.

[Battis]

I've been looking locally for a 20 ga long recoil shotgun, and there it was, in good shape, except for the bulge. I'll keep looking. Thanks for the replies.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Once in a while you will see someone selling a shotgun with a shallow bulge near the muzzle for a price that makes the heart beat faster. One thing worth trying, if the bulge isn't really bad, is to buy and shoot it, hoping you don't have to factor in the cost of a new barrel.

Sometimes, in shotgun and rifle alike, it makes no detectable difference to performance. I think there are only two ways a bulge can be harmful. One is to turn into a burst (not a very dangerous one, but people do talk). and the other is to let gas into the shot charge and produce blown patterns or shot fusing together. But that doesn't generally happen with a recessed choke in a formerly cylinder barrel, so it mightn't happen with a bulge.

[Battis]

I'd like to take that shotgun apart to see if anything internally was damaged when the bulge happened (bolt, receiver, etc). It's a long recoil shotgun and I'm thinking that the barrel recoiled a little more than usual at that moment. I have the Remington Model 11 in 12 ga, and I like it a lot, but 20 ga seems to be nonexistent around here, at least in long recoil. I looked at several 12 ga Auto 5s last night, and a 16 ga, but no 20 ga.
I'm going to go back and check out the shotgun with the bulge. I think it's a consignment gun so the shop owner might just want to get rid of it.

[fecmech]

I wouldn't worry much about the action in that A5, those are pretty tough guns, I have a light 20 A5 with close to 100k rds through it. I bought it new in 1967 and shot skeet with it for years and now sporting clays. The bulge is probably somebody getting snow or dirt in the muzzle and then firing the gun. If the bulge is not too bad I'd shoot it and see if it's a problem.

[nekshot]

a5 in 16 or 20 guage must be bought if price is near your ability to pay!!

[Idz]

This may be the steel shot used in a full choke barrel problem. The steel doesn't deform like lead passing through the choke. Carefully check the barrel for scoring and the action for damage.

[Sur-shot]

Midwest usually has new Browning parts, at a fancy price. If it were me, I would look and if I found a barrel, I would make an offer based on the new replacement barrel's cost, plus a fair amount on the rest once I was satisfied that the rest was not scrap. The A-5 is a tough old bird of a shotgun.
Ed

[KCSO]

IF the barrel has a ring bulge and it doesn't have a vent rib the bulge can be swedged out with a press and the right tools. A bore size brass rod is inserted in the bore and brass swedge blocks are pressed down to take out the bulge, like a dent remover in reverse. If done tight it will not effect the shooting of the gun and will be unnoticeable with out careful measurement.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'd like to take that shotgun apart to see if anything internally was damaged when the bulge happened (bolt, receiver, etc). It's a long recoil shotgun and I'm thinking that the barrel recoiled a little more than usual at that moment. I have the Remington Model 11 in 12 ga, and I like it a lot, but 20 ga seems to be nonexistent around here, at least in long recoil. I looked at several 12 ga Auto 5s last night, and a 16 ga, but no 20 ga.
I'm going to go back and check out the shotgun with the bulge. I think it's a consignment gun so the shop owner might just want to get rid of it.
Light weight is important in a shotgun, and it is a waste of weight to make the barrel bear more pressure than the action, or the action bear more pressure than the barrel. So the bolt and receiver are about equal in strength to peak pressure, which occurs about the time the shot leaves the chamber. So they equal the strength of the barrel at that point, far thicker than it is near the muzzle. Even that doesn't tell the whole story. Shotgun barrels would resist pressure if they were far thinner than any we see. The reason they aren't is that they must withstand accidental denting and the raising of dents, and may someday require to be lapped or bored from the inside to remove pitting.It is very unlikely that anything but an obstruction will burst a shotgun close to the muzzle, and if an already existing bulge did it, it would have to be alarmingly large.

[pietro]

.

FWIW, if you would really like to have a long-recoil 20ga, IMO it's hard to beat a Franchi AL-48, in one version or another.

I've been using a magic bird wand AL-48 with a vent ribbed 24" barrel & IC fixed choke on close-cover Grouse since 1987, and it has yet to fail me.

.

[Mk42gunner]

You could always cut it behind the bulge and have a Poly Choke installed, if you can find one now.

Robert

[Texas by God]

If cutting the barrel results in at least an 18-1/2" length remaining; I would make the offer. A cylinder choke shotgun is useful indeed. From your description it sounds like you'd end up with more length than that- all the better. Best,Thomas.