The way I read the original story was the skirt separated and stayed in the barrel. "Next" round blew the skirt out and it hit the target. 5 shots and 6 holes. Damage to the gun was during the pressure spike during the blow-out.
Years ago there was a pic. posted of a sectioned Dan Wesson barrel that had 8? jacketed bullets inside it. Yes, a reload was needed.
I read an article "recently" about loading .38 Specials. The author did not include any "heavy" jacketed bullet data and stated that with the mild pressure of .38 Special the heavy jacketed bullets may not exit the barrel. The next shot would be a loud BANG. (EDIT: Brian Pearce, Handloader 341, Dec-Jan 2022)