Took in a Win Mod 1890 pump action .22 WRF for an annual cleaning (first in its life perhaps). A lot of lead fouling through this great old plinker. I noticed a bulge approx .7" long and .022" wider compared to barrel forward when measured from flat to flat (octagon barrel. The bulge is approx. 13" forward of chamber. It is enough to notice when running your hands down the barrel or caught in the light. Any pro opinions on the safety aspects of firing this gun? Thank you

Ultraman, an obstruction had to have caused it way back when. The bulge would hurt the accuracy to a certain extent but it would not be dangerous. You might be able to find a replacement barrel for it or have it relined and then draw file the bulge off of it.

[ 09-14-2003, 19:52: Message edited by: Customstox ]

How long have you had the gun? Did you get it from your dad or your grandpa? That bulge may hold a story that only they can tell you. If so, you should learn the story and relate it to your son when he gets the rifle from you some day. I refinished my dad's time-worn, no-blue-left, scratched, dented and god-awful-ugly 1945 M70 to like-new appearance in 1984. It was "his old friend" until I did that; now he says he doesn't recognoize it anymore. I wish I hadn't touched it; the history of it is gone. Find out the history of that bulge if you can; it may be part of a good story.

Right on Chic. The type of buldge that really hurt accuracy are those right at the muzzle. Surprisingly, guns with buldges a couple inches back from the muzzle will sometimes shoot quite well.

Rootbeer, I doubt that "buldge" was caused by anything exciting enough to hand down. More than likely a spider had something to do with it. It doesn't take much to move steel when pressure is applied at the point of a simple obstruction. Just another reminder to clean and inspect those bores prior to shooting.

Malm

[ 09-14-2003, 19:41: Message edited by: G.Malmborg ]

I can't remember examining a .22 Rimfire rifle from the 1920's or before that DIDN'T have a bulged barrel! I'm sure there are some out there, but it's not much of an exaggeration to say that bulges are the rule rather than the exception in old .22's.

The most prevalent cause was a defective round that failed to push the bullet out of the barrel, followed by firing a "good" round behind it. Surpisingly, the short length of missing riflings and the brief oversize section of bore doesn't seem to much affect the rifle's performance. It may be as Malm suggests that as long as the bulge is far enough back from the muzzle for the bullet to be "restablized" after jumping the bulge that accuracy is fairly unaffected.

I have never found any safety issues with bulged .22 barrels, so long as the gun itself is otherwise sound.

Stonecreek, I have 3 of them and no bulges in any of them. I have not seen bulges to be that prodominant. I may just be lucky though, I have not looked for them on other rifles.

Also sounds to me that a bullet or some obstruction was in the bbl and another round was fired, causing the bulge.

I came in a bit late on this but I to have seen a lot of bulged 22 barrels but have this problem. A dear friend of mine received a Stevens Favorite fron his grandfather and was using it to give his young sons some shooting lessons. He would hand a youngster a single 22 LR roundm they would return to the firing line and be handed the rifle(action open) from the other brother, insert the round, close the action, aim and fire. The non-shooting brother would be returning to the father for his next round.. All of a sudden(per the father) they stopped hitting the target. The next shot sounded 'funny'. I was brought the rifle to clean. I removed 19 bullets from the bore. A tight patch revealed no loose spot!! and there was no bulge... any explanations? Guesses? I cleaned the rifle and it shot just great. Also I have seen an awful lot of M34 remingtons with a bulge in the barrel, all in the same spot. Not a single one had a loose spot in the bore..