Compromised barrel on a shotgun

[hayseed]

Anyone ever have a barrel split from the sight down towards breech.

Not only split, but basically banana peel like 6-8 inches??
Gun is a newer Remington 870 wing master.

Barrel was not plugged.
Right shells were used.

Not my gun or me, was my sons.

I don't water fowl much, like one shoot a year. He's hardcore goose and ducks.
Second owner of his shotgun, bought almost new condition. Maybe one box with last owner, son has pounded maybe 4 boxes down the pipe.

Any help is appreciated!!!

[pikergolf]

Steel shot and a full choke?

[wwbirds]

^^^^^^ that would be my guess.

[Big Lou]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Steel shot and a full choke?

Saw this happen a couple weeks ago. Even asked him if he’d ran steel through it before.

[TrapperMike]

Why would the steel shot affect it. It’s my understanding that the shot never touches the barrel as it is inside the wad until it leaves the barrel?

[Birchcraft]

Originally Posted by TrapperMike

Why would the steel shot affect it. It’s my understanding that the shot never touches the barrel as it is inside the wad until it leaves the barrel?

That's actually somewhat the problem, if it was loose it would pass through more freely. as a wad the shot must compress slightly through the choke, steel is not as soft as lead and so does not compress much at all and a full choke is to agressive for a wad full of steel.

[Boogerfart]

What ammo and what choke where being used at the time?

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by TrapperMike

Why would the steel shot affect it. It’s my understanding that the shot never touches the barrel as it is inside the wad until it leaves the barrel?

Steel shot has three major differences than lead when it comes to barrels.

The first is that it needs very heavy wall thickness on the wads because of its hardness

The second is that because it does not compress like lead does, so a condition called Bridging can happen if the forcing cone of the gun is too abrupt, or the choke constriction is too abrupt and too tight.
The third, is that when lead is compressed , its lubricity increases, steel does not compress so the lack of lubricity adds too the bridging effect.
Cat

[saskbooknut]

another problem that has been observed is rusted together steel shot -

cartridges that have been wet having the shot welded together like a slug from rust.

The old "immovable object, irresistible force" on a full choke.