Not to say that couldn't happen, but a bulge from excessive pressure is more likely to happen at the weakest point, which is the farthest from the strongest point. The silver soldered, or brazed locking lugs ads mechanical strength to that portion of the barrel, so a bulge isn't as likely to occur there , as it is more distant from the lug. You seen plenty of those aneurisms down near the muzzle, and they are most frequently off to the sides, directly away from the ribs.
If it weren't for companies like RST, I don't know if I'd be as willing to shoot my previously bulged gun (despite the fact that it too was visually undetectable).
When metal stretches below a point refereed to it's YIELD point, it relaxes to it's original size or shape. When it stretches beyond the yield point, it no longer relaxes, and any additional stresses, in theory, only cause additional elongation. There's a fine balance in selecting steels. As strengths go up, ductility generally goes down.
Sherman Bell's backyard test-to-destruction was one of the best reads I ever had. Even the non shooters in the physical testing lab wanted to duplicate it. I had plenty of visits to Aberdeen proving grounds, and they could all be summed up by "HOLYSHIT"
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