Cracked Barrel!

[Gary Laudermilch]

A full length longitudinal crack in Damascus barrels? Just does not seem right. This will be an interesting discussion. It will not cost anything to measure the wall thickness and will certainly aid in the discussion. If you intend to scrap the barrels I bet some expert here would love to dissect them.

[Victor Wasylyna]

Originally Posted by Gary Laudermilch

A full length longitudinal crack in Damascus barrels? Just does not seem right.

I second this. Shot rub through would make sense, but not a crack. Keep us posted.

-Victor

[TxHuntermn]

Originally Posted by Victor Wasylyna

I second this. Shot rub through would make sense, but not a crack. Keep us posted.

-Victor

Dunno, looks “cracky” to me....Hope you guys are right though!!

[edgarspencer]

Not having seen these barrels, I am only 98% sure this is not a crack. Pressures sufficient to cause a barrel crack would have ruptured before going down the entire bore, and cracks in damascus barrels do night form as you are describing.
There are many good NDT labs in most metropolitan areas, and can perform one of several exams which will be more conclusive than blind internet guesses.
Also, I would doubt a plated lead pellet would do this, by itself. If a pellet were to leave a trace down the bore, it would be so slight that any good bore scrubbing would remove it.