Barrel Bulge

[fordmech00]

So I picked up a FN 1922 today. All in all in fairly good condition. All matching, however upon cleaning the gun I noticed a slight bulge in the barrel about 1/4 down from the chamber. First few photos are of the gun. photo of inside the barrel showing the ring from the bulge, and then the barrel. My question is, is it still safe to shoot?

[harold63]

I wouldn't shoot a gun with a bulge in the barrel. Aneurysms in barrels are as dangerous as they are in a person's head.

[bob308]

shoot it you are not going to hurt it and it will not hurt you. a bulged barrel was common on broomhandles and lugers. we shot them all. i have a brno number1 .22 has 2 bulges. one infront of the chamber the other at the end of the forarm. it still is a match winner.

[Yoder]

Could have been from a squib stuck in the barrel and firing another round after. My G17 barrel looked just like that but also had stress cracks, when that happened to me. Mine was so bad the slide got stuck on the bulge. It might be ok, or it might blow up in your face.

[Pa.Sniper]

Just to be safe, I wouldn't shoot it. If you have the coin, you can have it xrayed for stress fractures, that way you will know for sure.

[TJB63]

I just checked mine to see if maybe it was part of a manufacturing defect, No Bulge. Chances are it's safe to shoot, But why temp fate, Have it checked out by a gunsmith or buy a New Barrel, or Both.

They are Great little guns and a nice piece of History, Mine isn't Nazi marked like yours, But it was used by the Railroad Police in the US Zone or at least it's marked as such.

I hope you can take it out and enjoy it.

TJB

[Dave_n]

From the photos of the trigger yours is one of the quite late FN pistols made under the 3rd Reich. The lack of the "trigger wings" on the trigger was a change made to speed up production in I think, late 1943 or early 1944. Dave_n

[TJB63]

From the photos of the trigger yours is one of the quite late FN pistols made under the 3rd Reich. The lack of the "trigger wings" on the trigger was a change made to speed up production in I think, late 1943 or early 1944. Dave_n

Hey Dave, You have any sources to Date the Manufacture year? My trigger has the wings and I assume was made Post WW2 - But it would be nice to know when.

Thanks
TJB

[JW1914]

That is one cool piece of history man

[Dave_n]

Hey Dave, You have any sources to Date the Manufacture year? My trigger has the wings and I assume was made Post WW2 - But it would be nice to know when.

Thanks
TJB

I just checked my copy of Anthony Vanderlinden's book on Browning Pistols (well worth getting if only for the Serial Number records and photographs)

From 1925 to 1940 200,000 to 285,000
Contract pistols (Yugoslav, Romanian etc) 1-69,000 with significant numbers of duplicates so have to look at other markings.From Sep 1944 have A prefix serial, made from parts and often sold to US soldiers.

1946-1975 Serial from 1-180,000

WWII German WaA163 20,000 to 25,000
WaA140 57,000 to 220,000
1943 added a letter suffix with variations. 1
1944 79,000b to 42,000c with no trigger flanges, so the OP's pistol falls into this range.

Flanges put back after about 1945. Vanderlinden has a postwar A96835 without flanges, but certainly back in early 1950s.

My own 1922 is in the WaA140 57,000 to 220,000 range so is roughly 1941 and has the trigger flanges.

Note that the number sequences can include the Model 1910 (no barrel extension), the Model 1922 and some GP35's. Dave_n