Perhaps this is a silly question, but would a small hole in a barrel necessarily spell an impending explosion? I ask because I am reminded of my sporting clays Browning Citori which has a dozen or so holes in its ported barrels, which obviously hasn't caused it to burst even though I've fired thousands of 3" steel magnum duck loads through it over the past 20 years.

"Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun".