Originally Posted By: Drew Hause
WELCOME BACK DEWEY!

Gracias a Dios that appendage is not mine.

As I posted at the start, I most appreciate everyone's observations. My plan is to cautiously use Permatex 81756 Rust Dissolver Gel to remove the (presumably) recent layer of rust from the edges of the fracture. This might however also make identification of interlaminar rust more difficult.
My personal interest is the imprint of the crolle pattern, complete with ribband edge welds, on the plastic case. Apparently over time the barrels became 'acid etched' on the inside?!?
The owner would allow 'dissection' of the piece if someone here with the knowledge and skill would like to do so. I'm a victim of a public education in the great state of Missouri smile , and told him that my hope by posting this thread was that someone more knowledgeable would volunteer to do metallurgical testing.

Possibly I'd accumulate some smarts by simple diffusion if I moved to Utah? wink


Thanks Drew. I'm glad to hear that you were not the victim of that failure. Even if the barrels interior were acid-etched at some point in the past, that impression in the hull seems indicative of excess pressure. Possibly an overload or an obstruction at the chamber mouth? Back when I did refinishing I would heavily varnish the interior surfaces to prevent the acid reaching them. The varnish was easily removed with a patch soaked in lacquer thinner. I wonder about the value of Magnaflux checking, what about cracks or defects that are interlaminar but below the surface?