Shotgun barrel bulge.

[rbz2024]

I pulled the franchi affinity 20 gage out of the gun cabinet yesterday. And noticed a bulge in the middle of the barrel. A perfect ring and the barrel flaring out towards the end. The choke tube looks okay it thread's in and out and the others go in with out a lot of play.. l was on a grouse hunt
I don't remember hearing anything odd but after hunting I was trying out some homemade buck shot loads. I was worried they would be over pressure. I shot about 4 of them checking to see if anything looked out of wack. Everything looked okay so I shot about 6 more and never checked again. I had the gun out once more after that and didn't remember seeing it. I don't know if a over pressured load would cause this or it had some sort of barrel blockage?
Never had this happen before but I'm pretty new to shotgun reloading. I've shot this load a few times and never had a problem. Was going to use it tomorrow on the opener of pheasant not now I guess.

I joined this forum to comment on this. I had this exact issue with my new (1yo) 12g Franchi Affinity. Factory BB Hevi-Steel 3". It's a small bulge halfway down barrel and I never experienced a squib, and I was in a goose blind with heavy action.

Franchi warranty stated this is not a barrel issue but obstruction or load issue. No chance of obstruction, sitting in a pit blind with sunny dry weather in a grass field. Gun never dropped.
Purchased new barrel grudgingly, and waiting on Hevi-Steel response. Box and shells showed zero evidence of water damage.

Just thought I'd share a common issue. Not certain if coincidence these are both Franchi Affinity.