Have it looked at by a barrel smith like Mike O.
What type of gun are we talking about? If it were a clunker I would be a lot more inclined to scrap the gun than I would be if it was a very valuable gun. Might not make sense to some but clunkers are a dime a dozen an the metal in some of them is not that great.
At Remington one day I watched them try to blow up a 1100 12 ga. by putting a 20 in the bore and shooting it. They did it three times and there was no visible damage to the gun. Then they put about 1/2-1" mud in the end of the bore and it blew the barrel when shot. They claimed that while a shell in the bore might result in a major failure that the blocked end of the barrel with mud, dirt or snow would always result in one. I suspect that the metal near the chamber was just strong enough and thick enough to handle the shell but near the muzzle it is too thin to handle the extra pressure. I never tried the test myself and I pray to God that I never do so in the future by accident. It was fun to watch them stress test the gun under safe conditions.
