That has happened with revolvers having ribbed barrels of almost all makes at one time or another. I am positive that it has happened to S&W's, and Rugers. What happens is that the front of the frame ends up being out of square somehow with the barrel hole. When the barrel gets torqued at the factory it creates a stress point on the barrel because of the out of square rib, or underlug. With repeated firing, and bullets slamming the forcing cone a crack forms, and eventually the barrel breaks. If the barrel had been checked closely before it broke it would have appeared that the barrel had a slight "choke" where the barrel joined the frame, which actually would have been a kink caused by the out of square condition.
