Bent Shotgun Barrel

[tradewater]

Hello. I have a friend that somehow bent his shotgun barrel. We were shooting the other day and at 40 yds it shoots a good 4 ft to the right. I gave him some sights and they wont even adjust enough to get it on target. Does anyone on the forum know of a way to get a barrel straightened?

[retranger]

I'm not an expert but I think you need to take it to a gun smith.

[allaboutshooting]

I would call John Mann at Mann & Son Sporting Goods (Since 1946) at 618.357.2911. He can tell you if that barrel can be salvaged by straightening or if if should be discarded. He's the best gunsmith that I know.

Thanks,
Clark

[retranger]

What kind of gun is it?

[Steve_In]

Guys shooting round ball in smoothbore muzzle loaders bend their barrels all the time. Some have a jig and can make very precise adjustments. Others just use the fork of a tree. The trick is to not dent it. Remove the choke and look through the barrel at a light source, you should be able to see the bend. If the choke threads are crooked you may just have to get a new barrel. #1 rule of amatrue gunsmithing, don't mess with something that you can't afford to have fixed. The likelyhood of messing something up is inversley porportinal to the that parts avalibilty

[retranger]

Guys shooting round ball in smoothbore muzzle loaders bend their barrels all the time.

Steve why does that happen. I had never heard of this.[8|]

[Steve_In]

Rules for some smothbore matches do not allow a rear sight above the top of the barrel. They find the best shooting load and then bend the barrel to get to their POA. Ranges are usually fairly short so they can get away with this.

[retranger]

Then You actually bend the barrel at the receiver and not the barrel itself. I was a firearms instructor when I was working and when we carried S&W with fixed sights we did the same thing. Didn't seem right at the time. LOL

[Steve_In]

tradewater, did you guys get this "straightened" out? If I did my figuring right 4 feet at forty yards would require almost 1 inch of correction on a 26 inch barrel. You should be able to see that bend!
I was wondering if this may be a case of shooting with both eyes open and having a crossed master eye. Like left eye master on a right handed shooter.

Then You actually bend the barrel at the receiver and not the barrel itself.

No they bend the whole barrel.
There is a story about an old time Hoosier gunsmith that a customer brought a gun to him that shot low. The gunsmith examined the gun, pulled the barrel and whacked it across a piece of firewood. He replaced the barrel and handed the gun back to the customer. He asked $.50 for this service. The customer complained he could have done that. The gunsmith asked to see the gun again and restored the barrel to where it was and handed it back and said no charge. LOL

[Turkeybuster]

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D] I like that one Steve!

Jon