sight picturet on a smooth bore

[John Ezra Jest]

Just got my first smooth bore. A Jack Garner 62 cal. Colonial Fowler. Never messed with one before. I tried different sight pics at 25 yds. Tried the sight on the back of the breech plug, low & left. Off the wedding bands, low & left. Off the middle of the barrel, low & left. Definitely shoots to the left.

My buddy says it's kind of like shooting a bare bow( I shoot my bow that way so I understand the concept). You just get a sight pic in your head & thru practice, you'll start hitting with it.

Here's my question. Can I ajust my barrel thru bending or filing the muzzle to make it shoot where I want? I would really like to sight off the back of the breech plug. Instinctive shooting is a great idea but a more positive sight pic should be much better.

I would appreciate any help. Don't know how to post pics or I would show the target I shot.

John Ezra Jest

 

[user 2647]

I'm in the same boat as you. Finished my fowler and shoots almost dead center but 3 1/2 inches low at 25 yards, Checked the bore and it is .01 offset to the bottom of the barrel. Going to a small rondy this weekend and am going to have a friend with experiance in such matters stick the barrel between a couple trees and make a slight adjustment.

 

[Stormrider51]

I'm may catch flak for saying this but I had the same problem and fixed it with a rear sight. I dovetailed for an old Model 1911 pistol sight I had laying around. The sight doesn't look out of place and the extra height brought my point of impact up just enough to put me on at 50 yards. I was also able to adjust the sight for windage to take care of that part of the problem. Many original smoothies had rear sights and I'd much rather use that solution than file on or bend the barrel. One other thing to look at is the crown of your barrel. Mine was awful. It was uneven and probably contributed to the lack of accuracy. Since the crown is tha last part of the bore to contact the exiting projectile, it can have an amazing amount of influence on where the ball goes.

Storm

 

[Darkgael]

John Ezra: See the thread lower on the smoothbore forum page - "Smoothbore shoots low"- for info about bending and filing.
Pete

 

[MercerLake]

:v As the crown is the last part of the barrel to influence the direction of flight of the shotcharge or Prb it does not take much filing to alter the POI to agree with POA. In my opinion filing is much easier to correct a problem than bending the barrel. A few strokes of a file across the muzzle will move the impact without danger of breaking a stock or requiring removal of the stock. If the POI is low left remove metal from the lower left quadrant of the muzzle. The object is to use the gas pressure to nudge the projectile in the direction of the POA. :thumbsup: :v

 

[JackAubrey]

Dear Mr.Jest,Congratulations on the addition to your family.It is my understanding that the shooters' eye is the rear sight,as it were.I tapped a brass tack into my stock as an anchor point{I borrowed the idea from archery}after drilling a tiny hole and filling it w/ wood glue.Now when my Bess comes a shoulder,I place the brass tack in the corner of my mouth,assuring my of my eye being relatively in the same place each time. I sight off the bayonet lug and so have a consistent sight picture.I'd not be bending the barrel although I do know there are those which advocate such.Do so if you will though.I hope this aided you.best regards,J.A.

 

[John Ezra Jest]

Thanks one & all for the advise. I checked the muzzle first thing. Seems to be in good shape.

I would rather keep it as a plain fowler & not add a rear sight, so I could use it shooting matches.

Will probably try to file the muzzle. If I mess that up, I can take it into work & re-crown it on a lathe. I don't think we have a machine that would take a kink out of it from over bending. :shake:

What type of file should be used? A half round? A three corner file for just a tiny spot?

Thanks again,
John Ezra

 

[Many Klatch]

I have bent the barrels of all of my long barreled smoothbores and one rifle to hit where I want them. You have to be careful and just do a little noodgeing at a time, but the barrels will tune right in. Most people take the barrel out and stick it between two trees and give it a tug. I have always been too impatient and just stuck the gun barrel and stock into the trees and tugged.

I also file a reference mark in the middle of the breech tang for a sighter. You can also take out the tang screw and make a bigger headed screw that serves the purpose as well. I find a hex headed machine bolt with the right length and threads. I chuck the bolt into an electric hand drill and then use a file to turn the hex head into a round head. A little bit of work with a hack saw and you have a big headed screw that can act as a back sight. As long as your back sights are below the plane of the barrel no one can complain.

I find that I have to be careful with the big tang screw. If it gets turned slightly, I will be aiming off to one side or the other.

Many Klatch

 

[John Ezra Jest]

Thanks Many Klatch. Appreciate the advise.

John Ezra

 

[John Ezra Jest]

Does anybody here know which type of file to use to adjust the muzzle?

John Ezra

 

[Many Klatch]

I have never seen anyone adjust a smoothbore with a file, I didn't even know it could be done. It sounds pretty finicky to me.

Many Klatch

 

[John Ezra Jest]

Many Klatch,
I hadn't either till I saw the thread about a fella's smoothie shooting low with shot. I thought maybe someone could fill me in on the process. I don't think my BO comes thru the computer so, maybe someone will shoot me an answer.
I still might bend the barrel. Not for sure the pro's & con's of bending or filing. I know there are some very knowledgeable people on this board. I'm sure someone will help me out. Again, thanks for the earlier posts. I learned something new already. I'd never heard of bending the barrel while it was still stocked. I'd always heard of people taking the barrel, putting a steel rod inside the barrel, one a bit smaller than the bore so it won't kink the barrel. Put it between two 2x4s on the floor & then step on it. There's probably several ways to go about it.

John Ezra

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I have never seen anyone adjust a smoothbore with a file, I didn't even know it could be done. It sounds pretty finicky to me.

Many Klatch

In modern shotguns, either the barrel is bent or the muzzle/choke tube is cut or honed in such a way to do the same thing as filing to get everything concentric. I have seen some pretty bad choke tube threading that was in no way concentric with the bore. The tubes themselves were offset to counter the screw-up.

I have never filed a smoothbore muzzleloader barrel muzzle but I think it will surely work. I think it would actually be the best option if you could see a distinct offset from the muzzle.

 

[chuckpa]

Thanks for that information. My fowler shoots about 3 inches low and I have filed as low as I care to, so I will try giving a few strokes with a file to the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Trapper]

Hey Guys, my 16 ga smoothie shot about a foot low at 25yrds with a patched round ball. I bent the barrel to POI at 25 yrds but it shot 6 inches high at 50 yrds now. So I bent it back alittle bit and filed the bottom of the muzzle to move it up slightly. WALA, 1-1/2 inch high at 25 and dead on at 50. Shot patterns are dead on at 25 yrds. Filing the muzzle works , go slow and have fun sighting it in.
Trapper

 

[Many Klatch]

Hey Trapper, did you try it with just the second barrel bending before you filed it?

Is that your .64 smoothy that you are working on?

Many Klatch

 

[Many Klatch]

John, I remember one gun builder that used to smack a barrel on a telephone pole out behind his shop to bend the barrel for accuracy. I guess with enough practice you'd know how much oomph to give the barrel. I like just noodgeing the barrel a little at a time between two trees. I learned about sticking the barrel between two trees from Herschel House, I figure if it good enough for Herschel then it's good enough for me.

Many Klatch

 

[flintlockmdj]

Shoulden't that be "remove the metal from the
upper right" quadrant of the barrel?

 

[paulvallandigham]

No if the ball is hitting lower left, you want to file the lower left side of the muzzle to allow the ball to release from the barrel at that point, FIRST, so that gases pushing the ball out the barrel will escape out that quadrant and push the ball up and right, to hit POA.

 

[Trapper]

Many Klatch, It's the same 64 ya helped me with at the N'Eastern. I had bent the barrel a couple of times before settling on 2 inches low at 25 yrds, I filed her as per Paul V.(thanks Paul). Now the PRB hits about1 1/2 inch high at 25 and dead on at 50. It also shoots a great pattern at 25 with #5 shot.132 out of 192pellets in a 20 inch circle.Can't wait , turkey season opens May 1st.Look out Mr. Gobbler, Trapper is sneeking in at 5am