there MUST be a reason why they bend barrels..right?

[RC]

I have a centermark tulle 62 smoothbore, shoots to the right at 25 and 50.....pretty much a bad guess after that(lack of time/practice) so anyway I hear alot of smoothbore shooters having or bending themselves, their barrels. is there a reason why they don't move the front sight? is the sight hard to move,I've thought about this and can't figure it out,what am I missing?? thanks! RC

 

[Deadeye]

I've done both on Centermark smoothies. If it's just a little left or right the sight can be moved but if it's left or right and also up or down or even just up or down the barrel has to be bent. When I did mine I also replaced the turtle with a patridge type square blade. Once you get the sights right these guns shoot great. The front sight is soldered onto the barrel and the barrel must be removed from the stock to move the sight. You need to shoot it and calculate exactly how much you need to move it before unsoldering it.

 

[Slash]

Most smoothbores have soldered sights and can't be moved. So you can either compensate yourself or have the barrel bent (regulated is a better word). Saying bent is a little scary.
Slash

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Many smoothbores tend to shoot low with ball. You'll find that modern shotguns two, often shoot low with slug loads if they have no rear sight. You can cut the front sight right down to nothing and still not get enough correction. The alternatives are to add a higher rear sight, learn to hold up the exact right amount of barrel, or bend the barrel to bring point of impact up to point of aim. Match rules don't permit rear sights on smoothbores so you are left with the other two options and many find barrel bending to be the better of the two. It is not easy to hold up the same amount of barrel every time, especially if you haven't shot that gun for some length of time. :grin:

 

[musketman]

I hear alot of smoothbore shooters having or bending themselves, their barrels. is there a reason why they don't move the front sight?

In my opinion, bending a barrel should be a last resort after all else has failed, I am sure other people tried the obvious methods of fixing the POI first and then proceeded down the list of things to try until bending was all that's left...

 

[Mike Brooks]

Barrel bending is so easy even I can do it. Take it out of the stock , put it in the crotch of a tree and pull untill you feel it give. Put it back in the stock and see where it shoots. You may have to do this a couple times to get it just where you want it to shoot. I've done this many times.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

No offence Mike but the tree method sounds potentially "sappy". :haha:
I favor a somewhat more technical method. I set the barrel on my bench, supported at both ends by blocks of wood. Using dial calipers I measure the space between barrel and bench at the place I intend to be center of the bend. I then use a pipe clamp to squeeze the barrel down a bit. Release the pressure and re-measure to see if the bend was permanent or if it all sprang back. It will take a surprising amount of bend before you get any permanent set. Then reassemble the piece and fire for effect. In this way one can judge pretty well as to how much bend is needed and one can make small adjustments without over doing it. :grin:
Oh yeah, pad the jaws of the pipe clamp.

 

[J.D.]

My method is not as scientific as yours, but more scientific than Mike's. just block the barrel on a coupla stacked 2X4s and push down in the middle.

I had one barrel that would not bend. My wife and I had to stand on that barrel to get the neccesary amount of deflection. That barrel is a GOOD shooter now.
J.D.

 

[Java Man]

I used the method Joe describes also. I was very amazed at how much bend it would take before a permanent set took place. It was one of those thicker smoothbore barrels.

I'd be vervous as heck trying the tree method the first time. But I'm sure could acquire the feel for it rather quickly. I would have had to drive to Iowa and borrow Mike's tree. :rotf:

 

[Lone Carabiner]

Slightly more precise method would be to find a first class metal fab shop and have the barrel set on V-blocks (peferebaly on engineers table) for measurements with dial caliper or measureing blocks/feeler gauges to determine amount of out-of-true. Then use U-clamp to staighten. double-check as the barrel may (probably will) try to 'spring back'. easy does it and good results can be expected.
:thumbsup:

 

[Mike Brooks]

You guys sure are making alot of hard work out of an easy job..... :winking: I have a friend in springfield Illinois that wacks them aganst the telephone pole in his alley. :shocked2: He says it never takes him more than two wacks to get them where he wants them. Most of his work is on old US muskets......

 

[Gemoke]

Mike, my wife wants to know if your friend will take me out in that ally and wack me aganist that pole a couple of times for her, just to straighten me out.
cut finger :rotf: :rotf:

 

[xbowman]

Thank you. I haven't laughed this good in a long time from you comment.

 

[LRB]

I'm kinda with Mike here. It isn't rocket science. If you remove the breech plug, and look down a bent barrel, you will see egg shaped annular rings from light reflection, and be able to pretty much see where it needs to be bent, or regulated. When a barrel is straight, these rings are round. Regulate accordingly, but I use wood blocks, and a big C clamp.

 

[Toomuch_36]

Most smoothbores have soldered sights and can't be moved. So you can either compensate yourself or have the barrel bent (regulated is a better word). Saying bent is a little scary.
Slash

The major difference here is,-- when you are working on your own gun it is okey to "bend" the barrel, when you are working on a customers gun you "regulate" the barrel as it allows you to charge more than simply bending it. :v :haha: :rotf: :rotf:

Toomuch
..........
Shoot Flint

 

[tmdreb]

So, who's got a barrel that can shoot around corners?

 

[Rebel]

The fella that whacks them against the telephone pole. :grin:

 

[WRussell]

Has anyone tried using a laser? Yeah, way over the top, but if you're into tools... Since the last few inches are what matters, it seems like you could use one of those laser sighting-in gizmos, stick it in the barrel and see if it points to where the balls are going as opposed to where the sights are pointing. If you can get that to happen, then you can tweak (regulate) the barrel until the laser coincides with the point of aim.

Is that how barrels are "professionally regulated"?

 

[squirejohn]

If the windage isn't too far off, moving the sight is a viable option. I did it on my NWTG by removing the barrel and heating up the front sight with a propane torch until I could slide the sight a tad by using a pair of needle nose pliers.
It worked for me and I guarantee you'll be able to hit your barn from the outside :grin:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Has anyone tried using a laser? Yeah, way over the top, but if you're into tools... Since the last few inches are what matters, it seems like you could use one of those laser sighting-in gizmos, stick it in the barrel and see if it points to where the balls are going as opposed to where the sights are pointing. If you can get that to happen, then you can tweak (regulate) the barrel until the laser coincides with the point of aim.

Is that how barrels are "professionally regulated"?

I had a gunsmith friend who was into building double rifles by re-barreling old side by side breechloading shotguns. He said a laser sight-in devise sure made regulation easy for him. I have tried one of the "cheap" versions and found it worthless. The "O rings" which center the spud in the bore would not provide any consistent alignment. I could do much better by just looking through the bore. Perhaps other versions with better bore alignment would be worthwhile but then how many barrels do you expect to bend?
All of my barrel bending has been for vertical correction which isn't noticeable while looking over the barrel. I'd hate to bend a barrel sideways such that it would appear crooked while aiming. As Squire John said, windage can be corrected by slightly moving the front sight. If not, then I'd think something is very wrong with that barrel. I have seen a couple of T/C rifle barrels that required both sights way off center to get on paper. :grin: