To bend your barrel or not that is the question?

[LME]

Have bent a few, even rifles, and the late, great Kit Ravenshear even describes the process of bending MZL barrels to align the PoI to the PoA, in his booklet series on barrel work.

Beware that many here don’t advise it, nor think it possible … but yet they’ve never bent one either, so there …

I have never bent a barrel and don't understand what people mean when they say bend a barrel? I do know that if a barrel is bent you can bend it straight. I also know if a barrel is straight and you bend it it will be accurate at only one distance. Is there something I am missing?

 

[Crow#21957]

Just one of my qwerks. I figure most metal bending the metal should be heated some.

 

[FlinterNick]

I’ve spoken with Bobby Hoyt and Ed Rayl about this, they’re not advocates of bending barrels, there’s are plenty of other more modern efficient wants to fix a barrel flaw, such as liners and remachining the barrel (if able to).

There’s also a steel issue, only some steels will bend cold, other steels such as Japanese made barrels, Italian made barrels will likely not bend without being heated to at least 900 degrees and then would require to be reconditioned and tempered.

 

[flconch53]

I have never bent a barrel and don't understand what people mean when they say bend a barrel? I do know that if a barrel is bent you can bend it straight. I also know if a barrel is straight and you bend it it will be accurate at only one distance. Is there something I am missing?

You are getting the barrel to shoot center at all distances. If a barrel is slightly off to the right at 25 yds by the time you get to 50yds you are more off. In my experience I only bend smoothbore barrels. A rear sight would also fix this. If you can't see a rear sight anymore adding a sight is of little value.I haven't ever bent import guns.

 

[French Colonial]

Bending the barrel is to straighten it, go to about 6:13 to see Pedersoli do it.

No reason you can not do it yourself, I have on a Caywood (and so have others) and it works.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...t=pedersoli+bending+a+barrel+videos&FORM=VDRE

 

[LME]

You are getting the barrel to shoot center at all distances. If a barrel is slightly off to the right at 25 yds by the time you get to 50yds you are more off. In my experience I only bend smoothbore barrels. A rear sight would also fix this. If you can't see a rear sight anymore adding a sight is of little value.I haven't ever bent import guns.

I have worked on many rifles and have never bent a barrel. I know that companies that make barrels will have to bend a few barrels straight by eye but it isn'r as complicated as one would think. If a barrel isn't straight and you look down it one will se a distorted halo but with a little tweaking you can get a near perfect halo wihich indicates a straight barrel. I was concerned that some may think because a rifle doesn' shoot staight they could bend the barrel? This is only correct if the barrel isn't straight to start with.

 

[Okie Hog]

There's no rocket science involved in anything muzzleloader.

Hacker Martin made hundreds of muzzleloader barrels. He stated that only one barrel did not require straightening.

Barrel straightening:

 

[ronaldrothb49]

So my trade gun has always shot low, to the point that needed a to add a makeshift rear sight (which I posted about here) bc it was hard to be consistent. Now I know the answer is shoot more shoot more, and I agree with that but I one am limited on time with the kids and two I really didn’t like the sight picture I was getting at that. I like my bead right above the tang screw and mine was so high I had way to much barrel showing. Iv talked to people about bending your barrel, the one gentleman said he was having trouble and his buddy wedged it between the bumper snd the car (this was in the 70s bumpers could handle that then haha) and bent it so shoot more true. I’m not against that at all but I wanted to try something first before I did that. Now my barrel is pretty thin compared to most so this might not work for everyone but it has worked so well for me I’m able to get rid of my makeshift rear sight and be consistent. I completely disassemble my gun removing the barrel, I then put a small square piece of leather in the front of my stock. I started with the tang screw and worked my way forward putting the pins back in. The pin right before the very last one I had to compress the barrel a little to get that pin in and it was a little tight bc there was the leather wedge in the front but by doing this it lifted the tip of my barrel slightly. The final pin I couldn’t get in obviously but it’s rock solid and I’m content with it. I could alway redrill it but I will wait to do that maybe at a later time but for now this works. What this did was give me a better point of aim, it raised the tip of my barrel up enough that I can pretty much use my tang as my rear sight and not have so much barrel in view, I’m almost shooting right off the deck so to speak. Like I said before this might not work for everyone and yes in time I’m going to make the front wedge more permanent but for now this will do fine to get me through the late deer season. The pictures below show the wedge and how it lifted the barrel off the stock and also it shows what my point of view was and how it now lowered it when I shoot. I did go out and shoot and it has proved to drastically bring my shots up and again making my point of aim much better. Hope this might help someone else

I would be worried about what the stress you have put the wood in is going to do to the stock?

 

[smoothshooter]

So my trade gun has always shot low, to the point that needed a to add a makeshift rear sight (which I posted about here) bc it was hard to be consistent. Now I know the answer is shoot more shoot more, and I agree with that but I one am limited on time with the kids and two I really didn’t like the sight picture I was getting at that. I like my bead right above the tang screw and mine was so high I had way to much barrel showing. Iv talked to people about bending your barrel, the one gentleman said he was having trouble and his buddy wedged it between the bumper snd the car (this was in the 70s bumpers could handle that then haha) and bent it so shoot more true. I’m not against that at all but I wanted to try something first before I did that. Now my barrel is pretty thin compared to most so this might not work for everyone but it has worked so well for me I’m able to get rid of my makeshift rear sight and be consistent. I completely disassemble my gun removing the barrel, I then put a small square piece of leather in the front of my stock. I started with the tang screw and worked my way forward putting the pins back in. The pin right before the very last one I had to compress the barrel a little to get that pin in and it was a little tight bc there was the leather wedge in the front but by doing this it lifted the tip of my barrel slightly. The final pin I couldn’t get in obviously but it’s rock solid and I’m content with it. I could alway redrill it but I will wait to do that maybe at a later time but for now this works. What this did was give me a better point of aim, it raised the tip of my barrel up enough that I can pretty much use my tang as my rear sight and not have so much barrel in view, I’m almost shooting right off the deck so to speak. Like I said before this might not work for everyone and yes in time I’m going to make the front wedge more permanent but for now this will do fine to get me through the late deer season. The pictures below show the wedge and how it lifted the barrel off the stock and also it shows what my point of view was and how it now lowered it when I shoot. I did go out and shoot and it has proved to drastically bring my shots up and again making my point of aim much better. Hope this might help someone else

I got in an extended discussion a few days ago with someone here that would not believe that bending a rifle barrel could bring the POI to coincide with the line of sight with out having the bullet path intersecting the line of sight at an angle from the side.
Even though I have only straightened shotgun barrels myself, in the late 70’s I watched a friend of mine ( and master gunsmith and machinist ) straighten a modern rifle barrel that had been run over by a pickup truck. Had about a 2 1/2” bend in the middle. Friend removed barrel, busted hand guards and upper receiver from lower receiver. We found a couple of wooden blocks and placed them on the ground. Laid the barre on the blocks with one at each end. Friend jumped up and down on middle part of barrel to straighten it. After a few minutes of trial and error, friend had barrel shooting POI at 100 yards with another pair of handguards just like it did before it was run over.
I shot targets out to 300 yards, and groundhogs with it for another year or so. Only had to make a one click sight adjustment to one side or the other to tweak it in.
It was the most impressive case of a gun repair in the field that I ever saw.

 

[springfield art]

Still in use today.

The gov't. arsenals in France making the Charlevilles had guys whose specialty was straightening barrels by eye. I imagine every other musket factory had the same thing. No lasers! just human skill.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Bend it, if you support both ends measure carefully and use a press in the middle it works great.

EXACTLY! I don’t know what the big misconception is about bending barrels when you intentionally want to move the point of impact. I just did another one for someone the other week, where I must be > 8 and getting close to a dozen now I’ve bent.

I also know if a barrel is straight and you bend it it will be accurate at only one distance. Is there something I am missing?

Yes! Think of it this way, with a rifle, those sights are only ‘accurate’ at one distance. What’s the difference?

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again … I’d opine that the most people who question it … have never done it …

 

[LME]

EXACTLY! I don’t know what the big misconception is about bending barrels when you intentionally want to move the point of impact. I just did another one for someone the other week, where I must be > 8 and getting close to a dozen now I’ve bent.

Yes! Think of it this way, with a rifle, those sights are only ‘accurate’ at one distance. What’s the difference?

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again … I’d opine that the most people who question it … have never done it …

I look at it this way. If the receiver sight is on one end of a barrel and the post is on the other end and the berrel is straight we all know the bullet will go straight with the exception of drop which is going to happen regardless. now think of a barrel that is not straight the bullet want follow the sights. That is why barrels are bent in factories when stresses put a slight bend in one of their barrels. If bending didn't make a difference why do they straighten them?

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Take out all of the posts by those who have never bent a barrel and you have 4 relevant posts.

 

[LRB]

Just one of my qwerks. I figure most metal bending the metal should be heated some.

The bending is not a radical bend, it is really very slight but can make a difference in the point of impact. The bending in a smooth bore is sometimes necessary if you want the ball or shot load to be at POA. I have straightened both smoothies and rifle barrels using wood blocks, a heavy work bench, and a large C clamp. It requires multiple tries and patience, but once the barrel passes the spring point it goes well.

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

I had a fellow who tried to hammer out his breach plug with the barrel protruding about 8 inches out of the vice. He but quite a bend in it. I got it pretty straight and it was nice and accurate after. Semper Fi.

 

[Juice Jaws]

If you bend it enough you can shoot around corners

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

If you bend it enough you can shoot around corners

In WW2, The Germans tried to produce a 9mm grease gun for shooting around corners. Didn't work. Semper Fi.

 

[Lynnhawk]

Still in use today.

I have done that on Trap guns by placing the barrel between 2 blocks of wood and carefully drop a 25lb bag of shot on the barrel…had really good success with it ….start out low and adjust the height from there…!!

 

[Rob M.]

Yep ... I've bent barrels a few times . Its not a big deal . you do it for adjusting windage problems usually and only when sight adjustments aren't good enough , beyond their limits . When I worked for Zornes some times they would bend a barrel if it needed it . Find two close post and just give it a push , not much ! . I had a shotgun once named " old bent barrel " as you could see the bend , most times you can't see the bend , and everyone wanted to carry it was it was very accurate

 

[martin9]

I just bent the barrel on a fowler I just completed. 46" PA fowler barrel jug choked full . It was pattering low and I had the front sight just where I wanted it Which is quite low.. Round balls were shooting low and right. I bent it between 2 blue beech trees. First bend was a little too much elevation wise but good left and right. Took it out again and bent it down a bit using the same 2 beech trees. Dead center pattern at 30 yards and round balls shooting perfect point of aim fron 25-60 yards....which is as far as I shot today.

I've never understood why it's such a debate. Folks that haven't done it can write a small term paper on why it won't work.....folks that have just say "yep, works great"