Smoothbore barrel bending tips

[jonk]

I have an 1842 (original) that I picked up last year. I've worked out what powder charge it likes, but it shoots about 18" low.

One of my teammates has bent barrels before and is going to talk me through it, but before I ruin a nice 160 year old gun, I want as much info as possible.

How do you all go about this?

[Ken Hansgen, 11094]

If the windage (L-R) is on, I'd just lift my head a bit and see more barrel/bands to aim higher.

[Paul Lampman 263V]

Barrel bending/straightening has been around nearly as long as there have been firearms. Be careful so you can get it back in the stock with the barrel bands on. Tiny bit at a time.

[Ron/The Old Reb]

I would not try it myself. I would talk to Bobby Hoyt and see if he could bend it.

[John Maderious]

I believe Bob Hoyt bends barrels in a press, but I am not sure. I have always gone to Dan Whitacre in Winchester for that service. It works pretty well--Dan bends it to what looks good in his press, you go to his little range and shoot it, return for fine tuning in his press, and repeat until it is perfect. John Maderious WBR 10223

[hp gregory]

ah the bending of the barrel. a true art in itself. its not that huge a deal if its done slowly and properly. i have bent more than a few. the thing to remember is that the originals are very very soft and can be easily bent with just your hand pressure. the armi sport repros on the otherhand are very hard and hard to bend. it can take the weight of large person standing in the middle to bend it.
as for the original. take two wooden 2by4 blocks and lay them on the floor. place one under the breech section of the barrel. place the other block under the muzzle. you aim the muzzle like you would a water hose. so if its shooting low you would put pressure on top of the barrel by placing both your hands on it pushing down slightly. sight down the barrel and see if you can detect any change. if you think you put a light bow in it with the muzzle aiming up slightly put the barrel back in the stock and test fire it ofhand. shoot 3 good shots and see where they group. clear the gun and remove the barrel and go through the same process again untill you walk it in. what you want is a very gradual bend. IT DOESNT TAKE MUCH BEND TO MOVE IMPACT A LOT so go slowly. i suggest that you carry the blocks to a range and do it there. once you are sure of the impact you can place a little bit of bedding here and there to keep the barrel in position.
if you are gona shoot a smoothy you need to know how to sight them in. they are a lot more fun when they hit where you point them. sighting them in is easy. its just a matter of taking your time. i have done them on the line at the fort in a couple of individual relays before.its pretty easy if you pay attention. but i say again the original barrels bend easily so go very slowly till you find out how much pressure it takes to flex one.

hp

[Maillemaker]

Hi all,

Sorry for the thread resurrection, but I figured it would be better than starting a new one.

Went to my first Nationals last week, and managed to hit 10th place in 50 yard smoothbore in Expert class. I want to do some work on my smoothbore.

I have an Armisport 1842 that I bought used. It has been glass bedded. I am using a .678 RCBS round ball mold with wheel weight alloy. I use a Mike Rouche sprue cutter and then rasp the ball between two files, and then apply 2 coats of Alox.

The gun will blow a ragged hole in the paper off a bench, but shoots about 4" or so to the left. To make matters worse, the front sight appears to be offset slightly to the left. I have considered grinding off the cast-in front sight and brazing in a brass one as per the originals, but to correct this drift the sight would need to be moved even more to the left that it currently is.

I am considering bending the barrel.

From what I have read in this thread and others, one way to do this is to drill an appropriate-sized hole in some squared-off sections of 4x4, and then cut those in half, producing cradle blocks. By placing one support block at the breech end and one at the muzzle, supporting it from below, and then placing the other on top and applying pressure (from above), you can bend the barrel causing the point of impact to move in the direction of the applied pressure.

Is this a good way of bending the barrel?

I'm assuming the amount of bend will be tiny - does it matter that the stock has already been glass bedded in the pre-bent state? Does the glass bedding in the pre-bent condition screw me?

If I can bend it with the above method, is there a portable way to apply the pressure? Ideally I would like to do this at the range and so be able to make adjustments to achieve the right amount of bend. As I live 30 minutes from my range this would not be something I would like to do at home and then have to drive to see the results.

What I'm thinking about (don't shoot me here) is using the block idea above, but also putting a "bottoming out" support block underneath the barrel at the point of pressure. With only a tiny bit of clearance under it, which I can vary using shims. And then, literally, standing on the pressure block with my 290 pounds of butt weight allowing the barrel to bow until it hits the support block. Is this crazy? I can just see me standing on it and folding my barrel in half so that it looks like that one in the New Market museum. :)

Steve

[jonk]

Well I know my buddy bent mine- the reason this thread was started ages ago- by leaning some weight on it while in the crook of a tree. Took a few hours of trial and error.

I see no problem with your approach, other than to note that a modern made gun is harder to bend of course, and that you should do it a little at a time.

Speaking of Mike Rouch, he does do that to barrels... if you feel like sending it off to him.

[Lou Lou Lou]

It is my understanding that you must leave the front sight tilted to the left. John Holland could answer this

[Timmeu]

Bending the barrel is only part of the puzzle. Slight alterations to the barrel channel. Removal of some wood might be needed to not force the barrel back to the old line. Who ever does the work will want the entire firearm with your loads to be sure the work is done correctly.

[Maillemaker]

I would like to do the work myself.

Steve

[Michael T.]

There are days I want to put mine under the duals on my motorhome and run it over 3 or 4 times.....:mad:http://www.n-ssa.net/vbforum/images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

I think that would work too.