I have taken on my first attempt at straightening a shotgun barrel that was severely bent.After researching the gon forum i found that packing sand tightly in the barrel ,it would support the barrel and prevent the kinking when i rebent it.I had access to a lathe and found a 3foot steel dowel at the junk yard and turned it down to .729 in. Then rounded end . Inserted dowel in breach until it contacted bent area.Then tried the sand idea .The choke size of this barrel just happened to be the size of a dime.After filling it with sand and packing it with rod i used cheater pipe and after wrapping cardboard around barrel i made several bends .looks great.Im going to put it in lathe and check with dial indicator.
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barrel straightening
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GunnSmokeer
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That's good news. I also doubt that I'd be brave enough to try this, at least on a gun that I really cared about.
P.S. How did the shotgun barrel get badly bent?
Did some hunter miss a bird and do to his shotgun what I've done to some of my long irons when I hit out of bounds at the golf course?
P.S. How did the shotgun barrel get badly bent?
Did some hunter miss a bird and do to his shotgun what I've done to some of my long irons when I hit out of bounds at the golf course?
I have a 12 gauge 870 that my dad gave me. Only thing we ever used it for was turkey and you had to remember to aim at the base of the neck to get the pattern on the head. Last year I pulled it out and was looking it over and realized that I could see where it might be bent (at the mag tube bracket). At that time I pushed on it a little and realized it wasn't going to pop back into place.
Fast forward to this fall, I was straightening some alluminum arrow shafts and I was able to gauge my progress by looking through the inside of the shaft for concentric rings of light, or not concentric if it was not straight.
Doing the same with the shotgun barrel confirmed that it was bent and the location. A brief internet search had me in the garage with a rubber mallet in hand. No fancy setup for me. I laid the barrel on the rubber floor mat in front of my bench and supported the barrel with rope on either side of the bend. I gradually increased the energy of my blows until I could see I was actually getting somewhere. Then I just kept at it until I was seeing good even rings down the barrel. Took it out the next day to pattern some steel duck loads and got the results I was looking for.
I know it's possible I squashed that part of the barrel some but I can't see signs of that looking through the barrel and the loads go down the last half of the barrel and through the choke after that point anyway. I'm happy I don't have to aim 12" low anymore. I've got no worries about the strength of the barrel there.
Fast forward to this fall, I was straightening some alluminum arrow shafts and I was able to gauge my progress by looking through the inside of the shaft for concentric rings of light, or not concentric if it was not straight.
Doing the same with the shotgun barrel confirmed that it was bent and the location. A brief internet search had me in the garage with a rubber mallet in hand. No fancy setup for me. I laid the barrel on the rubber floor mat in front of my bench and supported the barrel with rope on either side of the bend. I gradually increased the energy of my blows until I could see I was actually getting somewhere. Then I just kept at it until I was seeing good even rings down the barrel. Took it out the next day to pattern some steel duck loads and got the results I was looking for.
I know it's possible I squashed that part of the barrel some but I can't see signs of that looking through the barrel and the loads go down the last half of the barrel and through the choke after that point anyway. I'm happy I don't have to aim 12" low anymore. I've got no worries about the strength of the barrel there.
