Bending a Barrel

Moebedda · 03-25-2010, 10:23 AM

I have a .62 cal. smoothbore flint lock. I want to change the POI. Right now I see to much of the front sight. The gun has no rear sight. I actually have to look through the base of the front sight, which blocks out the target, to get her to shoot where i want. Basically i have to aim high enough that the sight blocks out what i am trying to hit.

I hear a guy can bend the barrel to change the point of impact.

How does one do this? Which way would I have to bend it?

txhunter58 · 03-25-2010, 04:16 PM

Have never heard of that and would scare me to try.

However, it sounds like when you aim as you should you are hiiting way too low. So that means you want to raise your point of impact. To do that, you have to have a lower front sight or a higher back sight. You might be able to get a lower front sight, but you are very limited there. How about putting a rear peep sight on that has more vertical adjustment upwards and see what happens?

cayugad · 03-25-2010, 04:45 PM

What would happen if you removed the front site and put just a small bead of solder on it?

Steve F.in MD · 03-25-2010, 04:55 PM

I believe that I would try installing a rear sight before I tried bending the barrel. In fact, I would sell the gun before I would try bending the barrel. If you do bend it let us know how it worked out.

Semisane · 03-25-2010, 06:11 PM

It takes courage to do it Moebedda, but if you're game here's how you do it.

You need a very large C-clamp, a piece of 4x4 lumber as long as the barrel, and three short pieces of 2x4 lumber. You put them all together like in the drawing below (please excuse my crude drawing skills). You may want two additional short pieces of 4x4 to rest to long section on. It makes it easier to work with the C-clamp.

Put a very slight bend, shoot it to see the results, and bend it again if needed. To raise your point of impact you will want to rest the barrel on the cradle with the sight up, so the "belly" of the bend is on the bottom of the barrel.

EDIT: It's handy to have a long straight edge to check results. Put it on top of the barrel before you start. If the barrel is straight it will have full contact along the barrel. Check it again after attempting a very slight bend to see if there's any daylight between the straight edge and the barrel. It will give you some idea of how much bend you're getting. If you can see just the tiniest bit of daylight you've probably done enough. If it's a round barrel it helps to put a "V" notch in the 2x4s to cradle the barrel.

SECOND EDIT: Hey Moebedda, I got to thinking about your problem and am wondering if you can remedy it by tinkering with the bedding. Is is a full stock or half stock? Is the barrel pinned or held by wedges? Round or octagon? It may be that a shim (something like a one inch wide strip of plastic cut from a milk carton) placed under the very front of the barrel channel will raise the POI a little.

flounder33 · 03-26-2010, 06:48 AM

I've got a little experience with bending a barrel. The gun fell off the tractor I was driving and I ran over it with the rear tire. It didn't seem to help it shoot any better.
Art

Semisane · 03-26-2010, 07:53 AM

Quote:

I've got a little experience with bending a barrel. The gun fell off the tractor I was driving and I ran over it with the rear tire. It didn't seem to help it shoot any better. Art

The problem with that method Flounder, is that it takes a lot of practice to get it just right.