Barrel bending

[Ascot500]

I recall reading an article in a Gun Digest about bending the barrel on a fixed sight revolver to get it to shoot to point of aim.
I can't remember the year of the Digest but was wondering if anyone has actually attempted it and what were the results?

 

[Deanimator]

Barrel bending

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I recall reading an article in a Gun Digest about bending the barrel on a fixed sight revolver to get it to shoot to point of aim.
I can't remember the year of the Digest but was wondering if anyone has actually attempted it and what were the results?

j
I doubt that was the actual recommendation, more like bending the front sight, which is a common remedy with fixed sight revolvers.

 

[Ascot500]

No, I am pretty sure it was the barrel.
I recall the article used several Colt SAA clones as examples and the work was done using an arbor press.
IIRC the bend was so slight that you just about had to use a dial indicator to see it.
Even the ejector rod housing did not show a discernable gap.

 

[Deanimator]

That just seems like a flamboyantly bad idea. If the sight breaks while you're bending it, you can braze it back on. If you crack the barrel while you're bending it, you're boned.

 

[Murphster]

It involves turning the entire barrel. As I recall, the article dealt with turning the barrel using a home made barrel vise thingamabob and a board for leverage. Article included several warning about being careful not to mar the gun in the process. Also a sidenote about some Ruger single action barrels being screwed down by Superman and being mighty hard for the home gunsmith to fix. I think the article further mentioned that if you send a pistol back to the factory to turn, you should send them a used target and load data so the person fixing it can determine what you're shooting and where it's hitting.

If it's the same article.

 

[Jim Watson]

I recall the article.
The practitioner actually BENT the barrel, he did not bend the sight or tweak the barrel (turn it in the threads.) Fairly common in shotgun work, I don't know anybody else doing it on pistols.

 

[Murphster]

Then that's definitely not the more recent article I read. Thanks for the clarification, Jim.

 

[Jim Watson]

In the 2000 Gun Digest by Todd Lofgren, ideas by Larry Mears.
He used a 12 ton arbor press to bend sixgun barrels to zero.

 

[PinnedAndRecessed]

Yes, I remember that. I thought it was pretty bizarre but I can still see the pictures of him doing it. Single actions, I believe.