Best way to straighten a bent barrel?

[topaz]

Boy after this story I need a drink

[Aragorn243]

I've had a few people look at it for safety purposes and the consensus was that due to it's location and size which is small, it probably wouldn't affect the accuracy. I've just simply never had a strong desire to test it and ammo was an issue for a while but I recently picked up two boxes very reasonably. $30 for a 20 round box. New production ammo.

[browningautorifle]

So, picture in your mind the bulge. It may be small but when it occurs the metal stretches and the muzzle stays in the same location. The barrel doesn't usually stretch uniformly and is bigger on one side. If this "guy" with the roller does his magic you can't make the metal go back to what it was before. You may crush the bulge down but the metal has to go somewhere. The barrel will be longer. Not by much, but enough to throw out pin location and critical tolerances. I think you will find it's thinner in that spot now. Your barrel is almost certainly crooked now. Maybe not much but it may be. Accuracy may or may not be effected. I've seen lots with no hard fast rule. I saw a Husquavarna had a ring within an inch of the crown that shot tens. I had a Puma carbine that was rung in the middle of the barrel that couldn't hold twelve inches at thirty yards. But the barrel was straight! If your rifle shoots, leave it alone.

[vintage hunter]

Browning, I don't put much stock in his claim either. I've worked metal long enough to know when somebody's blowing smoke.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Never fired it so I don't know if it affects the accuracy or not and it isn't a milsurp but an 1886 Winchester in 45-90.

It depends on the length and depth of the ring, and where it is. IF you use black powder with plenty of lube, and do not clean between shots (as if for a military BP competition) then, after the first shot, the BP crud will tend to fill the dent and the bullet will pass over the gap without major distortion or gas blow-by*. The further the ring is from the muzzle, the better. Give it a try!

If the results are OK, then try with cleaning between shots. But stick to BP.

Patrick


*For those unaccustomed to BPCRs: A BPCR bullet should be softish-to-medium-hard lead (Brinell approx. 10 is my preference) and when it is fired over a good wad of lube it is in effect sitting on a hydraulic seal all the way up the bore. And if you are in a military competition (no cleaning between shots) your supposed bore-riding bullet nose is actually a crud-riding nose! (think of journal bearings) Gas blow-by? Leading? - Forget it!

[OlManDow]

You are going to laugh at this 'Bubba' solution! Needless to say, you have to have a gauge or the eye to tell when and if you got it straight. I place the barrel on the ground (not pavement!) with the peak of the bend on top and run over it with a front tire of an Aerostar Van. Usually doesn't get it all the first time, but little danger of overdoing it and finding it bent the opposite way. If it isn't yet straight, I put a plywood shim under one end or the other or both and try again. Repeat as necessary. I have been pleasantly surprised at how successfully this has worked.

OlManDow