"Tweaking" a fowler

[Capt. Jas.]

You say it's a "fowler" but I assume you plan to just shoot round ball in it like a musket? If so, bend the barrel but if you plan to ever shoot shot and use it as a fowling piece I would check your pattern before doing so. It might throw a correct pattern as is. :hatsoff:

 

[rabjr]

How much force will one of these take?

You'll feel it "give". That's when you want to take a look at it and decide if it's time to put it back in the stock and see where it shoots. I don't know who makes TVM's barrels.
Lots of guys make all kinds of complicated jigs and inventions to bend barrels. I have always used the crotch of a tree that is close to where ever I'm sighting in the gun at.
I find a long straight edge handy to calculate how much bending the barrel needs or how much you've adjusted it. I bend somewhere between 1/3rd and 1/2 back from the muzzle.....not rocket science. You can bend these things a loooong way before they'll kink.

I just looked at this gun that was given to me with a .700 bore and at 41". Looks to me it would take 6 men and a mule to bend it. :haha: Freakin thing is a lot more rugged than anything I've seen.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Mike , how about bending the stock up thus keeping his cheek weld and elevating his eye?

Brits.

 

[J.D.]

I'm not Mike, but I have bent a few barrels, and IMHO, it's much easier, and a LOT less messy to bend a barrel than bend the wrist.

The barrel can be bent and back in the stock in 5-10 minutes, it takes an hour, or two, to bend the wood.

I use a coupla wood blocks, as David Hobbs suggested. As Mike said, you can feel it bend, then bend it a little more, because the barrel will spring back quite a bit. It can take a coupla stacked blocks to get enough bend to bring the POI to where you want it, but just stay with it until you get it where you want it.

God bless

 

[tg]

Believe it or not JD, Mike and Roy (sorry if I left someone out) really know what they are talking about and what they are doing,far to often people who don't now squat so to speak jump in on this type of topic,barrel bending has been for centuries an acceptable way of bringing a gun to the POI desired and still is whether by use of a tree or a jig, most I know prefer a tree I have been lucky that the several smoothies I have delt with did not need adjusted, but please let those who know what they are doing advise folks on this type of question, there is no point in confusing things with bad information.

 

[J.D.]

Dang tg, tell us what you really think. :bow: :rotf:

I'm beginning to think you're hanging around with Mike too much. Are you raising show chickens too? :wink:

God bless

 

[tg]

It just amazes me at times what is tossed out there as bonafried fact, often from folks who were asking the same questions a few weeks ago and are now giving advice :idunno: , it hits a nerve now and then, I am not interested in chickens but am considering starting a pearl farm and raising hogs on the side.:hmm:

 

[J.D.]

I am not interested in chickens but am considering starting a pearl farm and raising hogs on the side.:hmm:

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[paulvallandigham]

If the poster is going to bend that barrel, the way J.D. describes the process is the way to do it.

Understand that Mike Brooks has been building and tuning guns for a long time. He can do things with a crotch of a tree that mere mortals won't try to do in their shops. :grin: :bow: His expertise comes from DOING IT for so much of his life. :hatsoff: Give him his due. Its fun to learn how he does some of these things.

years ago, I had a suppository O/U shotgun that had a bent extractor. My gunsmith, who had been to several schools, picked up a lead headed hammer, and gave the extractor a Whack. No warning. I thought he was going to break it.

No Way, with that one blow he straightened out that extractor so that it worked flawlessly, and the gun opened and closed flawlessly.

When I showed the gun to the man I bought it from, all he wanted to know was, " WHO DID IT"? When I gave him the name of the gunsmith, and described the "WHACK"!, he smiled, and said, " had heard he could do that. I just never took that gun to him to work on. I should have." :blah:

 

[Dausener]

I am not interested in chickens but am considering starting a pearl farm and raising hogs on the side.

Now THAT'S FUNNY! I don't care who ya are...

 

[lockjaw]

...at risk of angering the gods here, i suggest backing off the powder 5 gr at a time and see if that changes anything...

 

[AJFedak]

This is how I bent the barrel on my trade gun. I used a laser bore sight so I could see how much the barrel moved. I leveled the barrel, set the height with the target and proceeded to make the bend. It really doesn't take much to make a big change. Just have to make sure it bends past the yeild point of the material or it will spring back when the pressure is releaased.

This is actually level and not what the image shows.

The target was set at 25 yards.

 

[squirejohn]

Canerod, I've bent a few barrels with good resuts. I've got plenty of trees around here I could bend a barrel with but have chicken out trying this method - I could forsee with my skills and patience winding up with an "L" shaped pipe.
I haven't bent any of my barrels so I could look straight down the barrel because of mirage or heat waves distorting the sight picture. I bent them enough so that the gun felt comfortable and used reflection of the front sight to a reference point on the barrel. The wedding band is a good reference point.
I used blocks of wood as described by other posters but used a swrew type bending clamp (portable Stanley vise with carpet glued to the surface) to do the bending.
Before I started to bend the barrel I profiled it by laying it on sheet of plate glass (any smooth level surface will do) and used drills as "go-nogo" guages along the barrel. I did this to determine if and how much the barrel bent as barrels have quite a bit of spring to them and even though during the bending process they may exhibit quite a bow but when released return to "normal".

 

[SR James]

Whew! Had me worried for a second AJ...thought you bent your barrel by running over it with a truck!

 

[AJFedak]

Believe me, I thought about doing that way a couple of times.

 

[Mike Brooks]

Whew! Had me worried for a second AJ...thought you bent your barrel by running over it with a truck!

I've seen them bent with a truck before....the bend wasn't on purpose though! :haha:

 

[Canerod]

I appreciate everyone's help on this. Per Paul's post, I have some wads on the way to see if that will bring up POI. I needed them anyway for shooting shot, everything I had on hand is 12ga for my Pedersoli.

If the OP wad doesn't get me where I want to be, then I really like the method using the blocks. I know Roy personally and Mike's reputation speaks for itself, but I figure I need to make it as foolproof as possible. Everyone has their forte. Roy and Mike could probably build a better gun with a pocketknife and a rock than I ever could with all the tools and a kit to start off with. I totally understand and respect that kind of experience and knowledge, especially since I have neither.

If all else fails, I could just get used to it and learn where to hold, but as a long time competitive shooter and combat vet, if it won't hit where I want, how I want, I usually get rid of the gun in question and get myself one that will hit.

Thanks guys :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[Mike Brooks]

Roy and Mike could probably build a better gun with a pocketknife and a rock

What other tools are there? :shocked2:

 

[tg]

AJ/OH nice setup, those clamps are the best thing since Maple syrup on hotcakes, I cannot believe how I got by without them for so many years before I bought some, I probably have 50 in various sizes collected by now.

 

[oldarmy]

Went I spent a few event full weeks working at GM in Conway NH. :hmm:
They have a barrel "straightening machine"
That they use all the time.
It can be used to bend,up,down,right,or left.
Wish I had a pic of it. It's as old as the NH Mountains.
Combined with a bore sight. :thumbsup:
You are golden.