Shotgun barrel dent

Zorros · Feb 11, 2018

Anyone know of a smith who can remove a small dent from a parker 12 ga?

John from MD · Feb 11, 2018

Where is the dent on the barrel and how deep is it? The reason I ask is that ironing our dents on a shotgun is not as precise as ironing out dents in a car. Sometimes it is better to just leave it be.

Boom Boom · Feb 11, 2018

Dent or barrel bulge? Photos would help.

Zorros · Feb 11, 2018

Its a small dent, on the side of the left barrel about 6-8 inches from the muzzle.

John from MD · Feb 11, 2018

I would leave it be. It is not affecting the internal ballistics in that location.

ohen cepel · Feb 11, 2018

May be best to send the barrels off to someone who specializes in shotguns. Nothing against our local guys but sometimes a specialist is called for, if you opt to do it at all.

Zorros · Feb 11, 2018

Dent, not a bulge. In, not out. Can’t take a photo just yet.

K-43 · Feb 11, 2018

Mike Orlens is the most recommended shotgun smith there is. He's old school and doesn't have a website, but does have email. He's so highly thought of that word-of-mouth is all he needs. He used to offer a 20% discount to Shotgunworld.com members. He did a Churchill barrel for me years ago, took less than 2 weeks.
Call during normal business hours EST.
79 Salem Street • Amherst, MA 01002 • (413) 256-1630 • fax (413) 253-5665
michael.orlen@verizon.net
__________________

Doco Overboard · Feb 12, 2018

Dents in Shotgun barrels can be peened out by an experienced smith but sometimes result in a thinning of the barrel or subsequent stretching of the metal and walls if they are over worked. Spot finishing would probably be the order for the day too in an extreme case. Metal once stretched needs to be spot heated and then cold shrunk to realign and contract the metal(s) in a perfect world. There is also a hydraulic or mechanical dent removal tool that can be inserted in the bore to help raise the dent as it is being worked but they are expensive and probably found in advanced or specialty shops.
https://www.brownells.com/guntech/english-hydraulic-dent-raiser/detail.htm?lid=10530

Viper21773 · Feb 12, 2018

Contact Hendershot's here in MD. They sell high-end shotguns, so they could recommend someone if they don't.
https://hendershots.net/contact-us/

Zorros · Feb 12, 2018

Thanks to all who offered assistance. Very much appreciated.

Dave Taylor · Feb 13, 2018

THIS is interesting and informative on the subject of a dented shotgun barrel and.... it offers one professinal's point of view on the subject.

Zorros · Feb 13, 2018

Over on the colt forum a gent posed the same question for a parker 20 ga. That was where i got the idea to ask over here. He Got a lot of answers incl fabricating tools. Finally, someone posted a youtube video of a guy using a piece of metal that he would shim with foil until it got to the right size to push the dent out of the barrel. Colt forum gent got the idea to use a socket from a set that he beveled at the edges, slide it inunti it reached the dent and then hit it gently with a dowel. He wrote it worked almost perfectly. I wonder whether a large emough diameter dowel migh push the metal out or whether the wood will give way, but i will try one or the other this weekend.

K-43 · Feb 14, 2018

Good luck! And that's not sarcasm; I do hope it works out.

FGT1958 · Feb 15, 2018

Very cool Idea

Zorros said:
Over on the colt forum a gent posed the same question for a parker 20 ga. That was where i got the idea to ask over here. He Got a lot of answers incl fabricating tools. Finally, someone posted a youtube video of a guy using a piece of metal that he would shim with foil until it got to the right size to push the dent out of the barrel. Colt forum gent got the idea to use a socket from a set that he beveled at the edges, slide it inunti it reached the dent and then hit it gently with a dowel. He wrote it worked almost perfectly. I wonder whether a large emough diameter dowel migh push the metal out or whether the wood will give way, but i will try one or the other this weekend.

That got me thinking, could you use the socket idea and a threaded rod to slowly feed the socket through the barrel to ease out the dent?

Cochise · Feb 15, 2018

a pro will use a hydraulic tool that will expand under the dent - look in Brownells, they are kind of expensive so better find and pay a smith who has one but they are easy to use.
If you do buy a tool and do it yourself be careful if you over do it you will create a bulge at which point the barrel is ruined.
Not all dents can be raised well. If there is a crease you will be peening out the crease that's left which will thin metal and also need to re-blue.

Rambler · Feb 16, 2018

FGT1958 said:
That got me thinking, could you use the socket idea and a threaded rod to slowly feed the socket through the barrel to ease out the dent?

The idea is not just to drive a cylindrical object through to push out the dent from within. They call it dent "raising" because you displace the metal around the circumference of the dent on the outside of the barrel by gently tapping with a hammer. The expanding tool on the inside supports the metal so that the hammering on the outside drives the dent out. Without an expanding internal tool, a series of cylinders (sockets?) or the shim trick mentioned above might work. You would start with one that actually barely fits and do some hammering until it is loose and go up to the next size.

This is similar to how dent removal is done in brass musical instrument work. A series of increasingly larger steel balls or barrel shaped inserts, are fed into the dented tubing and the dent is raised from the outside. Of course, brass is much softer than steel. So, it is easier to push or hammer it back into shape. But, that also means the dents are usually more severe than those in shotgun barrels. There are also expanding internal tools for instrument repair that are very similar to the shop made tool in the Brownell's video.

FGT1958 · Feb 16, 2018

Thanks! That was a great explanation!

hornbakerfella · Feb 16, 2018

Where are you located? I know a decent guy but he’s up in PA, might not be worth the drive if guys know people closer

Zorros · Feb 25, 2018

hornbakerfella said:
Where are you located? I know a decent guy but he’s up in PA, might not be worth the drive if guys know people closer

I am about 45 min from york. I had the wrong size socket and stopped. Was thinking about picking up the project again, but the dent is really tiny so maybe left alone?

Shotgun barrel dent

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