doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Small dent in barrel

How easy is it to fix a small dent near the end of a barrel?

Thanks.
Ken

Very easy indeed. Get a longish socket from a wrench kit that just fits your bore. Shim one side with electrical tape if it's not quite tight. Position it under the dent (doing so will remove the dent partially anyway). Heat the area around the dent with a propane torch, easy does it you are not trying to melt solder! Tap the area immediately around the circumference of the dent with a brass hammer. Lightly does it. You can put a piece of crocus cloth, rough side toward hammer, over the area to avoid marking the finish. You are pretty much done. You can hone the bore a little in that area, and if you are really retentive, you can reblack the bbls but you shouldn't have to.

Thanks. Since I have zero ability to perform the work you have described, I will have my gunsmith do the work.

Ken

Good move, I use an expanding mandrel and just tap the area very lightly and NEVER add heat. You can not get it hot enough to make forming easier with out melting solder.
bill

Bill, Where did you find the mandrel? A source if you would.
Thanks, Bob

Hi Ken,
First, does the dent show inside? If not, forget about it. If it is in the tapered area of the choke that's more difficult than in the straight part of the bore. I'm with Bill S. about never adding heat. I would also not hone the dent area if it shows in the bore. You could make the barrel wall dangerously thin. Your second post shows the right decision, especially for the reasons you stated. Contact Michael Orlen.

Gently, slowly,and consider if the "game is worth the candle". Dent/bubble removal is really an art. I use expanding mandrel and/or hydraulic dent removers, depends on size and depth and location. NO heat. Small ballpeen hammer and GENTLY. Usually end up draw filing barrel to smooth exterior. Gently hone internal barrel to smooth any high spots. Re-rust blue to finish. Good Luck! Dr. BILL

You better be real careful with sockets and pounding on things.

I think best way is a dent remover, it is a tiny hydraulic
jack. It works very slick and a lot more safe.
it just pushes the dent out real slow and safe.
I have one and it works great

Steel barrels are often easily repaired with a hydraulic dent raiser. But unless you intend to do several it is much cheaper to ahve them raised by a good gunmith. I do my own but that is beacuse I like many others here buy project guns that need several dents removed and have saved hundreds of not thousands of dollars by doing my own.

Damascus dents can get a little tricker and should be done by a pro. I have seen two sets of barrels that were ruined by a haudraulic raiser and the ham fisted amature.

Two problems with hydraulic dent raisers. 1. Easy to create a bulge (which is much harder to fix than a dent. And 2. I doubt kdross, or 99,9% of the readers of this board, have one. Hence a pragmatic answer to the need to raise one dent.

And BTW, WW Greener, in his seminal book "The Gun", recommends warming the barrels prior to dent removal. Cold steel is noticeably more brittle than steel at say 300-350F...as some seafarers found out in a famous episode where their icebreaker ship broke to pieces and sunk.