Recommendations for a gunsmith

[Rburney]

I have a fairly rare ww2 rifle that I need some work done on. It is a g33/40. The original barrel has a slight bend to it and has been removed from the receiver. I am wanting to see if the barrel can be straightened. If not, I have a replacement barrel that is in good shape that I would want put on the gun. I am looking for a gunsmith shop that can straighten the original barrel if possible. If not then I want them to put the other barrel on the gun, clean and reassemble it. I received a recommendation from a local gun shop for Havlins and they said they are not interested in the project. They gave no reason so I am not sure if it was the barrel straightening, they were too busy or they do not put barrels on guns. In either case I appreciate their honesty on not wanting the project. If the barrel straightening is an issue I would be fine putting the other barrel on the gun.

I live on the west side but am willing to travel to find a shop that will do a good job and is interested in this project.

 

[Mark 1911]

if you are on the west side, you are in luck. AllenM in Avon is fantastic, and he's member here on INGO. Does fantastic work. Might be worth shooting him a PM.

 

[Rburney]

Thank you very much. I will PM him especially since I live in Avon as well.

 

[drm-hp]

I remember seeing a documentary many years ago that had a segment filmed in the Anschutz factory. This clip showed an older gentleman in the barrel room with a press and two narrow v-blocks. He would push the high spot a little then look down the bore to see concentric circles all the way down. This is harder than you may think, not only do you have to see the high spots, you must locate the beginning and end of the arc also.
Good luck with this,
Doug

 

[JeepHammer]

I remember seeing a documentary many years ago that had a segment filmed in the Anschutz factory. This clip showed an older gentleman in the barrel room with a press and two narrow v-blocks. He would push the high spot a little then look down the bore to see concentric circles all the way down. This is harder than you may think, not only do you have to see the high spots, you must locate the beginning and end of the arc also.
Good luck with this,
Doug

It's almost art, you have to chase the bend out from the ends to the middle.
I saw a film shot at Weatherby a bunch of years back, a guy straightening hammer forged barrels and what for the time had to be some tricky camera work showing how the guy did it, he was a master at his job!
It was impressive and he did it expertly, as you would expect from Weatherby.

I have straightened a couple of shotgun barrels down through the years, hardwood 'V' blocks and a 'Port-a-power' which turned out so-so.
Seems shotgun shooters get ill tempered and bend them around here
Thin tubing and metal stretch make shotguns difficult to get precisely back in place, it 'Worked' but they never went back precisely.

I would be interested in knowing how this turns out...

 

[AllenM]

Rburney did bring me his barrel. I wish I did a video of it before I worked on it, it was certainly bent. None the less here is the best I can do you be the judge.

I have approx .005 runout in the middle of the barrel, which I could not eliminate. But to be honest I have threaded modern barrel that are worse then that and this seemed to be where it wanted to stay. For those that don't know a sheet of paper is about .003 thick so to me .005 is going to have to do. Second video is with the live center removed and out to the far end of the barrel.

There was no avoiding it, I had to clean the center of the barrel area up to do the repair as it had krylon and some surface rust on it. you be the judge. I am satisfied for a WWII rifle that this is straight

[video=youtube_share;VaGGwhdteh4]https://youtu.be/VaGGwhdteh4[/video]
[video=youtube_share;YKo1mKmC4xU]https://youtu.be/YKo1mKmC4xU[/video]

 

[Rburney]

Very happy with the work. Allen did a fantastic job and saved the original numbers matching barrel on this gun. I will post pictures shortly.