I have a Beretta Brevetto 1922 folding shotgun.
At 25-30 yards, it hits a good foot low.
I know folks bend shotgun barrels to POA.
Anyone here done it? Where do you place the blocks, how far apart, and where to make the bend?

I have, I built a portable jig and take it with me to the range. if you cannot see the bend then I would place the blocks as far apart as you can and bend in the middle, go slow and test it. I moved a bore rifle barrel about 14" at 40 yards, it wasn't hard to do, just be patient.

I have a 30 ton bearing press in the shop. ( should be enough) and can step outside and test fire.
I would guess in front of the chamber section, where it is thickest, then the muzzle?
I dont care about the shotgun, but am curious to try bending!

Yes, that sounds like a good plan. I'm very method on these type of things, I place gage pins under the section being bent in order to measure how far I'm pushing it each time.

I was thinking of making shims, but I have gauge pins, didnt think of that, thankyou!

I've 'adjusted' the point of impact by shimming the buttstock using thin pieces of plastic (from a bleach bottle). Or perhaps a smaller/shorter front sight? Or perhaps one of those rubberish comb stick on pads?

Buttstock fit and a bent barrel are two different issues. Stock fit is critical to good shotguning but the best stock fit in the world won't fix a bent barrel.

It helps to fill any tube you want to bend with fine, dry sand during the bending process.

I'm not sure of the barrel was bent or not.
Just that it needs bending to put the pattern on point.
I remember an old article, maybe from the 50's or 60's. It had a picture of an older fellow with a rifle barrel and an arbor press.
The caption said something about a practiced eye straightening a barrel at the Savage ( or maybe marlin) factory. Just looking for shadows while looking down the bore I assume?

In the 1980's I built a series of flintlock fowling pieces with 38" octagon to round barrels. I built them to shoot with shot and round ball. In order to hit flying targets you would have to visually cover the bird with the muzzle to hit it. So I began bending the barrels.
Believe it or not, I bent them by firmly holding the breech of the barrel and thumping it about 8-10" back from the muzzle on a log section turned down on the floor of my shop.I then put a long straight edge of the top of the barrel to determine the location and amount of the bend.
Because I built about a dozen guns with exactly the same barrel contours and shot them all I got adept at regulating the barrels for point of impact.
A fellow recently bought one of those guns from 1990 and shot it a clay targets busting 3 for three with his first shots.

38" barreled American Fowler, I made everything in the photo.

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:
I'm not sure of the barrel was bent or not.
Just that it needs bending to put the pattern on point.
I remember an old article, maybe from the 50's or 60's. It had a picture of an older fellow with a rifle barrel and an arbor press.
The caption said something about a practiced eye straightening a barrel at the Savage ( or maybe marlin) factory. Just looking for shadows while looking down the bore I assume?

There used to be a barrel bending station/tooling at the barrel installation stage in the Savage Factory.

Nice work SDH

When I was 15, I left our old db shotgun (and some rabbits) in the shade under a little flat-bed trailer Dad had hooked behind the tractor. Unknowingly, he backed over the gun and bent the barrels up maybe an inch at the muzzles.

Never say die, Dad took the barrels off and beat them against a full sack of superphosphate - more dense than wheat, I'd say.

Anyway, it seemed to work but that gun was extra good on rising ducks and quail thereafter.