Ok, finally picked up my Accumark from the gunsmith yesterday that assured it weathered the cow stomping incident fine. On arriving home I noticed that while I am still able to get a dollar between the stock and barrel, the spacing on each side of the stock is off. On one side of the barrel it appears to be around 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch space and on the other around 3/16. To me it is obvious that something is not quite right, but what do you expect from having 800lbs of hoof standing on the gun.

Anyway, is there a way that the gunsmith should be able to tell if the barrel is bent or just the stock?

Half tempted to just sell it and get something else now.

GM,

You can probably tell if the barrel is bent yourself. Look down the bore and make sure everything looks "concentric". I think that when they straighten barrels at the factory, it is done by looking through the bore against a grid target on the wall. I suspect that you might be able to "fix" the gap by loosening the action screws, and holding the stock over when you tighten them back up, but that may also indicate improper bedding.

Bill

GMaxson,
An old barrel makers trick was to look through a bore to a spot just off a light so a shadow is cast in the bore. The edge of the shadow will always be a straight line and can be used to check the bore alignment. Slowly turning the barrel will also help. I hope that this is of some help. Good luck.