Shotgun story

[crabo]

I got this from a friend as part of a discussion we were having. He really does need the barrel if anyone has one.

"The one I found under my workbench is a Remington but it is not an 1100 (which is one of my favorite shotguns for Quail and Dove...I used a 20ga 1100LT for some time and loved it).

The one I found today is a Remington Sportsman 48 20ga, funny story of when I bought it and why it was under my workbench.

I bought it in 2001 from an old man at Canton 1st Monday for $50...I only remember that because the same day I also bought a homemade skillet (made from a 14" pipe end cap with a rebar handle welded to it), the shotgun, and a catahoulah cur hog hunting dog.

Boy I thought I was hot sh$$...I bought an entire hunting package from that old man on that day. That old man was a SUCKER!

Then I got home and realized the skillet was toxic, the dog had a bad eye, and the shotgun had a bent barrel. The barrel actually looked like someone had swung it like a baseball bat into an object about the size of a stop sign pole approximately 8" from the muzzle. That was the weirdest bend I have ever seen in a barrel...almost cartoon-ish.

Well I realized that old man thought...That Kid was a SUCKER!!!

Today after I found the shotgun, I found the skillet I bought that day and sort of giggled...then I talked to my wife this evening and she told me our dog (the one I bought the sameday) has gotten her toe infected and I have to bring her to the vet on Monday to have the toe removed.

The deal I made with the old man that day is still costing me...10 years later.

By the way you know anyone with a Sportsman 48 20ga barrel for sale or trade? I can throw in a slightly toxic skillet and dog that runs in circles to the left..."

[beagle]

Well, my advice to you is: keep looking for the barrel, use the skillet for smelting lead and hunt the dog on a hill in a counterclockwise direction and all should work out......and watch out for us old geezers./beagle

[starmac]

You did good, the only time I went to first monday, it was so hot the only thing I bought was lemonade. Luckily it seemed like there was a lemonade vendor about every 100 ft, but you would nearly die of heat stroke waiting in line for some. lol

[blackthorn]

How bad is the barrel bent? Over 20 years ago I got hold of a single barrel 12 gauge that had a long (not kinked) bend in the barrel. After I finished muttering, I filled the barrel with real fine sand, plugged both ends tight, layed the barrel on a chunk of one inch hard nylon (bend up) and whaled the **** out of it with a rubber mallet. Two or three trys and I had that sucker straight enough to work just fine! My youngest kid (now 49 YO) is still using it. The sand seemed to keep the barrel from flatening or denting when I pounded on it.YMMV

[leftiye]

So, go pound sand? Joke, don't get mad. LOL

[starmac]

I remember an oldtimer in east claiming he bent one back, by sticking it in the fork of a tree. I didn't see it, but he claimed it worked.

[flounderman]

if it isn't kinked it can be bent back. there is also a dent riser for shotgun barrels. it expands as you screw the rod into it. it is probably fixable. what have you got to lose by trying?

[starmac]

When I was a kid, mom bought dad a cheap pump 12 gauge. I believe it was a noble brand, but it didn't shoot straight from day one.
We used to chase jacks in pastures and wheatfields and since I shot left handed I would drive and shoot out the drivers side. I cut the barrel off at 18 1/4 inches in the high school shop class (try that in todays world) to make it handier, and that thing shot better than it ever did.

[runfiverun]

i have one of those exact shotguns.
it is a little sweetheart.
i'd fix it.
numrich,etc might just have a bbl available.

[beagle]

I use to use a gunsmith's 50 yard range and he accurized .45s and worked on high grade shotguns. One day I was there plinking and he came out with a Browning single barrelled trap gun and a couple of pieces of leather and proceeded to place the barrel on leather pads against two tree stumps and bend it. He'd then pattern and repeat. After 3-4 repititions of this he said he was satisfied and left and he had agood reputation as a gunsmith.

I do know bending was the Army's procedure for the M1917 enfields as they had very little windage adjustments.

I'd look for abarrel and get it going again./beagle

[geargnasher]

Something about old age and treachery..........

I wonder if that's a way of "paying forward" all the mistakes of one's youth?

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