doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Bend stock on RBL?

The way I understand "downflip" is that the barrels flex down, at the muzzle end, when the shot is coming down the tube. To compensate for this alleged tendency to shoot low, the combs are made higher than an O/U or a repeater. The alleged reason that smaller gauges are said to do this more is because the smaller tubes can "flex" more than larger bores.
Do I believe it? Well........... it could be just another load of apcray used to fill a monthly column. Chris Batha has written about this subject recently. It's easy to accept that Chris knows a lot more about shotguns than I do.

I have not noted, measured, nor experienced any difference in my 20ga or .410 sxs guns for POI vs drop when compared to my 12ga sxs (or even O/U and auto) guns.

I do recall a few yrs back, a friend bought a used Grulla 28g once and it shot noticably high for him and me. I looked it over and noted that the barrels had a noticable curve upward. It was very subtle but it was there. He sold the gun right away. Me? I would have bent the barrels back straight, as I have done this since then on a damaged barrel set.

Jim, that's more than I need to know. Where do people come up with this stuff? Well, at least I have one more excuse when I miss. Paul

tkunz:
I have little knowledge about bending stocks, but I did check into bending the stock on an RBL 20 ga. I was looking for maybe 3/8" to 1/2" of cast.

I spoke to several smiths including Mike Orlen, who posts here from time to time. All three told me exactly the same thing. A through bolt is tough, but you may be able to get up to a 1/4" of cast. They also said it depended on the type of wood. Apparently some species bend better than others.

Not sure if bending the stock down presents the same challenges as cast.

Mike Orlen's telephone number is 413-256-1630. He lives in Amherst, MA. I have heard nothing but good things about him.

I received my RBL on the 14th. About two hours later I had it in the field after pheasants. I shot one that flushed when my dog pointed. It flew directly overhead, my hardest shot, and I nailed it with 1-1/8 oz #6 Remington Nitro Mag. Subsequent patterning shows that the gun shoots a little high at 40 yds, which is perfect for the way I shoot. I recommend that you pattern the gun before having it bent. Ed Mason guns in Cordova, TN has bent a few guns for me. They can bend a stock with a through-bolt if you decide that you need it. Incidentally, I had requested that CSM pick a stock with a little cast on, as I am a lefty. I had heard that a few stocks wound up with cast off or cast on after drying, and these were set aside for purchasers with special requirements. My stock has about 3/16" cast on. I did not upgrade wood, but my stock has a lot of fiddleback. I think I got lucky because of the bent stock. I'm also going to have the trigger positions reversed and the trigger spoons bent to face the left trigger finger, but that will have to wait until spring. I have a whole grouse season ahead of me before that. So far I am more than pleased with the RBL and I've already decided to sell a much higher graded gun that I have had for years because I probably won't use it much again.