The reason I did the bending was to use the bead and the ‘notch’ in the upper receiver forward of the hammer as the front and rear sights. I used wooden V Blocks and an old Arbor Press as I recall. The old Handloader’s Digest had fairly detailed instructions (with pictures) about how much to bend and where; also mentioned you had to get a little past the correct measurement to allow for spring back of the barrel. This was over 20 years ago. It worked out very well for me; beginners luck ? If I had a need for a “Field Expedient” single barrel gun, that was a utility gun, I wouldn’t hesitate to try again.
As a side note, I have a old gun that was my Grand Dad’s; his brother borrowed it and used the barrel to try and scare a rabbit out of its hole on a Snowy day back in the Teens, of course my Great Uncle fired the gun later and the barrel peeled like an overripe banana with a bend to the left. My Grand Dad took a Hack saw to it, and didn’t quite get the entire bend cut out of the barrel. He used the gun like this for the next 70 odd years very successfully, he just said he knew how much to hold off, to account for the bend. I have the old gun today, and I can’t hit anything with it. I don’t plan to straighten it, it reminds me of my Grand Dad and Great Uncle and I can just imagine two young Farm Boys tramping through the snow rabbit hunting with black powder shells every time I notice the 1/8 bend a t the muzzle.
