Warden Callaway Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Over a year ago I picked up a Hunter Arms Fulton (upper gun) at a gun show. A high quality and higher grade gun it had been abused and sadly kept. The barrels were bent and had several dents. It had been subjected to a sanding or steel wool cleanup that didn't help. But it was like a starved puppy needing a good home. I could see the quality under the neglect - lots of engraving on all metal parts. And despite the appearance, the action was as new. When I cleaned the yellow skum from the wood, I found beauty hidden under it. This past week I finished up the wood and metal. Looks more like it would have looked new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Warden, How didja fix the bent barrels?? And pop out the dents.??? Weak minds be curious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 30 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said: Warden, How didja fix the bent barrels?? And pop out the dents.??? Weak minds be curious I couldn't afford to pay for a proper tool or for someone with the proper tool to raise the dents. So I resorted to older technology. I found the quill out of the lathe chuck was a slip fit in the bore up to the dents. I would bump the quill down the bore until it hit the dent and came restricted. I used a small brass hammer to peck around the edge of the dent until the quill would slide through. I would add a layer of tape on the off-side of the quill to make it tighter and then repeat until I figured I'd better stop. The bores are chrome bright so if you know where to look, you can see some very slight ripples. I could probably polish the ripples out or hone the bores so they don't show but it would only remove metal for only cosmetics. The bend was a real gamble. I have a sturdy oak top work bench. I laid the barrels on the edge of table rib side down and placed the muzzle end on a folded towel. I made a wood block with two trenches in it to fit the contour of barrels and rib. I then used two big clamps to squeeze the bow out of the barrels. The obvious risk was that the ribs would pop loose. I ring tasted the barrels and they made the transition fine. Here is a video that shows the poor man's method of raising a dent in a shotgun barrel. Something to consider trying if you have a dent in a barrel that is not worth hundreds of dollars to have professionally repaired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder SASS #13056 Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Nice looking gun! Have you patterned it afterwards? If so, how did that turn out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Marauder SASS #13056 said: Nice looking gun! Have you patterned it afterwards? If so, how did that turn out? I shot it quite a bit (couple of boxes of smokeless cowboy loads) after working the barrels over but not actually patterned it. Just waiting for the weather to get more pleasant. Sooner than later. The original plan was to find another set of barrels. And I did run across a set and got them at a price within my budget. But they wouldn't come close to working even though they were Hunter Arms and looked the same at 500 miles distance, side by side the distance from hinge to breach face was annout 1/2" difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder SASS #13056 Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Yup, those guns were not CNC machined like now. Glad it worked out so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CW Doc Shores Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 Looks great and no more neglect. I've been looking for a similar project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 I got out my cameras and shot video of me blasting some laundry detergent jugs with the Hunter Arms Fulton the other day. I just got the video uploaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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