I've got a Hawken I picked up at a Durham gun store before black powder season this year. It took a lot of experimenting to get a consistent grouping, and it never was great. Thing is, I had to move the rear sight way over to be able to hit center mass at 50 yards. I was thinking maybe the front sight was off which is why the rear had to be adjusted.
I show it to my buddy who said "your barrel is bent". Sure enough, we took out a straight edge which had a gap on one side and a bump on the other. Nothing huge, but it was visible to him, and explains my need to adjust the sight.
It didn't happen while I owned it, but I'm unsure how it did happen. Are the barrels soft enough to bend if dropped? There's a mark at the bend in the barrel- maybe someone used it as a lever?
In any case, is this something a gunsmith could solve (put it in a vise), or should I trash it and just get a new barrel?
I show it to my buddy who said "your barrel is bent". Sure enough, we took out a straight edge which had a gap on one side and a bump on the other. Nothing huge, but it was visible to him, and explains my need to adjust the sight.
It didn't happen while I owned it, but I'm unsure how it did happen. Are the barrels soft enough to bend if dropped? There's a mark at the bend in the barrel- maybe someone used it as a lever?
In any case, is this something a gunsmith could solve (put it in a vise), or should I trash it and just get a new barrel?