Bent 308 barrel - what would you rechamber to?

Greetings all, I had a horiffic fall recently and after re-sighting my rifle (308 85 Finnlight) I have 6 clicks of right windage left.... after getting the rifle checked out by Hardy Rifle Engineering, it turns out my near broken knee is the least of my problems: the barrel has a banana in it now.
My question: can this be resolved through any heat treatment etc or is a re-barrel required? Note - the rifle still shoots fine (albeit there is F* All windage left and there is a touch on the stock on one side of the barrel).
If a re-barrel is required, what cal would you recommend?(I have another 308 in the safe...)

You could get your barrel straightened or rebarrel and rechamber to almost any caliber that will work thru your action.

Cheers
Pete

Fall on it the other way :thumbsup:

Insurance?

A sneaky 'round corners' rifle.

Don't take up long range , you could shoot yourself in the arse

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Originally Posted by P38

You could get your barrel straightened or rebarrel and rechamber to almost any caliber that will work thru your action.

Cheers
Pete

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Is there an issue with getting it "re-tempered?"(not sure if this is the right term...) would happily go with this option as a new barrel is more than the cost of a cheap bush-bashing or river paddle rifle....

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Originally Posted by DPT

Fall on it the other way :thumbsup:

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No way dude - really hurt the first time....

I'd keep an eye out for a factory take off barrel and continue using it in the mean time

.260 - Trouble is you will have no use for your 308 then :)

Send it to Robbie at Gunworks, he does an excellent job of straightening barrels, it takes about 8 weeks as it is a slow process and does not involve re tempering

A lot of barrels come bend out of the hammer forging machine and are straighten at the factory. Google barrel straightener and you ll see what it looks like.
It could be straighten back with a press and a dial indicator.it might not be perfect but at least closer to the center of the barrel channel than it is now.

You're gonna want to match your bullets to your barrel if you want to keep shooting it. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...c92d881683.jpg

Good excuse for something different.
My Sako 308 had a bent barrel so I cut it into 3 bits then gave it to Kiwi Greg and said fix this.

30-284 is a nice performance gain over 308.

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A very long time ago in Dunners we had a lot of fun with a rifle (a Remmy 788)with a noticeably bent barrel from an accident.

George would rock up the range and show me (as range officer) his bent barrel. There was always some knowledgeable prick who would spout on about how it wouldn't shoot etc. The young guys ofcourse keeping ears open and an eye on proceedings.

George would challenge the knowall to a small wager based on what sort of groups they could both shoot. I don't think I ever saw him lose, that bent barrel rifle would shoot 3/4" groups day in day out. Later on we found a nicely bent scope and mounted that for even more fun.

Moral of the story, if you like the rifle and it still groups - just keep using it (clear the barrel channel though).

Thanks all - @Tentman - was thinking it didin't bother me that much apart from being near maxed out with windage....
Am going down the "try straightening route" - if that fails, consideration will be given to chambering to something not already in the safe...

Good old 788. Even when they're bent, they are still accurate. Nice.

.243 is always worth a go, me personally would be replacing the barrel.

I have a photo in my Mauser book of engineers at the Mauser factory straightening rifles on some sort of jig and visually "eyeing' them to be correct.

.410 shotgun. :)

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