Abstract The reverse bending of single crystal bars of silver chloride that have already been singly bent has been studied by using the photoelmtic effect. There is no indication of the preferential deformation at a certain place on the bar found when annealed crystals are bent. This is also true if the crystals are first heated at temperatures between room temperature and 375[ddot]c, but if they are heated at higher temperatures and at a result all detectable long range stresses are removed from the crystal the sharp yield point of the first bending is recovered. The result. are considered in terms of a simple dislocation model.