This article examines the problem of preparing the ends of tubes for drawing. The preparation process entails reducing the diameter of the tube end so that it can be fed freely into the draw plate. One of the main machines used to prepare tube ends is the AVS radial-forging machine. This machine makes it possible to give the ends (grips) a circular or irregular profile. The profile of the tube end that is engaged by the shaping tool is very important in the shaping of tubes of different types and sizes. We therefore obtained and experimentally substantiated a theoretical relation that makes it possible to reliably evaluate the probability of obtaining irregular profiles.