Dent removal on bottom of magazine shell

[DWalt]

A couple of mine have dents on the bottom of the magazines. It doesn't really affect magazine operation, but it looks unsightly. Any suggestions for the best way to attempt pounding these out? I have some ideas, but I thought I'd take a poll before doing anything.

[keltg]

i had the same issue with my model 8 on one of the magazines i have, i formed a block of wood that fits in side of the magazine just a little longer, and made a hardwood block that has the same outer shape as the good magazine then tapped the dents with the wood and mallet till the magazine had the shape of the hardwood outer mold i made.

[DWalt]

That's one way I thought of, but I don't know how to get the proper radii on both parts. But I was thinking metal instead of wood. It would be easier to use wood.

[keltg]

i used my router for the outside block radius, i had a round nose bit that was a pretty close match. for the inside radius i used a fairly thin piece that i could move across the width of the magazine. i also tried a hard wood dowel that was rounded on the end and that worked pretty good as well.

[DWalt]

I'll have to do some experimentation to see if any of my router bits are close. I also have a variety of hole saws of different diameters. I would imagine so long as the "Punch" has a rounded bottom with a radius that is fairly close, it would be OK.

[keltg]

you should be good to go, have to take some pics show off how it works for you. the clip i did worked out good for the bottom but the previous owner used pliers or vise grips and pushed the sides of the magazine in at the bottom as well. Managed to get the worst of that out as well.

[DWalt]

Last night, I took my calipers, made some measurements, and calculated the radius of the bottom curve. It's difficult to make really precise measurements, but I did come to the conclusion that the radius of curvature at the magazine bottom is large, in the range of 9" to 12". Therefore, at least for the "anvil", there's not much point in dishing it out using a router bit, etc. A flat wood surface is about as good as anything. I'm still thinking about the best way to make a "punch" for the inside, maybe I'll just freehand the curve on the nose by eye with a grinding wheel or Dremel tool.

[Adam Lee]

I will be doing this repair soon, too. I have been also hunting around for wooden "bases" that already have a fair approximation of the concavity such that the magazine can seat properly.

Here's my mag, you can't exactly see the dent in this pic, but it's there on the bottom.


Found one of Roger's pics of my gun, it does show the dent - anyway, I'll get this taken care of soon 'nuff.


Adam

[Sarge756]

Thanks for the post. I have one with a dent similar to Adam`s but a little worse. Have thought about the way to fashion the hardwood block that Dewalt mentioned. I`m going to try a two part silicone rubber casting product. I`ve used this product to produce molds for missing antique radio knobs and don`t see why it wouldn`t work here. Should give the contour needed to fashion the hardwood block. If you use a product like this just be sure to spray mold release inside the magazine so you can get the pattern out. When I can get to it I`ll post my results.
Joe