lever-gun mag-tube dent repair?

[Ragnarok]

Late this afternoon I bought a couple .44-40 project guns. Both guns need dents worked out of the magazine tubes.

I googled around and got a few ideas such as milling a carriage head bolt to a snug fit in the tube and pushing it through to doing the same with a snug fitting ball bearing. I can see this helping my mag-tube dings..but can't see it completely 'ironing' out my issues.

Any ideas/advice to work damaged mag-tubes back into shape?

[Artful]

just need to scale this tool down to match your tube
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/shotgun-tools/straighteners-dent-raisers/magazine-tube-dent-raiser-prod25276.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCqI_KQNDVM

[wileecoyote]

I had the same problem with a few tube feeders. The simplest tool for me ended up being a Craftsman chrome plated deep socket. I have quite a few socket sets from tiny to bigger than your fist, so it was pretty easy to keep measuring until I found one with an outside diameter that fit inside the tube and slid freely through the undamaged part without any slop. Then I coated the entire socket with a thin lubricant (I used Eezox) and attached it to a long hard chrome socket extension bar and gently hammered it through with the other end of the tube supported on a wooden block on the concrete shop floor. After a few passes it pushed the tube dents out just fine.

[Ragnarok]

Hmmm...I'm a mechanic..and am rear-end deep in sockets of various sizes.

Stuffing a deep socket through to iron out the dents sounds like a easy to do procedure.

One of the Rifles is an older Rossi carbine. I had it's mag-tube clean out of the gun last night. It will be my guinea-pig gun. The other .44-40 is an ancient original Winchester 92 rifle. I don't think it's mag-tube is going to come out quite so easy...

Any advice for taking down the front-end of a octagon barreled Model 1892?

I tinkered on it some..and the cap wouldn't come out with the screw removed...the tube is pinned solid in the tube-band...forearm tenion is tight...rather than get out the big hammer and pipe-wrenches and such...I just settled with putting some aerosol CLP on the affected parts and thinking about what I need to do. Besides the buggered mag-tube..the Winchester's forearm needs to come off for some repairs too...

[Ragnarok]

I had the same problem with a few tube feeders. The simplest tool for me ended up being a Craftsman chrome plated deep socket. I have quite a few socket sets from tiny to bigger than your fist, so it was pretty easy to keep measuring until I found one with an outside diameter that fit inside the tube and slid freely through the undamaged part without any slop. Then I coated the entire socket with a thin lubricant (I used Eezox) and attached it to a long hard chrome socket extension bar and gently hammered it through with the other end of the tube supported on a wooden block on the concrete shop floor. After a few passes it pushed the tube dents out just fine.

Thanx!!...I discovered that a Mac 10mm 1/4" drive socket was a snug fit in the Rossi tube. Some penetrating-oil and driving the socket through a few times has got the Rossi carbine working fine now...I just stuffed it back together and it will feed a full ten rounds now with no tube related hang-ups.

This didn't totally iron-out the dent..but didn't ruin the tube's blue finish and it's not all that noticeable now. The dent was about the size of a BB..and didn't bend the tube or anything like that. The dent is just sort-of a flat spot now. Good enough for a Rossi!

[Dryball]

Why not put the socket back in and put the middle of it under the dent/flat spot. Take a chasing hammer, rawhide mallet or an ingot of PB and gently tap to make her round again.

[wileecoyote]

Why not put the socket back in and put the middle of it under the dent/flat spot. Take a chasing hammer, rawhide mallet or an ingot of PB and gently tap to make her round again.
Hammering or peening the outside of the tube would likely damage the finish, so it's probably best to live with a very minor flat spot that has the original finish than to get it completely rounded and then have to remove / refinish it or live with scratched up bare metal or mismatched finish.

[Artful]

Ragnarok - good job - you are on your way with the rossi , Old guns seem to respond to heat and cold when it comes to stuck parts as well as penetrating oil - same stuff you can do to cars.

[trainfever]

I had to repair a Marlin mag tube years ago. I hammered a piece of tight fitting brass through the tube until it was underneath the dent. I then used a brass hammer to hammer out the dent. The brass left a few brass marks on the tube but was easily polished off with no damage to the finish. I believe I used OOOO steel wool dipped in G96 gun blue to polish the brass marks off the tube.

[Ragnarok]

I got the Winchester tube and forearm off this evening. Someone has already peckered on it's tube damage. leaving the mag-tube bent in towards the barrel to some degree...literaly bent as it's sprung away a bit at the muzzle...the damge behind the tube-band about an inch or so.

This deal may require a little mandrel work....not sure?...I'm about scared to just whap a tight-fitting socket through the Winchester tube like I did the Rossi's

[Ragnarok]

just need to scale this tool down to match your tube
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/shotgun-tools/straighteners-dent-raisers/magazine-tube-dent-raiser-prod25276.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCqI_KQNDVM

This not too bad of advice either...I made a similar deal to cope with my ancient Winchester's tube damage. No handle or anything fancy...just a hunk of chromed tire-tool that happened to match the diameter I needed. The tire tool was bent in the middle so I could only get about a 5-1/2" piece that was straight. Beveled the ends and used it as a mandrel.

The Winchester and the Rossi .44-40's incidentally have the same diameter mag-tubes(ID anyhow)..The biggest difference is that the Rossi is a seamless tube..the original Winchester tube has a seam that's noticeable full length inside..and invisible on the outside 'cause it's towards the barrel plus neatly finished. The seam was open a bit where the damage was. Tube was sprung(bent) where damaged too..

I tried the same trick as I used on the Rossi...the 10mm Mac 1/4"-drive deep socket. Didn't do much for the old Winchester tube except scrape rust and crud out! I didn't think the little socket long enough to try tap-out the roughness with a hammer...So I miked the socket and scavenger-hunted for something same diameter but longer..the tire-tool being perfect size and I fabricated the 5 or 6 inch 'tool' from that.

I inserted the tight-fitting mandrel(chunk-O-tire tool) where I wanted it..used a large oak block as an anvil..and bapped the damaged area smooth with a small Snap-On hammer(regular ball-peen).

Smooth and round now..the tube was still sprung some. I put my home-made mandrel and the 10mm socket at opposite ends of the doinked area and used the oak block anvil and some more light tapping..plus some hand flexing of the tube...got it near perfectly straight and smooth. You can see where the bad place was but it's decently minimized..gentle beating with a ball-peen hammer didn't seem to impair the Winchester's patina much(brown gun) . The straightened tube now has a nice even gap with the barrel.

[Artful]

:goodpost: Excellent :happy dance: