Mag question

[l921428x]

How do you guys get out small dings and dents from mags?
I have a couple that have dents about a third of the way down
and was looking for some wisdom.

[tank_monkey]

How do you guys get out small dings and dents from mags?
I have a couple that have dents about a third of the way down
and was looking for some wisdom.

Remember in the old days when MAGS were so cheap that you just threw away any dented ones and bought new ones?

Also it depends on what mag you're talking about. High CAP? Rifle? Shotgun? Aluminum? Steel? I assume NOT polymer or plastic since you don't un-DENT those types of materials.

[Schuetzenman]

It isn't easy to do as there's no good ready made tool that I know of. The magazine got dented because it took a serious hit. To push the dent out you have to do the same thing but from the inside forcing the metal back out. If the dents aren't too deep and it is just barely hanging up the follower you could try filing on the inside to get enough clearance. Otherwise you have to try and improvise and create a specialized tool to use in forging out the dent. It has to be something you can whack with a hammer that will transfer that energy to the dent, so it all needs to be made out of metal. One end has to be secured to a bench top so that when you hit the other end with the hammer. In the middle point is a raised bit of metal that will do the transfer to the dent.

[skorpion]

It isn't easy to do as there's no good ready made tool that I know of. The magazine got dented because it took a serious hit. To push the dent out you have to do the same thing but from the inside forcing the metal back out. If the dents aren't too deep and it is just barely hanging up the follower you could try filing on the inside to get enough clearance. Otherwise you have to try and improvise and create a specialized tool to use in forging out the dent. It has to be something you can whack with a hammer that will transfer that energy to the dent, so it all needs to be made out of metal. One end has to be secured to a bench top so that when you hit the other end with the hammer. In the middle point is a raised bit of metal that will do the transfer to the dent.

Yep, not an easy task, as Schuetzenman said. If the dent is a doosey, you can drill a hole through the opposite side of the magazine just big enough to slide a punch through and then hammer the dent back out.

[Helen Keller]

or just cut out that area and use it for a range mag or toss duct tape over the hole.

[Hatedbysheeple]

what kind of mags, and what are they made from, and how many?

[El Laton Caliente]

If we're talking AK mags I used a 18" piece of 3/4" steel square stock in a good size vise and a rubber mallet sometimes with a penny in the area of the dent. It got about a half dozen of the Sportsman's Guide Yugo conflict mags working again.

[l921428x]

what kind of mags, and what are they made from, and how many?

Steel 30 rnd. AK mags, just with 2 I have noticed a problem. Tank_Monkey I do not remember those days I have only been
around AK variants since I found this site, but I have noticed what I used to pay 12 for is now 19-20. The dents are not
that big skorpion but I am adverse to drilling holes in the mags. When I get a piece of flat bar that fits (El Laton Caliente says 3/4")
inside the mag I will cut it to leave a step or raised
area. I can secure the bar in the vice,then slip the mag over the bar, align the step and dent. I will then use a punch
on the outside to tap the dent flat. This will work. Thanks guys.

[tank_monkey]

Steel 30 rnd. AK mags, just with 2 I have noticed a problem. Tank_Monkey I do not remember those days I have only been
around AK variants since I found this site, but I have noticed what I used to pay 12 for is now 19-20.

Back in the mid 1980s I picked up a box of 50 AK Steel 30 rd mags for five buck a unit. I picked up a box of 100 surplus milspec M16 30 rd mags for $3.50 each, but that was a bulk price from a mag supplier. The cheapest I ever paid for 20 round AR15 mags was $1.50 apiece but that was a buddy price from another mag dealer who had a lot of military and police sales. Again this was in the early to mid 1980s. At that price. you Chuck out the magazine and get another one. Of course gun stores charged MORE back then, but this was in the glory days of the GREAT WESTERN GUN SHOW in Los Angeles. Back BEFORE the libtards became Anti gun nazis.

(edit) I must be clear, these were not NEW mags, but well worn surplus ones. The beater mags were always cheaper. My very FIRST synthetic AK mags were ones brought in from ANGOLA so they were beaters but had a lot of history to them