Ideas for straightening out 71/84 tube mag?

Howdy howdy!
I recently got a hold of a 71/84. It's a nice 1887 Spandau. The magazine tube has 4 dents that cause the follower to bind and stick. plus the tube is slightly bent.
Any ideas or tricks i should know to get it to feed right and may be a little straighter? The best bad idea i had was to get a wooden dowel just undersized from the internal diameter, grease it and push it through gently. In theory that would push the dents outward, right?
Any ideas or experiences welcome.
Thanks head of time.
Brewer

The dents need an inserted round piece of steel just big enough to fit the tube, then push it down until you force the dent out...and tap with your machinist's hammer to eliminate the dent. I'd make a piece of round stock to size and use a cleaning rod to push it down. Tap the piece and thread the rod into it. Done it enough, just wood might not be tough enough.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

The dents need an inserted round piece of steel just big enough to fit the tube, then push it down until you force the dent out...and tap with your machinist's hammer to eliminate the dent. I'd make a piece of round stock to size and use a cleaning rod to push it down. Tap the piece and thread the rod into it. Done it enough, just wood might not be tough enough.

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This is basically exactly what I would do. Only difference I would make is adding a bit of a bevel at the front of the rod so it would gently ride up on the dent, and have a threaded hole at the end so if it gets stuck you can attach a slide hammer to it.

Thank you gents. Ill post a picture once i get her all back together.

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Originally Posted by Eaglelord17

bit of a bevel at the front of the rod

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Agreed, always. Needs to be a snug fit too. Needs to be steel not wood.

I will offer one small addition. Once you have pushed the rod behind the dent , use a small ball peen hammer (use the flat side not the ball) to raise the dent by gently tapping just outside the perimeter of the dent (around the edges). It is the similiar to auto body work when raising a dent with a dolly. If you put some masking tape on the face of the hammer you won't beat up the tube too bad. I did this with a badly dented Gew 1888 barrel jacket and it worked great. Salt Flat (old body and fender guy)

Exact same process as raising a dent in a shotgun barrel.

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Originally Posted by tiriaq

raising a dent in a shotgun barrel.

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Exactly, if you could find the tool for .410 it might work too...

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Originally Posted by Salt Flat

Once you have pushed the rod behind the dent , use a small ball peen hammer (use the flat side not the ball) to raise the dent by gently tapping just outside the perimeter of the dent (around the edges). It is the similiar to auto body work when raising a dent with a dolly.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

force the dent out...and tap with your machinist's hammer to eliminate the dent.

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Just what I said...

Sorry Jim, I didn't mean to step on your post-- Salt Flat

And I didn't mean to be snippy...

Not having any steel stock, rods, tools etc I found a marble that was the right size and shoved it through. I tend to fix things with whatever I have around the house and have been extremely lucky they actually work.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

a marble

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A ball bearing too if it fit.

Gunsmithing - How to Make a Shotgun Barrel Dent Raiser Presented by Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA - YouTube

How did that work out Brewer?

Sorry to be tardy on my reply, this is going to sound a little cave man but it worked. I had a brass rod about 1/4 thick two inches longer than the mag tube and threaded on the end. i took several washers and turned them down to just barely fit in the tube and attached them to the threaded brass rod with a nut. (it vaguely looked like a cannon ram rod.) then i whacked the end of the brass rod on the floor and forced the rod with the washers through the tube. i used a progressively larger and larger washers attached to the end of the brass rod and it pushed all the dents out. the tube works fine now. simple, crude but it worked