How would you fix this?

[Alpo]

The scenario: AR15. Three shots. Pickup truck downrange. Into left outer bedwall, out of left inner bedwall, into right inner bedwall.

 

So there you got it. Nine holes in the bed.

 

I can think of several fixes, ranging from bondoing the holes to cutting out a chunk of holey panel and TIGging in new metal, to an entire new bed.

 

How would you fix it?

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

Whose pickup...& WHY was it shot??

[Sedalia Dave]

Cut and weld if you want it to last.

 

After a few years the bondo loosen up in the holes and cause the paint to crack. The rougher the roads the truck travels on the sooner this will happen.

 

Friend bought a truck that had similar damage repaired by filling the holes with bondo vice welding them up and using bondo to fill any small imperfections. After a year or so of driving on gravel roads, you could turn the bondo in the holes. The edges of the holes do not provide enough surface area for the bondo to adhere properly. The excess pushed through is unsupported and makes the problem worse.

[Assassin]

Just use some stainless bolts with flat washers and stick them in the holes with nuts and washers on the insides. It'll look kind of cool and people will wonder what the truck was used for. You don't have to tell them it was from shooting practice.

[Alpo]

Palewolf - fiction, novel.

 

Took out a home invader in his front doorway, they went through and through, and into his truck.

 

Book said he had the holes repaired, and it just got me to thinking, "How would be the best way to do that?"

 

Y'all know (or you should by now) my mind tends to wander to strange and wonderous places.

[Ace_of_Hearts]

How about a new bed liner and a bullet hole stickers over the outside holes?

[Tom Bullweed]

.223 rounds likely leave all of the original metal attached but bent out like a flower. If the petals were heated and bent back into place, it could either be welded or filled with bondo or liquid weld. I would tend to go with the JB liquid weld.

[Blackwater 53393]

Hammer to shape. File to fit. Paint to match.

[Pat Riot]

Leave the holes. Pour some really dark red / brown paint in the bed like a puddle. Install anti-crime bumper stickers on the bumper and back window, perhaps; "This truck protected by Smith & Wesson" or "I don't call 911" with a big muzzled revolver graphic...

[Sawhorse Kid]

You hide the 9 existing bullet holes with more bullet holes.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

Sell the truck and buy a Mini Cooper.

[The Shoer 27979]

I would do what I was taught to do for body work. Hammer and dolly what I could, mig weld body filler then paint

[Knarley Bob]

"New to you" bed from salvage yard??? Worked well on my Nissan.

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

Leave em. Adds character

[Dustin Checotah]

Hammer to shape. File to fit. Paint to match.

 

I would do what I was taught to do for body work. Hammer and dolly what I could, mig weld body filler then paint

Those sound right

Mig weld or lead like in the old days. Lead seems to be a dying art.

[ShadowCatcher]

The scenario: AR15. Three shots. Pickup truck downrange. Into left outer bedwall, out of left inner bedwall, into right inner bedwall.

 

So there you got it. Nine holes in the bed.

 

I can think of several fixes, ranging from bondoing the holes to cutting out a chunk of holey panel and TIGging in new metal, to an entire new bed.

 

How would you fix it?

I'd cast a magic spell to heal the holes . . .

[Lead Monger]

Hammer and dolly leaving small dimple. Clean well, tin and fill with solder. Prime and paint.