We had a customer drop off a Beretta 92S (Italian police trade-in with low frame mag release) with an issue. He said he was doing a detailed strip before taking it to the range for the first time, and all was going fine until he came to the mag release... The punch broke off in the hole, but the pin came out. He outlined everything he tried to do in an attempt to get this sorted out, none of which worked. The last thing he did was break out the do-it-yourself gunsmith kit, the Dremel. Attached are pictures of the poor mag release and surrounding area. I played with it for a minute to no avail. I couldn't even see where the broken punch met the mag release button. The mag release won't depress easily, no leaving it as-is isn't an option. If I had a super long punch that wouldn't bend to drive from the top it might have a chance of moving the broken punch. I'm lost with this one. Maybe y'all can help. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

TL;DR: Customer broke a punch off in a Beretta 92S mag release and FUBAR'ed it. Advice is appreciated.

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What a retard.

Outer button is done for.

Do you have a manual milling machine? Clamp the frame and mill flat (your best guess based on the orientation of the top end of the pin, or another 92S, or internet pics) the area where he Dremeled the shit out of the outer release button. Let the pin soak in Kroil a few hours (from top of pin down).

Use a flat punch equal or smaller than the pin's diameter and tap where you milled flat. Eventually you'll get the exact spot and the pin/punch remnant will move and reveal itself. Then you can drive it out the top all the way.

if that fails, use anything you can to punch the pin down a little from the top without damaging anything else. If you apply enough force to move the bottom, that will reveal the bottom hole also.

Then you can use whatever force you need to push everything out the top. You will have a flat surface to push, and sufficient access to do so. (Apply your significant force against the pin and the top of the button, NOT the aluminum frame. This requires supporting the top of the button instead of the frame, as you push the pin from the bottom.)

This should only require replacement of the outer button and pin when you're done, unless he messed up the I.D. of the mag catch's shaft with his punch.

Plan B:
Mill the whole button off the bottom, all the way to the radius of the shaft, taking the bottom of the pin with it. Then repeat for the top half. There will be nothing holding the mag catch then. Just get the middle out once it's removed. You'll have to replace the button and pin regardless.

If the mag catch is readily available as well, you might consider just milling the whole button across the shaft and replacing all 3.

Quick update. I let it sit in the freezer over the weekend and tried tapping the broken punch out, but had no luck with it. I fiddled with it for a while tapping on different spots of the button where I thought the broken punch was, again, no luck. I tried dremeling (I know) the bottom of the button away in hopes of cutting away the bit of punch that was joining the parts together, but couldn't get all of the material removed. After more fiddling I resorted to the worst case and cut the button off (along with the end of the mag release lever), which freed up the entire assembly.
I knew I was going to have to make a new bushing, but now I need to make a new lever too, which shouldn't be a problem. If anyone knows where I can find dimensions of both parts I would be greatly appreciative. I will contact Beretta, but won't get my hopes up. Thank y'all who replied, some additional perspective was appreciated.

Good for you OP going the extra mile but to be honest I would have handed it back to him and said good luck. Grab another one so you have spare parts to make one good one.

Another update and a HUGE thank you to Bolsa Gunsmithing in CA. They were the only place I found that had the release lever, the whole transaction was quick and smooth. I made a new button, so it'll get some final hand fitting and Cerakote. Speaking of Cerakote, I smoothed out the cut marks in the frame made by him and me with some sandpaper, and I'll Cerakote the frame tomorrow. Again, thanks to all who gave advice! She will be in working order before the end of the week.

Sure would like to see a picture of the pistol refinished!

More like the 'Destroy it Yourself' tool.

And at very high speed.

@Actiondiver Thanks for the reminder! I had totally forgot about this, but I took a picture when it was done but forgot to post it. Customer was thrilled with the end result, but damn was it a pain to get it sorted out. And now for the crappy picture
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That looks great!

I'm glad you followed up with your results, looks great, patience is a virtue and you have it.

A bit late to the party here, but in the future, small carbide end mills are a good way to deal with stuck pins, broken punches, broken taps, broken twist drills, etc.  I've bored right through innumerable tool steel objects lodge in holes, including blind ones, this way.  Probably the most common one is having to get snapped 6-32 taps out of blind holes on stainless slides when doing RMR cuts.  I do that with .085" 2 fl ball nose critters.

Just make sure the part you're trying to save is worth less than the end mills, as they often die as you break through.

I rember reading this thread.  Thanks for posting the final.

Do you mean "isn't worth less"?

The problem with pins and such is they can move even when only part way through, killing the end-mill... Some jobs may require multiple before the job is done and they can get very expensive.