No, it is not in a tube, is rides inside a narrow groove cut in the slide. It is the extractor which fits in a tube. That might be the part which is bent tho I have managed to break everyone I tried to rebend.
I think you might have just hit on the problem. He TOLD me that he bent it BACK. But you say you’ve broken every one you’ve tried to do this with?! Maybe he had a bad one?...”soft” perhaps? I’ve had mine out when COMPLETELY cleaning the pistol, but I’ve never tried to bend one.