Who makes good punches, specifically roll pin punches? I'm tired of bending 1/16" roll pin punches by just looking at them. Starrett? Snap On?

Snap on are the best I've ever used. I use them weekly and have had the same set for 2 years without breaking one. I went through starett (or how ever it's spelled) punches like crazy before these.

Good to know! I ordered four of the smallest roll pin punches Snap On offers. Figure I'll pick up some larger sizes later on. Doesn't look like Starrett makes roll pin punches. Probably end up with a matching set of roll pin and pin punches.

I turn some on the lathe out of drill blanks and harden them at home.

That would be great if I was a machinist. But I'm not.

Check out Brownell's selection.  No questions asked guarantee for life.

I have these...

... and these

And if you are an Edge member, they pay for shipping it back.

You will not be disappointed. I have bent the smallest one in the 8 pc set i have several times and it let me straighten it back. It has a slight bow in it now and I have been meaning to order another but it still gets the job done. And you are right about the starrett ones. I do still use those for some solid gun pins.

I have Matco punches but the Snap On ones are great too. Little tid bit of information. You can sign up for a Matco student discount and they never check if your in school or not.

For roll pins I bought the roll pin and roll pin starter punches from Brownells.

Have you tried the Tekton Punches? They sell the sets and individual punches on Amazon. I've only been using the set I bought less then a month ago, but I'm happy so far.

Here's the  set I have

That's the very set I bought! Bent just looking at it wrong.

I used to break that size all the time, I bought a couple of solid punches Solid punch 1/16

Sounds more like improper use.

Especially in smaller diameters you need very short starter punches a lot more.

Just pick up some extras and cut them off.

ETA 5/14/2018

For the smallest roll pin sizes a hollow punch often works better than even a punch with a hemisphere tip for alignment.

The smallest roll pins do not have all that much 'meat' in the layers.
A punch with a hollow and a flat bottom controls the punch and the pin better.

There is supposed to be a slight chamfer on the outside leading end of a roll pin but lower cost pins may omit it.

You might want to try stubby roll pin punched.  Shorter shafts less likely to bend.

Added to my Amazon wish list. The Snap-On punches I ordered are much shorter than the Tekton. You can tell they are made of much better steel as well.

Chuck Norris has the best punches I am told.

my bad this is not GD

Small diameter punches always bend. Just keep extras. Although one thing I did was shorten the length so that the punch was just barely longer than needed on specific pain in the ass work that usually resulted in bending the punch. The usable portion of that punch is less but stronger because the taper is closer to the working diameter. Specific job, specific punch.

Or make one with a hole in the end and leave it larger.
They work far better for starting smaller pins anyway.

I just use the ones I've already broken, just file the nub flat.

They tend to easily slip off the pin then and mar the work.

Starrett is the answer you seek. Small ones will get bent. Get spares. Big ones last many many years.

I started putting together lowers using those parallel jaw German channel lock pliers.

No marring surfaces, etc. and I basically haven't had to use a roll punch since then.

I have a set of Graceland ROLL PIN from Brownells.

A set of roll pin STARTER punches from I don't know who.

And a set of regular and roll pin and roll pin punches of Tekton brand from Home Depot (online).

All have been great. The only roll pin starter punch I truly -needed- was gas block roll pin sized one. Seekins (too tight) gas block with a DPMS (Brownells included in ALG kit, too big!) roll pin. That said, all the other roll pin starter punches I use as much as possible. They are convenient, but probably not needed.

RRA has the most in-spec seeming pins. I think BCM uses the same exact source for pins and probably other small parts as RRA, based on exacting prices.

True mil quality is (was) Colt, otherwise LMT. Everyone else has their stuff made by someone else, pretty much.

I'm drunk enough after a less-than-fun 60+ hour work week to say...

Go on Home Depot's website and order the Tekton kit. I used to use the Graceland from Brownells set a ton, but the Tekton kit has done everything since.

And know that punches have limits, quality tool steel or not. Chinese stuff off Amazon and Ebay is obviously crap. I have a Chinese set. There's a reason CENTCOM says the Chinese are at war with us. The punches peen like soft metal. No wonder the US is the ONLY superpower. The Chinese can't even harden punches properly. Peen life crazy.

I've also destroyed a Graceland punch. Their thin one is too long. The only reason I felt OK returning it to Brownells; everything I bought that the punch failed on was from them. Too large of a pin, too narrow of a hole in the gas block, and too soft or THIN of a punch.

Graceland makes a new STUBBY set just for stuff like starting tight roll pins. I BOUGHT THAT SET AS WELL. It's at Brownells.

As far as SnapOn and the like do... good luck finding shit that isn't Chinese or Asian. Like before (or during?) WW2, even though Japan was an emerging power, they made SHIT engines. The Chinese make shit electric motors. It all fits.

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All that said, again, buy the Tekton kit. Don't use DPMS-made roll pins.