Does anyone in Ft. Wayne sell roll pin punches?

[Jeremy1066]

I don't have the ability to call around today, but I can "quietly" ask here!
I need to remove the gas tube so I can shave my FSB. TIA.

 

[Chance]

Check at Harbor Freight on E State

 

[Bill B]

Sears

 

[Classic]

Gave up looking in Indy and ordered from Brownells. 2 days and you can order individual punches instead of the set if you like. Got the roll pin starters too and they make it easy to install them.

 

[Jeremy1066]

Check at Harbor Freight on E State

Sears

Thank you!

Gave up looking in Indy and ordered from Brownells. 2 days and you can order individual punches instead of the set if you like. Got the roll pin starters too and they make it easy to install them.

I've never seen a starter. How does it work?

 

[sloughfoot]

Yes it is a roll pin. A tiny roll pin under tiny pressure.

It slides right out with a regular pin punch. No damage.

 

[USMC-Johnson]

If you need to borrow something to complete a task just shoot me a pm...we can probably figure something out.

 

[Ltrain]

I bought mine from harbor freight.

 

[tradertator]

I have not seen them in any of the big box stores, but found some locally at a small hardware shop. Must have for roll pins IMO, makes it much less likely to deform. If you do order them from online like Brownells, consider buying a taper pin punch as well. Great for getting a stubborn set out of a fixed FSB on a future project.

 

[rvb]

Yes it is a roll pin. A tiny roll pin under tiny pressure.

It slides right out with a regular pin punch. No damage.

ditto. I've never used special roll pin punches. Regular punches work just fine. To make it easier to put the new pin in, I start w/ a big (like 1/4") punch until it's just above flush, then switch to the right size punch to get it at or just below flush. All the special roll pin punch does is help keep the punch from slipping off the pin... I say there's no need to ballance a 1/16 punch on top of a 1/16 pin in the first place. Sometimes the right too for the job is one that's 4x bigger than you think you need!

-rvb

 

[Jeremy1066]

Yes it is a roll pin. A tiny roll pin under tiny pressure.

It slides right out with a regular pin punch. No damage.

Nobody has a 5/64" roll pin punch or a 5/64" straight punch. The closest I found was a 1/16" straight punch (4/64" for those without a calculator handy!) Will this be "close enough" to work without damaging the roll pin? I don't have any more of those either! Thanks for all of the replies

 

[rvb]

You're way overthinking this....

1/16" punch will do fine.

Ps that's one roll pin I won't re-use... I did that once. ARs make crappy bolt actions. (I now stake the gas tube pin ).

-rvb

 

[Jeremy1066]

​You're way over thinking this....

1/16" punch will do fine.

Ps that's one roll pin I won't re-use... I did that once. ARs make crappy bolt actions. (I now stake the gas tube pin ).

-rvb

Sorry. I blame the engineering background!
Did it fall out after reusing it? How do you stake it? Small chisel maybe?

 

[rvb]

Yes, it fell out after re-using it. I've re-used a lot of roll pins and not had that problem before... I don't know if the heat causes it to loose its spring or what.... Turned the gun into a bolt action in the middle of a 3-gun...

lots of method for staking none really wrong... Can just set your 1/16 punch on the edge of the hole and give a whack, chisel, etc. I usually use a center punch. Very light, doesn't take much.... Not really required, just the OCD engineer in me......

-rvb

 

[sloughfoot]

You can buy those roll pins at a hardware store. They are cheap. They don't make a roll pin punch that small.

 

[Jeremy1066]

You can buy those roll pins at a hardware store. They are cheap. They don't make a roll pin punch that small.

That certainly explains why I can't find the "correct" punch. Thank you. Are there types of roll pins from the hardware store I should avoid or look for? (i.e. zinc, stainless, etc.) or am I still overthinking things? I know in my industry stainless steel and carbon steel are not friends when in intimate contact!

 

[sloughfoot]

Roll pins are made from spring steel. I suppose Lockheed might have used some exotic material for the SR-72, but for us lowly gun guys, spring steel roll pins are used in our guns.

Do you approach every problem like this? You and my wife would get along. She drives me nuts....

 

[Jeremy1066]

Roll pins are made from spring steel. I suppose Lockheed might have used some exotic material for the SR-72, but for us lowly gun guys, spring steel roll pins are used in our guns.

Do you approach every problem like this? You and my wife would get along. She drives me nuts....

Unfortunately, yes I do. It drives my wife crazy. When we went house shopping two years ago (it was a buyers market with 3% interest on a mortgage) we went through over a hundred houses before we picked one. No joke. She was very irritated with me.

I went to Do It Best hardware, found 3/32" spring steel x 1/2" roll pins. Im guessing that 3/32" is what I need because they "collapse" to add the tension. However, if there is 1/16" sticking out both sides of the gas block, I may have the urge to vomit.

 

[sloughfoot]

Of course, you realize you can trim them to length? Please refrain from vomiting.

 

[Jeremy1066]

Of course, you realize you can trim them to length? Please refrain from vomiting.

I've read of people trimming them down. How would you do this without deforming them? I would probably go through all 5 that I bought (I splurged since they were $.17) and still not be happy. I may try it on 4 of them and then just put the last one in and hope that I can't see it through the handguard. Shoot. Forgot high-temp paint for the gas block. I may never get this project done.