(00:00) [Music] Hi, Caleb with Brownells here,
and in today's video, we're going to be talking about punches, specifically gunsmith punches,
and some of my favorite punches and what they're used for. So I know for a lot of you,
this will kind of be, you know, like common sense, a lot of you more experienced guys out there,
but for you newer guys, this is, stay tuned, this is some good information.
(00:29) So whenever it comes to punches, you know, the first thing you need to be aware of is that
punches break, and they can break very easily. So whenever you're working with punches, it's always
a good idea to be wearing eye protection. This is something that gets overlooked quite often,
ironically because it's to protect your eyes, you don't want to overlook it. You see where
I'm going with that. Anyways, the first punches I want to talk about is going to
be this Starrett set here. These are definitely my go-to punches, and this is actually, you can
see these are unused. We keep a spare set here just because they're, I mean, they're awesome.
(01:05) So they come in a bunch of different sizes, as you can see. So you got, I mean,
these punches will do almost everything you need them to do. But when it comes to removing roll
pins, these are great for any standard pin, but for roll pins, we have roll pin punches. And as
you can see here, I'll just use these two as an example, the tip of this punch, if you look at it,
it has a little protrusion right on top. And what that does is roll pins are hollow,
so it sits right on top of the roll pin and allows it to support it as you drive it in or out.
(01:45) And then the other type of roll pin punch you have here is a roll pin starter
punch. It's recessed right in the middle there, so you just drop your roll pin in and support
it as you drive it in. And you can actually, as a little, you know, like cheat code here,
you can dip that roll pin in a little bit of grease, and it'll stick inside of here,
and you can use it as a temporary adhesive as you deal with it. So that's pretty handy as well.
(02:14) So on pretty much any gunsmith bench, those are the top two types of
punches you're going to see, your standard punches and your roll pin punches. But
there's some other stuff out here as well. If you've seen me stake AR-15 castle nuts,
you'd know that I love my center punches. And this one right here, as you can see,
has a really sharp tip on the end of it, and that's perfect for moving metal,
as far as moving soft metal. You don't want to drive anything in or out with this type of punch.
(02:46) And then we have this big taper punch here. Whenever I'm removing really stubborn pins,
a taper punch is really good to use because you don't have, like, let's take, you know,
this one, for example, on this standard punch, you have a long skinny post. On these taper punches,
there's a lot more mass going down right up to the tip, so that means you're going to
be able to transfer more energy with the same force of a hit, basically,
into whatever you're working on. So these are great for removing stubborn pins.
(03:18) This one here actually has a little bit of a cup tip on it,
and cup tip punches are great. They come, you can get the really tiny straight cup tip punches,
and those are great for removing things like the pins on Smith and Wesson,
like that front sight pin, something you don't want to hit with a normal punch and
flatten. You want it to maintain its shape, so cup tip punches are awesome for that.
(03:42) Now let's talk about something else here. The main reason, so let me back up,
punches, at any point in time, you're going to break a punch. We have, you know,
some broken starter punches sitting here. Punches will break over time. The smaller the punch,
the easier it's going to break. That's just how it is. There's no punch that's
going to just last forever. Punches are something you have to replace on your bench.
(04:06) And the main two reasons punches will break prematurely is because you use too small
of a punch for the job you're working on. So size up your punch to the pin size. And
another reason is that you just use too big of a hammer. So if you look at a gunsmith bench,
like my bench, for example, you're going to see a bunch of different size hammers.
If I'm removing something really stubborn, like the pins on an AR-15 front sight post,
I'll actually start with a punch that's way too big for that front sight post pin because
that pin is sticking out a little bit. And we did a video; I showed you how to remove
this. But I'll just use the biggest punch I have, and this is probably as big as I'll go
on a hammer. I won't go any bigger than this here, and I'll just make that pin flush with
the surface and then use the appropriate size punch to drive it out the rest of the way.
(05:04) Most of the work I do, I actually use my smallest hammer here. This is just a
small cross peen hammer, and really, I don't need anything bigger than this in most cases. I'm just,
I'm a sucker for cross peen hammers. I don't know why. I think it's, you know,
the aesthetics of it. I don't do any blacksmithing with these hammers, so I don't need to really move
any metal with that cross peen. And yeah, so I mean, when it comes to hammers, also, this is
the Brownells nylon tip and brass tip hammer. I'll use this a lot as well. And if I'm using a punch,
which one of these I grab depends on which one's closest at any point in time. So it's kind of a
personal preference for a lot of it there, but just know that if you want to break a punch,
using too small of a punch or too big of a hammer is definitely the way to do it.
(05:47) And when you're using your punches, make sure you're always applying downward pressure.
You're pushing down. Don't just set the punch on it and hit. Push down on whatever you're
working on and hit the punch, and that'll keep your punch from slipping and walking and things
like that. And that's really all there is to it. That's the basics of gunsmith punches.
(06:08) If you have any questions or comments or any tips you want to add, feel free to post them
down below if you're watching this on YouTube. If you're watching this on the website, I'll
link some of the products you see here down below. Make sure you hit that like and subscribe button
for you YouTubers out there as well. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time. [Music]