I have a lot of fun experimenting with stuff. I tend to need punches fairly regularly and what I had was a mishmash of sizes and models from Craftsman, Astro, Harbor Freight and who knows what else. I was working the other day and had stuff laying everywhere and thought to myself that there must be a more organized approach plus some of my punches were looking pretty abused (I’ve bent the crap out of some of the real small ones trying to start pins) so I started digging on Amazon. Interestingly enough, TEKTON makes an 18-piece gunsmith punch set that gets very good reviews on Amazon – 4.6 stars with 181 reviews is pretty remarkable. So, I ordered it and was pleasantly surprised at what arrived – it was very well done.
The set was well packed and includes a walnut bench block that is laser etched with what punch is to go in what hole. Now for a slob like me, that is a God-send.
The punches have a nice heft, feel good, are well finished and have worked fine so far. TEKTON claims they are high carbon heat treated steel and seem to be holding up just fine.
The set includes the following punches:
- (7) pin punches: 1/16, 3/32, 1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 7/32, 1/4 inch
- (8) roll pin punches: 1/16, 5/64, 3/32, 1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 7/32, 1/4 inch
- (2) solid punches: 1/16, 3/32 inch
- (1) center punch: 5/16 inch
I have it sitting to the side of my bench and now I can move the whole set right to where I need it vs. digging for whatever punch I need.
So if you are shopping for punches with a stand, take a look at this set. It is a great deal when you look at the cost relative to the quality you get.
2/27/20 Update: I’ve beat the heck out of mine and most punches are still holding up. I’ve bent a few of the smaller ones but I have really beat the hell out of them trying to free stuck pins so I am not surprised. Guess what I did, I bought a second Tekton set for spares. I’m still happy with it. All the sizes let me grab one for use as a slave pin as well like what you really need to align all the components with Glock hammer pins.
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