After 15+ years of using Redding dies, in decapping/resizing a batch of milsurp 30-06 brass with staked primers I managed to break a decapping pin...then the one I scavenged from a .444 Marlin die, then from a 30-40 Krag die...then I was SOL—everything else is RCBS except for 22 K-Hornet, which I think uses a smaller pin (?).
A-ha, sez I. I'll just use a RCBS pin. Don't fit. Being a shiftless and lazy Irishman, and realizing that the dolts at gun shops in Southern California haven't even heard of companies other than RCBS (let alone stock parts for any others), I checked the O.D. of the stub that was left in the Redding die: .061"+. That's pretty close to 1/16", so I grabbed a 1/16" drill bit and found it fit in the die stem. Well, I guess I could sacrifice a drill bit to keep working, but at my rate of broken pins it would be pretty expensive.
Next step, since I didn't want to wait for pins to be delivered, I picked up a length (36 in., $2.40) of 1/16" drill rod at my local industrial supply. About 45 seconds on the fine grinder notched the rod so I could break it and eased the edges. Works great! Considering that the original Redding pins are less than an inch long, I should be set for a long time.
I still have RCBS pins in the drawer so, being a shiftless and lazy Irishman, I'll work out a quick-and-dirty plan for those later.