Looking to buy a barrel vise to help with future barrel swaps of savage prefits, shouldered prefits, and remage prefits. Is Viper my best budget bang for the buck and then Short Action Customs the Cadillac if I want to spend more $?
Gunsmithing Barrel Vise Help
- Thread starter EastCOYotes
- Start date
I’ve got a Viper and haven’t felt the need to look at anything else. It’s worked on both non cerakoted and cerakoted barrels without marring. I do put a little rosin in the contact areas. The SAC is a nice option no doubt. Mark is always doing kickass shit.
I have used the Bald Eagle, Wheeler with the oak blocks and the Viper. The Viper was the best of the 3 for me. The coating they use made for a good grip and i used my torque wrench set at 45 foot pounds on all 4 bolts. There were no marks on my barrels.I used the Viper on my AIAX and AIAE. There are other vices that are really good besides what I have used. Hope this helps
I bought a Mechforce off Amazon for $90. No issues with it. I do have to use painters tape to get a good grip.
Mechforce - Professional Grade Heavy Duty Barrel Vise, Barrel Surface Protection Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HU4GNSG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_7rfqEb8KF71ZW
Mechforce - Professional Grade Heavy Duty Barrel Vise, Barrel Surface Protection Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HU4GNSG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_7rfqEb8KF71ZW
We have a Viper in the shop and it has handled everything we have thrown at it without a hiccup. I recently rebarreled an old Mauser 98, so the barrel had probably been on since about WWII or close to it. I tightened the bolts on the Viper vise as much as I could without a cheater bar, gave the 4 foot long action wrench a good whack with a deadblow hammer and the barrel loosened up from the action and it was easy from there.
I use a Viper with no issues. Right now I'm using for a TL3 and Impact and have a Deadline on the way. I have a couple of leather padding pieces I got from Brownells that I use to protect the barrels.
I have the SAC and it’s amazing. They have a bravo version out now too that isn’t as pricey.
do you think using rosin helps prevent marring or any damage in general to cerakoted barrels? Just wanna make sure if I spend extra money on a cerakoted barrel I don’t marr it up
It did / does for me. Another thing you can do is find some thin leather to wrap around the barrel. I pulled a cerakoted barrel off the other day without hurting it.
Brownells or Viper. I really like the four-screw vises over two.
The aluminum inserts have done well for me - tried steel in the past with some resin or with something to protect barrel finish but it didn't work as well for me. Note that most of my experience needing to really crank on a barrel was with old Mauser actions that have been stuck on for 100 years.
The aluminum inserts have done well for me - tried steel in the past with some resin or with something to protect barrel finish but it didn't work as well for me. Note that most of my experience needing to really crank on a barrel was with old Mauser actions that have been stuck on for 100 years.
If you are swapping remage and savage barrels with a barrel nut, wouldnt you want to clamp the reciever and not the barrel?
Seems barrel vise is most useful for breaking free factory or profit barrels along with an action wrench? Asking for a friend.
Seems barrel vise is most useful for breaking free factory or profit barrels along with an action wrench? Asking for a friend.
I can handle my barrel nut styles as you mention. By clamping a rear entry action wrench into a bench vise.
I want a barrel vise to pull off a factory rem 700 barrel and also for prefits for my TL3 down the road.
I use a bald eagle and have used the wheeler with oak blocks in the past. Both work as advertised.
FWIW I use wheeler lead shims cut to size (basically one shim cut in half). Prevents slipping and damage.
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FWIW I use wheeler lead shims cut to size (basically one shim cut in half). Prevents slipping and damage.
Wheeler Lead Shims 4PK
For use with the Wheeler Barrel Vise, these 2-1/4" x 4" lead shims provide grip and protect the barrel from damage during installation and...
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Short action custom Modular. I've had a few others over the years, finally decided to spend big, wish I did it sooner. I use it a few times a week.
Modular Barrel Vise Kit - Short Action Customs | Custom Rifles
Buy Now Now available: Modular Barrel Vise Kit What is included in the Modular Barrel Vise Kit? Barrel Vise Upper Barrel Vise Lower Connecting Link with 2 black oxide precision ground alloy pins Grade 8 1/2 x 20 TPI cap head screw (3/8 Allen) with Grade 8 washer ARCA Mounting Base with 2 1/4 x…
www.shortactioncustoms.com
Wrap barrel with leather then a business card and insert in vise. Won’t slip. Old trick I learned from an old timer gunsmith.
The Ken Farrell barrel vise works great will accept barrels from .850 to 1.375” and is priced well.
Stick a toilet paper tube in there. Or wrap the barrel with some construction paper.
short action bravo vise is on sale right now.
shop.shortactioncustoms.com
Bravo Barrel Vise
The "Bravo" barrel vise offers a tremendous amount of performance at a very affordable price. The standard bushing that comes with our Bravo barrel vise is the V bushing. The V bushing fits 1.250", 1.200", and 1.0". If you need another size you can purchase the Modular Barrel Vise Bushings. The...
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And the Modular Vise too.
shop.shortactioncustoms.com
Modular Barrel Vise Kit
Available as a complete bushing kit for $389, or with one bushing set for $285!! Are you the type of shooter who is tired of playing all the barrel changing games? Are you tired of having to ship your rifle off just to get a new barrel installed? Are you tired of not being able to properly...
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X2 on the Ross vise. I like that I can take it to the range and swap barrels out. i use it with a piece of leather or thin cardboard for extra grip.
A very deal old friend who's long since departed this earth once said to me, "Anything worth making is worth making out of steel."
There's merit in that.
Going into production tomorrow:
LRI Professional Gunsmithing barrel vise and collet set.
All steel.
All heat-treated hardware (1.0" grade 8 bolts)
All steel machined collets
Spring-loaded to split the halves when breaking it back down.
SEVEN years of vetting on the first one I made for myself. We've been a steady 110-130 barreled actions a month for a few years now. On average a barrel will go on/off a receiver at least 4 times during its normal process here. That equates to around 35,000 duty cycles.
I made this vise out of pure necessity after killing several other brands. I had to replace the bolts last year and one of the collets is starting to deform a bit so it's due for replacement as well.
Collets are 36 Rockwell Chromoly. The vise is 8620.
It won't be exactly cheap but if you work in this trade and do this for a living, this is the vise you'll buy once. We pull Tikkas apart, RPRs, 03's and Mausers all day with this thing. By comparison, I've replaced the drive head on our 3' breaker bar 4 times now.
Debating on selling the stand as well so that its all in one.
There's merit in that.
Going into production tomorrow:
LRI Professional Gunsmithing barrel vise and collet set.
All steel.
All heat-treated hardware (1.0" grade 8 bolts)
All steel machined collets
Spring-loaded to split the halves when breaking it back down.
SEVEN years of vetting on the first one I made for myself. We've been a steady 110-130 barreled actions a month for a few years now. On average a barrel will go on/off a receiver at least 4 times during its normal process here. That equates to around 35,000 duty cycles.
I made this vise out of pure necessity after killing several other brands. I had to replace the bolts last year and one of the collets is starting to deform a bit so it's due for replacement as well.
Collets are 36 Rockwell Chromoly. The vise is 8620.
It won't be exactly cheap but if you work in this trade and do this for a living, this is the vise you'll buy once. We pull Tikkas apart, RPRs, 03's and Mausers all day with this thing. By comparison, I've replaced the drive head on our 3' breaker bar 4 times now.
Debating on selling the stand as well so that its all in one.
I have a viper (most of my barrels are OLD Military Mausers - so a bitch to break at times) - its my 3rd barrel vise and the one I like best and has not failed... I use toilet paper brown middles (for lighter/thinner barrels, I have thicker inserts from my Dymo label maker which I cut up in 1.5" sections and then split a tube long way) and
Powdered Pine Gum Rosin
for mark/mar free jobs - works great for me.
Powdered Pine Gum Rosin
for mark/mar free jobs - works great for me.
I have no experience with any other barrel vise so i can't compare it to any other model.
I had a really stuck muzzle brake on my AR barrel. I could make no headway with the old cheap AR vise clamp type holders despite warming and kroil....no problem however with the 21st Century 1 5/8" Barrel Vise. I also used it to change the barrel on my 222 Remington and it worked fine.
I haven't formally mounted the vise to my work bench....i just used two cheap harbor freight work bench clamps to hold it down one on either end.
I didn't want to take the chance of marring the barrel so just in case I cut 2 small pieces of leather from a worn out old pair of work boots....maybe 1.5 in x 2.5 inch long...place one above the barrel and another just below. Did the job, no scratches. Rather uneventful.
.....maybe it's not the finest one out there but for a hobbyist like myself but i'm very satisfied with it. i think the price was very reasonable as well.
I had a really stuck muzzle brake on my AR barrel. I could make no headway with the old cheap AR vise clamp type holders despite warming and kroil....no problem however with the 21st Century 1 5/8" Barrel Vise. I also used it to change the barrel on my 222 Remington and it worked fine.
I haven't formally mounted the vise to my work bench....i just used two cheap harbor freight work bench clamps to hold it down one on either end.
I didn't want to take the chance of marring the barrel so just in case I cut 2 small pieces of leather from a worn out old pair of work boots....maybe 1.5 in x 2.5 inch long...place one above the barrel and another just below. Did the job, no scratches. Rather uneventful.
.....maybe it's not the finest one out there but for a hobbyist like myself but i'm very satisfied with it. i think the price was very reasonable as well.
