Ive always wanted to dable in some light Gunsmithing. Nothing to crazy just dropping barreled actions into different stocks or Chassis like MDT makes. Wanted to do this for a long time but was too nervous to take the plunge. I would also like to be able to change barrels out as well. Not to turn my own barrels but prefits that i could go from 308 to 6.5 etc... So, I'm having a bench put together from some leftover wood. I'm having it over built for strength my question is what vices or tools do I need to get started headed down this road. I've seen some Real Avit gun vices that look nice but I think that those would only help in dropping barreled actions into MDT stocks. So I know I would need a barrel vice and extra tools. Sorry that was alot but I've got many questions and just need some good guidance. I don't need the best tools just tools that will last and serve me well. Again mostly stock changes and barrel changes are what I'm looking to do. I have a tipton gun vice I use for cleaning but if there is a better one out there for that please let be know. I have the best gun vice but the Tipton ultimate is pretty damn tempting. Thanks for any and all help!!
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First True light Gunsmithing Bench
- Thread starter Newb37752
- Start date
Pretty much all you need is an action wrench for your action, a barrel vice, and a torque wrench to change barrels. Then fix it sticks, fat wrench, etc to torque action screws. Not a lot needed.
You could but definitely not needed. I change them around all the time and I don’t own a vise.
A vise is great for installing optics, bedding rails and other odd jobs, by no means required, but it makes some things easier. If you have a bench with an action or barrel vise, you can get away with a cheap vise.
I build ARs and find a large bench vise a necessity. You can spend $100 or a $1k, just depends on what you will use it for. I have an American made industrial 8" Wilton bench vise, it's overkill for anything gun related, but I originally bought it for the shop and then ended up with a larger and heavier industrial Wilton floor mounted vise that works much better for farm/tractor stuff.
I build ARs and find a large bench vise a necessity. You can spend $100 or a $1k, just depends on what you will use it for. I have an American made industrial 8" Wilton bench vise, it's overkill for anything gun related, but I originally bought it for the shop and then ended up with a larger and heavier industrial Wilton floor mounted vise that works much better for farm/tractor stuff.
Shop Fox vise with soft jaws are great for holding Barreled actions and complete rifles and pretty inexpensive.
I'd recommend looking into Headspace gauges (Go/No-Go for the caliber(s) you will be assembling actions & barrels. Precision Tool & Gauge is who I get my gauges from (for the AR15/AR10's that I build).
Ensuring you have proper headspace is (in my humble opinion) an important part of the assembly process.
Ensuring you have proper headspace is (in my humble opinion) an important part of the assembly process.
No means me and a buddy are drinking beer and putting together a sturdy ass bench. Would do it myself but he's fun as hell to drink some Brews with
My reloading bench has a 1" thick hardwood top on it, so I just mounted a 4" Wilton bench vise on the very end of the right side, where barrels can stick over the length of the bench, instead of sticking out towards a wall, and I use a SAC Modular Barrel Vise with a Sawtooth Rifles ARCA jaw for the bench vise. So, my barrel vise, sits in an ARCA jaw, that is locked into my bench vise for removing bolt-action barrels. For AR's I just use a Reaction Rod in the bench vise that sticks straight back towards me. Built A LOT of rifles like that. Still do. You don't have to have a fancy rig to accomplish what you're trying to do. Might require some slightly more expensive specialty equipment, but you don't need more than 1 bench to do everything from reloading to gun building.
Highly suggest inline fabrications mounting system. Reloading gear, vises etc. If it bolts to a bench pretty good chance he has or can make a quick change plate for it. Makes it super easy to have one mounting point on your bench. I swap in presses, different types of bench vises, priming tools, SAC barrel vises etc.
That is some darn good info thank you!! Was going to mount the barrel vice in the same way as you did so I'm not working up against a wall. Plus I really like the multy purpose way you can use your vise with multiple equipment. Nice!!
I will definitely. I want a single mounting point so if not got crap all over the bench work space. Didn't know till today how to achieve this but I do now!!! Thanks Fellas!!
So just to add my .002 cents. What I find with benches is that I tend to move them when working on them. Probably too rough sometimes.
I bolted/lagged my bench to the wall behind it to secure and eliminate any possible shifting while working especially if you have a vice to use.
I bolted/lagged my bench to the wall behind it to secure and eliminate any possible shifting while working especially if you have a vice to use.
Why Rock Vise?
Like most innovative products, Rock Vise and its related accessories (patent and trademark pending) were borne from dissatisfaction with current products on the market. Shooters spend significant amounts on firearms, only to use a less than ideal solution when cleaning and/or working on those...
www.arrowproductsusa.com
That shits sweetWhy Rock Vise?
Like most innovative products, Rock Vise and its related accessories (patent and trademark pending) were borne from dissatisfaction with current products on the market. Shooters spend significant amounts on firearms, only to use a less than ideal solution when cleaning and/or working on those...
You just need a nice bench vice on a sturdy bench.
Then other tools like the barrel vice can just clamp into the bench vice, or you could mount the barrel vice as well.
Need the proper action wrench.
And a torque wrench.
Fix it sticks
Punches
Basically a lot of other small stuff you aquire as needed, like sight installation tools for pistols, bench blocks for various other weapons etc.
Then other tools like the barrel vice can just clamp into the bench vice, or you could mount the barrel vice as well.
Need the proper action wrench.
And a torque wrench.
Fix it sticks
Punches
Basically a lot of other small stuff you aquire as needed, like sight installation tools for pistols, bench blocks for various other weapons etc.
DependaBite Arca and Picatinny Universal Vise Jaws
Full length R-Lock dovetail rails for Magpul Pro 700 Chassis.
www.sawtoothrifles.com
Ooohhh vises!
That Rock Vise, mentioned above, looks really sweet. Other vises that allow vertical workholding that may work: corner/in-line vises, rotating woodworker vises (vintage), or a pattern-maker vises (vintage and some modern).
A pattern-maker and carver’s vise can hold non-parallel items like some wood stocks (Grizzly T34003 Carving Vise). Of course, there’s little do-dads you could put in a regular vise to do a similar thing.
I believe old USA versions of this vise were used by gunsmiths. No idea how well this Asian version works. You disengage it from its base and flop it 90° to hold a gun vertically.
BENCH VISE with sawtooth adapter
If you buy a basic bench vise (as opposed to a gun vise), approach the purchase a bit you would a quality tripod or optics…buy once and own for a looonnng time. Vises are an extreme example of this mantra.
Really, with a great vise, it’ll outlive you, your kids, your kid’s kids, etc.
That means USA or EU made, generally (but not exclusively). A Wilton 400s 4” machinist bullet vise is good. I like the 60,000+ psi ductile iron vises, and 4” wide jaws are enough for most things.
Beware of the cheap cast iron vises (different than ductile iron) sold at many big box stores, as many break if pushed even remotely hard.
Forged steel vises are ok. Of my many vises, I own a Rigid forged steel model…while you will never break that thing, the screw pitch isn’t as fine on it as my Wilton C-1, so you can’t tighten it as hard. Or that’s what it seems like to me.
There’s lots of old great vises out there as well.
Vises galore:
www.garagejournal.com
Vise tests:
To get a regular bench vise to hold something like a rifle vertically, you can mount it to this Versa mount receiver hitch thing. Then you can change the orientation of the vise by 90° at will.
Or buy a rotating bench vise…no recommendation on all of the Asian ones on the market, other than to say that most have an irritating design. Say you have something clamped in the jaws, but then want to rotate it. You have to unclamp the object to allow the rotation bit to work. Dumb.
This Polish rotator is the only one that appears not to have that design flaw…although I’m not sure if older Asian rotators are different than their modern counterparts in rotation design.
I forgot, the above Bison the only one I’m aware of unless you go to a Swindon vise (UK made, installed on UK warships, $$$$ looks friggin’ awesome).
WOODWORKING VISE
Probably the best, for a general purpose vise, is a quick release woodworker vise like this:
It’s a reproduction of the old Record No. 52. The pic doesn’t have the usual wood jaw inserts that people install with their own wood. Here’s an Amazon link too (read the reviews for good info).
For me, because they are so fast to use and have wide (user-added wood) jaw faces, it’s the vise I tend to use most. I like the ones with the trigger to disengage (Eclipse/Record 52) vs the interrupted lead screw type like these:
Get the 10” one so you have maximal room at the vise faces to get a rifle (or stick) vertical. Or, I wonder if that sawtooth Arca/picatinny thing would just fit in vertically on the short side…I bet it would. Might have to place a bit of wood on the opposite side to prevent jaw racking.
SH Vise thread
That Rock Vise, mentioned above, looks really sweet. Other vises that allow vertical workholding that may work: corner/in-line vises, rotating woodworker vises (vintage), or a pattern-maker vises (vintage and some modern).
A pattern-maker and carver’s vise can hold non-parallel items like some wood stocks (Grizzly T34003 Carving Vise). Of course, there’s little do-dads you could put in a regular vise to do a similar thing.
I believe old USA versions of this vise were used by gunsmiths. No idea how well this Asian version works. You disengage it from its base and flop it 90° to hold a gun vertically.
BENCH VISE with sawtooth adapter
If you buy a basic bench vise (as opposed to a gun vise), approach the purchase a bit you would a quality tripod or optics…buy once and own for a looonnng time. Vises are an extreme example of this mantra.
Really, with a great vise, it’ll outlive you, your kids, your kid’s kids, etc.
That means USA or EU made, generally (but not exclusively). A Wilton 400s 4” machinist bullet vise is good. I like the 60,000+ psi ductile iron vises, and 4” wide jaws are enough for most things.
Beware of the cheap cast iron vises (different than ductile iron) sold at many big box stores, as many break if pushed even remotely hard.
Forged steel vises are ok. Of my many vises, I own a Rigid forged steel model…while you will never break that thing, the screw pitch isn’t as fine on it as my Wilton C-1, so you can’t tighten it as hard. Or that’s what it seems like to me.
There’s lots of old great vises out there as well.
Vises galore:
The VISES of Garage Journal
We have seen everyone's toolboxes so let's see the vises! (no, not vices :)) I'm sure there are some really cool ones out there. Large or small, let's see them all! Here's my Charles Parker 107 and my Wilton 1780: The Wilton has an 8" jaw and weighs about 110 lbs. The CP has a 6" jaw and...
www.garagejournal.com
Vise tests:
To get a regular bench vise to hold something like a rifle vertically, you can mount it to this Versa mount receiver hitch thing. Then you can change the orientation of the vise by 90° at will.
Or buy a rotating bench vise…no recommendation on all of the Asian ones on the market, other than to say that most have an irritating design. Say you have something clamped in the jaws, but then want to rotate it. You have to unclamp the object to allow the rotation bit to work. Dumb.
This Polish rotator is the only one that appears not to have that design flaw…although I’m not sure if older Asian rotators are different than their modern counterparts in rotation design.
I forgot, the above Bison the only one I’m aware of unless you go to a Swindon vise (UK made, installed on UK warships, $$$$ looks friggin’ awesome).
Home
Rated by Thousands of engineers Swindens Revolving Head Work Holders The worlds first 360Â rotating heavy duty vice used to solve complex engineering challenges. Boosts speed & efficiency Increases productivity and profits Built to last
swindens.co.uk
WOODWORKING VISE
Probably the best, for a general purpose vise, is a quick release woodworker vise like this:
It’s a reproduction of the old Record No. 52. The pic doesn’t have the usual wood jaw inserts that people install with their own wood. Here’s an Amazon link too (read the reviews for good info).
For me, because they are so fast to use and have wide (user-added wood) jaw faces, it’s the vise I tend to use most. I like the ones with the trigger to disengage (Eclipse/Record 52) vs the interrupted lead screw type like these:
Get the 10” one so you have maximal room at the vise faces to get a rifle (or stick) vertical. Or, I wonder if that sawtooth Arca/picatinny thing would just fit in vertically on the short side…I bet it would. Might have to place a bit of wood on the opposite side to prevent jaw racking.
SH Vise thread
Last edited:
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