Your Gun Vise

[smokeywolf]

What brand gun vise do you have? Are you satisfied with it? Have you built your own? Did you modify an off the shelf unit?

I'm going to have to build my own or modify the Lyman rotating gun vise that I already have.
I prefer to do my barrel cleaning with the rifle upside down and muzzle down, so the solution doesn't drip/leak into the action or onto/under the wood.

We've got some mighty clever gunsmiths and DIYers out there. Your experience, ideas and opinions are much appreciated.

smokeywolf

[seagiant]

Hi,
This is my multi-purpose gun vise with custom hard rubber jaws!:shock:

[JDFuchs]

I use the only good vice in the house, a kurt 4in machining vice.

[btroj]

Don't have one

[Bret4207]

I use 3 or 4 of them. There are 2 blacksmiths leg vices in the shop, a couple Columbians, a plastic job that goes in my Workmates, so little teeny pin types, etc. When doing gun work, almost always use leather or wood jaw protectors.

[seagiant]

Hi Bret,
I like leg vises! You can put something in there and then smack it!

[Bret4207]

Nice setup SG, much fancier than mine. It is nice to be able to use the vice to bend something with out the whole bench shaking and vibrating and moving around! I have one set up sort of like yours right next to my welder. It was pretty beat up when I got it so I just tacked some mild steel on for jaws as the original jaws had been cut or ground to almost nothing. Very, very handy!

[dragonrider]

Same as SeaGiant except I use leather.

[seagiant]

Hi Brett,
Can't take credit for that rig but I have 2 leg vises for blacksmithing don't see how you coud work without them!

Here are some more pics of the jaws I made for my Starrett "Athol,Mass." bench vise. The aluminum plates make it strong and the "hard" rubber protects everything. I sometimes just put the end of the barrel in there and is fine as long as you don't put any heavy downward pressure on it and is very secure!

[Bret4207]

I still have several jaw protectors my Dad made from leather about 3/8" thick. On some he glued the leather to maple blocks that fit the jaws, but the handiest one is just plain leather folded in half to fit the vice. I don;t even know where'd you'd get leather like that anymore, a saddle maker maybe.

[725]

Leather - Tandy Corp. They have it all from thin and soft to thick and stiff.

[bob208]

i use a pipe vise with the pipe jaws removed and al jaws i made for it.

[edwin41]

i am scraping some materials together to make me one...

will take sometime though , but it will be made !

[KCSO]

I have one vise with rubber jaws for cleaing and re assembly and another with sets of replacable jaws in iron, brass and aluminum for metal working. The Brass jaws have a 1/10" deep recess for clamping thnner stock to dress down to thickness and all the jaws have square and round cutouts for holding odd shaped parts.

[Longwood]

I made this from a piece of scrap left over from carving a propeller.
Pretty simple,,, a few lag bolts, 1/4" bolts with washers and lock nuts, a short piece of all-thread and a piece of a dollar store flip flop.
I had saved the knobs from something that went to the scrap yard. They could be easily made with a couple of big wood knobs that are drilled and threaded.
For now, the front of the rifle is secured with a strap. I am looking for a good acme screw that I can use to make a nice clamp for the barrel.
The strap works fine so that may never happen.
In order for the vice to handle different stock thicknesses, I slotted the bottom plank so the vice jaws can move in and out a little.

[smokeywolf]

Thanks to everybody for their suggestions, descriptions, and pics. I think I'm going to keep my machinist and bench vises for metal work and build something proprietary for smithing and maintenance.
Longwood, Real pretty and nicely done.

smokeywolf

[HotGuns]

Here is one that I use...mostly with leather.

Its by far the most versatile vice for gunsmithing that I have.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b130/HotGuns/h3302.jpg

[Casting Timmy]

Subscribing as I am looking for something myself

I did make a couple holders from PVC pipe and PVC pipe fittings as my work thru away tons of PVC pipe fittings. Since I also had some straight pipe at home I made two gun holders for cleaning. I am looking and thinking about building something out of wood as shown above.

I do really like a holder that can keep the muzzle down during cleaning.

[Longwood]

Go to Grafs and Midway to look for ideas.
If you are making it yourself,,, you can make it a lot of ways and fairly cheaply.
I thought about getting really fancy and making min so it could rotate and lock at 90 degrees, but decided that it was a waste of time unless I plan on doing a lot of smith type work. Which I don't
About all I do any more is mount scopes and what I made worked for me on the last one I did.
If you have any questions of how I constructed mine or parts of it, just ask. You can PM me if you like.

I deleted some of the photos yesterday to make more room for new ones. If you want to see them, let me know.

[Longwood]

I was at a small hobby shop a few weeks ago and saw small pieces of leather there.
Old belts and boots can also be a fairly good source for leather.

[RayinNH]

Seagiant, is that a treadle hammer in the background I see?...Ray