Homemade barrel vise

[Litemup]

Anyone with ideas for homemade barrel vise, action vise to unscrew revolver barrels would be a great help.
thanks for any answers...

[John Taylor]

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/johnptaylor/barrelvicewithVblock.jpg

[MtGun44]

Looks pretty flimsy, John. :kidding:

I think that would hold up pretty well. What is it attached to, the center of the earth? :bigsmyl2:

Bill

[Stockcarver]

John and I have similar thoughts and anchor our barrel vise to the same chunk of Western Washington bedrock.

Here ya go, made this one in 1972 back when I did a lot of work on P-14 and P-17 Enfields. Never had a barrel slip.

http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/visebase.jpg


http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/vise.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/actionwrenches.jpg

[blaser.306]

John and I have similar thoughts and anchor our barrel vise to the same chunk of Western Washington bedrock.

Here ya go, made this one in 1972 back when I did a lot of work on P-14 and P-17 Enfields. Never had a barrel slip.

http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/visebase.jpg


http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/vise.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/actionwrenches.jpg

What are you using for liner inside of the vise / action wrench halves?

[Stockcarver]

The bushings are turned fron brass or aluminum stock. The liner is a piece of cardboard, either manila file folder or cereal box cardboard. This way the finish is not marred, even bluing. Piece of cake! Vise bolts are 1 inch diameter high grade aircraft engine mount bolts. The ratchet used for tightening is a 3/4 inch drive with a 30 inch handle. I pad the action wrenches with either cardboard strips or copper strips.

http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/bushingandshim.jpg

Bushings shown in the rack below. Action truing arbors in the back.

http://home.earthlink.net/~old-iron/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/arborsandbushings.jpg

This system works folks. No scratching or marring of the barrel or the action.

[enfield]

John, by the looks of the vice and toolbox in the background I would say you don't need shiney high tech tools to do good work.

[Garyshome]

Whatever works!

[Artful]

If you don't have a solidly mounted vise - I'd just copy wheeler's design
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/226100/wheeler-engineering-barrel-vise-with-3-wood-bushings?cm_vc=sugv1710783

http://www.varminter.com/particles/poorman2.htm
http://www.varminter.com/images/poorman2/lg/rebarrel1.jpg
http://www.varminter.com/images/poorman2/lg/tighten_barrel_vise.jpg

http://www.sniperforums.com/forum/diy/28923-diy-savage-barrel-swap-anyone.html

http://forum.snipershide.com/sniper-hide-gunsmithing/1262-barrel-vise-receiver-wrench-i-just-finished-up.html

If you playing with Savage barrel swap
http://www.switchbarrel.com/Savage%20FAQ.htm
just need action wrench and barrel nut wrench
http://www.shootingtimes.com/2011/06/13/change-rifle-barrels-in-minutes/

[Chill Wills]

The barrel is not that hard to do well but it is the action side that needs to be well thought out. Especially the old single shots. Some care in supporting them internally might be needed to avoid tweaking or even breaking them with the action wrench/tork...
Chill

[Stockcarver]

The barrel is not that hard to do well but it is the action side that needs to be well thought out. Especially the old single shots. Some care in supporting them internally might be needed to avoid tweaking or even breaking them with the action wrench/tork...
Chill

Yep.

When breaking down military barreled actions, like Mausers and Enfields, I put a snug fitting arbor (turned to a little larger diameter than the bolt body) in the action prior to clamping the action wrench. I sprung a Argentine 1909 once, learned my lession about tight barrels.

I have flat sided action wrenches for the lever guns and things like Ruger No. 1 actions.

That vise mounted on the sawhorse is OK for some jobs, but if trying to remove a tight Enfield barrel you will flip the horse or the barrel will slip in the wood blocks. Note my vise stand is bolted to the concrete floor with 6 each 5/8" diameter Hilti Quik Bolts. The floor in the shop was poured 8 inches thick to provide good support for the lathes and milling machine.

Wood blocks will not hold a tight barrel.

[John Taylor]

My barrel vice is mounted to an old truck rim. Barrel blocks are made from aluminum and if need be I will wrap the barrel with paper to protect the finish. The action wrench was made from 4140 plate about 1" thick. On a lot of flat sided receivers I use a large crescent wrench with a couple layers of paper to protect the finish. Always a good idea to support the inside if it is not supported with thicker metal where the wrench is. On some old actions I have had to hit the action wrench with a big hammer and sometimes use a little heat to get things moving.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/johnptaylor/actionwrenchbreachplug.jpg

[Goatwhiskers]

Can't help much with tool design, but here's an old engraver's trick for unscrewing revolver barrels to gain more room. Once you have the barrel clamped and the action wrench tightened on, you need about a 2 or 3 foot handle, hang a 5 gallon bucket of wet sand from the end of the handle. You go to the house, next morning the thing is unscrewed. I haven't done this myself, don't think my engraving will ever get good enough to need such. GW

[pkie44]

93676
1"X4" with 3/4" bolts, Oak inserts not shown

[Walter Laich]

I learn something in almost all the threads I look at

[izzyjoe]

Wow, thanks for the pic's, you guy's make some heavy duty looking tools!

[MtGun44]

+1 on oak inserts. A few minutes with a couple of oak boards and
a router and sharp chisel can get you a pretty good support block
that is strong but will never harm the metal. Especially good for
complex receivers with no obvious wrenching flats like some of
the semiauto rifles.


Bill

[fouronesix]

Litemup,

Think overkill. John Taylor's set up is the bee's knees. But the barrel vise is only half the equation (as has been mentioned). The other half is an action wrench that is dedicated to the action. Add a long cheater. Then pre-plan for non-marring inserts or material.

Build or set up that way from the beginning thus no need to look back.