Help!! Revolver vise??

[218bee]

Well, I really did it now. Figuring Now that I am going to start this casting business in earnest I wanted to slug my revolver barrels so I could determine what size projectiles to send through them. I have a couple of Blackhawks and a couple of Smiths to start with. Yesterday I decided to try my 45 Colt Blackhawk and see what happens. I found in my junk box a unused lead bullet with lube still in grooves that I measured at about .454. It slipped through the cylinder ok and I found it a tight fit in barrel starting at muzzle. So I started wacking it with a brass hammer till its almost flush with muzzle and it is now firmly implanted and I cannot move it any more. I now realize I need something to hold frame whilst I hammer away at this and was wondering what you all use? I know brownells sells frame holders which I could then clamp in a vise, but figured some of you have figured out your own way to do this chore. I know I should have realized before I started that it would not just lightly tap through :confused: but oh well. So what do you guys use to hold a revolver whilst beating a slug through with a brass rod? I hate the thought of my poor Blackhawk sitting in my safe with a mishapen hunk of lead in its yap [smilie=1:

[Bret4207]

Been there, done that. First- Give yourself a good solid dope slap. I used a 2 lb drilling hammer for my dope slap. I don't recommend that, it smarts something fierce!. 2nd- Do you have a vise? If so make up a set of wooden blocks to fit between the vise jaws. Pine should work as will ply wood. Carefully tighten the vise around the frame or barrel, which ever you think fits best and check as you go to make sure you aren't warping or crushing anything. Obviously the cylinder would be removed during this op. Make sure you give the barrel a good shot of lube on the inside before you start tapping again. The slug should come out. Make sure your rod is abrasive free and close to bore size. For a 45 3/8" rod at least I would say. If it won't budge you may have to drill it out to collapse some of the hold. Give us a holler BEFORE you try that.

If you don't have a vise you need to find one or something that will work as a solid vise.

[broomhandle]

Hi 218Bee,

Try one of the methods mentioned below.

USE only a BRASS rodl

1 You can use a penetrating oil from the chamber end of the barrel to help the slug slid down the barrel. Heat barrel with a hair drier or heat gun! Cuts the needed force by half.
Put the barrel in a vise with the strips of wood taped to the barrel so they cannot mar the barrel - or fall off, tap the slug thru.

2 Carefully drill a hole about 1/2 size of the bore in the center of the lead so the bullet can crush into the hole as you tap it thru. TAPE the muzzle well so you don't mar the crown as you drill it out--- CENTER PUNCH it well!---use two or three drill steping up in size.

3 Sell me the badly damaged & unsafe
gun for $50 delivered:twisted:

Best to you,
broom

PS #3 is my pick:-D

[218bee]

I'll try the wood and vise trick and see what happens. Broomhandle, by the time I would be willing to sell that for $50, it wouldn't be worth half that :)

[Pepe Ray]

If you do any amount of work at your bench, you'll spend half your time changing vise jaws back and forth. I hate that.
Go to your nearest Home Depot or similar, and pick up a carpenters vise. The El Cheapos come with a screw clamp. easy to install or remove. A couple of short pieces of strapping (spruce,fir,pine ect.) 4 wood screws and your good to go. Holds all manner of precious things. I've used mine for 12 years with original jaws. It gets much more use than the iron monster.
Pepe Ray

[DLCTEX]

My wood vise is what I use to clamp revolvers or barrels. I use two hard wood boards That have been drilled while clamped together with a bit just under the dia. of the barrel. Or drill a barrel size hole through a block and saw it in half through the center of the hole. Slide a piece of heat shrink tubing onto the drill bit used to drill a hole through the boolit, leaving only enough bit exposed to pass through the lead. DALE

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Instead of clamping the gun, think about clamping, horizontally, with one end protruding a few inches, a 2" thick piece of oak. Saw the end that protrudes, to the size that will just fit into the cylinder opening in the frame. Let the rear of the barrel rest on the block as you tap the slug down the barrel. When it reaches the forcing cone, remove the revolver, and using a spade bit, drill away the area that the barrel made an impression in the wood, until the front of the frame rests on the block, with a well in the block large enough to let the slug leave the barrel without damage, and tap the slug out.
Morgan

[JIMinPHX]

What Dale said about using 2 boards & drilling them is what I do for a vice, I just use soft pine though. As for getting that thing out of there, as others have suggested, drilling out the center of the stuck slug will make it easier to remove, if you can do it without messing up the barrel. My personal favorite trick for getting a stuck slug out of the barrel though is to use a C-clamp. First, cover the muzzle with a piece of soft pine that has a hole drilled in it big enough for the boolit to fit through, then put a piece of brass rod (or stack of brass rods) in from the back that sticks out about 1/2" past the forcing cone. Then use the C-clamp to squeeze it out. I find this less brutal than a hammer. Oil things up before you try to move anything. I just use motor oil.

In the future, grease your barrel before you slug it. Also, make sure that you use dead soft lead. It is less likely to get stuck & it is less likely to spring back & give you an oversized measurement.

[Molly]

Well, I really did it now. ... Yesterday I decided to try my 45 Colt Blackhawk and see what happens. ... [smilie=1:

Here's a cute little trick that makes a darn good substitute for a 'real' barrel vise: Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a 3 or 4 inch length of soft copper tubing that will just slip over the barrel (after you've cut a slot in the tubing so's it'll go past the sight ramp.). Then buy a similar length of black iron pipe that the tubing will just - or almost - slip into.

Back home, slit the copper tubing for the front sight, and slit the black iron pipe so's the tubing will slip into it. Slide the copper tubing over the (degreased) barrel, and slip the pipe over the copper tubing. Clamp at the black pipe in any armstrong shop vise, and clamp it up good and tight. (But stop short of collapsing the barrel! (BG)) The slots allow you to expand the pipe / tube with a screwdriver if you need (to get them over the barrel), but still lets the vice clamp down TIGHT!

The irregular surface of the black pipe will give it a death grip on the copper tubing, and the pressure will give the copper a similar grip on the barrel. But the copper won't scratch the finest finish. At most, it'll leave a red smear that you can wipe off with your finger. I've used this to remove some mighty tough / tight barrels from Mausers, etc. Works fine on pistol barrels too, and a lot cheaper than 'real' barrel vises. (I'm cheeper than a cage full of canaries!)

HTH
Molly

[GSPKurt]

I went to Lowe's and got a set of yellow plastic vice jaws that have magnets in them to hold it to the vice. $10

[slughammer]

I'm surprised at all the answers for using a vice to hold a handgun. One slip of the barrel in the jaws would probably mar the finish. I have always held the barrel in my left hand and used my thumb and forfinger as a guide for the brass rod. Esentially I'm holding the barrel by 3 fingers and then hitting the brass rod with a 16oz claw hammer. Sometimes I use a glove on my hand when I need extra gription.

The gun weights 3lbs, and my scrawny arm must weight at least 4 lbs. It all works on inertia, the swift blow of the hammer moves the slug down the barrel .

What ever you do, don't hold by the frame while you are working on the barrel, that is a real easy way to tweek a frame.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

You're exactly right. That's why I suggested a block of hardwood, clamped in a vise, to support the rear end of the barrel while tapping the bullet out. I've got a VERY heavy barrel vise, and I still use this method for pistol barrels. It's just the fastest, easieist way to go about it.
Morgan

[Molly]

You're exactly right. That's why I suggested a block of hardwood, clamped in a vise, to support the rear end of the barrel while tapping the bullet out. I've got a VERY heavy barrel vise, and I still use this method for pistol barrels. It's just the fastest, easieist way to go about it.
Morgan

Yeah, most anything softer than mild steel can be used to grip the barrel with no chance of marring the finish, especially if you use a bit of powdered rosin for better grip. Wood blocks are a traditional favorite, but the copper tube works well too. I even knew an excellent gunsmith who used PAPER! He had a massive vise and a large number of steel blocks, with different diameter holes in them. He'd select theblocks that were the closest slip for the barrel, wrap the barrel with ordinary newspaper until the blocks wouldn't close on it, and clamp the whole thing down. He told me he'd never marred the finish of a rifle with this setup.

Molly

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I guess I wasn't clear about what I mean by supporting the rear of the barrel with a block of hardwood clamped in a vise. I DON'T mean clamping the barrel in a block of hardwood!
A picture equalling a thousand words, I went down to the shop and set this up with a junker gun. The wood block only supports the barrel so the bullet can be tapped out from the muzzle.

The barrel vise is one I built out of 2"x4" steel, and a 2"dia. high grade steel nut and bolt.
Morgan

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa159/pgfaini/Machinery%20Photos/vises1.jpg

[DrJay1st]

Morgan,
When I pulled up your post, the first thing that I saw was the barrel vise. I thought you had stolen it off a battleship. Reckon it's built heavy enough?
I have a nut and piece of threaded rod that fits it of about the same size to build a barrel vise with eventually...but mine seems to have more standard pitched threads...yours looks like some kind of fine thread...reckon a standard pitch will work?
I just went out and measured mine to be about 1.75 inch. The rod is threaded on both ends enough to give me a couple of inches of movement through the nut. I guess I won't have the Navy model...maybe a Marine model...smaller artillery guns.
You might want to take the picture down...surely the Navy will knocking on your door wanting that thing back...They aren't gonna buy the "I built it" line.
:roll:
Jerry

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Jerry, You're right, the threads look very fine in the photo. Actually, they're 8tpi,( 8 thread series, constant pitch) . Must be the grease reflecting the light. It's a structural bolt, the kind that is proofed.
The wrench was made by cutting slits almost all the way through a 1"sq. bar, the width of the bolt head flats apart, bending it into a hex, and welding it up. Saved me lots of $$$.

Just using oak blocks and a bit of powdered rosin, never met a barrel I couldn't get off without slipping.[smilie=w:

Morgan

[joatmon]

I'll bet the yearly REPAINT takes about a gallon on that thing!

Aaron

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Yea, But it's scrapin' off the dang barnacles that really takes time.:mrgreen:
Better too much vise than not enough.:-?
Morgan

[Bret4207]

I ya gots to have a vice, thats the vise to have!

[DLCTEX]

I really like the block through the frame idea. If you really need to hammer hard you could support the free end with a block. That barrel vise is impressive! That thing could have a number of uses. Thanks for sharing, DALE

[David2011]

I thought the same thing- is it built heavy enough? My barrel vise is made of aluminum and probably weighs 1-1/2 lb. but it has v-blocks and 4 clamping studs. There is an easy source of large diameter, relatively short threaded rod if you live in an oilfield area. You can get B-7 studs at a reasonable price through a wellhead supplier or a place that has blowout preventers. If there's a place that rebuilds used oilfield equipment you can get a used stud really cheap or free. They come in diameters from around 5/8" to 1-1/2" and 8" to 12" long. It's been a long time since I dealt with that end of the oilfield so my numbers may be a little off but the sources are there.

David

[joatmon]

Man, I'd love to get ahold of one of those 1 1/2''x 8 to 12'' with nut to make a barrel vice.
Around here it's the coalfeilds and I'm sure something related would work but if scrap
lays an hour or two someone scraps it and the local dealer stoped letting people dig
for gold!

Aaron

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Aaron, I looked up bolts in my MSC catalog, they've got them in grades above Grade 9 and sizes up to 2-1/2"x 4-1/2tpi.
I picked out one that would make a nice barrel vise, without being too expensive. Some of these bolts cost $$$$

Page#1874 Cat# 86501624....1-1/2"-12x 6" Bolt...$21.88
Page#1923 Cat# 67472647....1-1/2"x12 Nut...$6.31

Tel. 1-800-645-7020

Or:
http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/nnsrhm

You can browse their catalog and pick out what you want.

Hope this helps,
Morgan

[joatmon]

Thanks Morgan! Think I'll order one and a few other goodies.

Aaron