doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com New Gun Vice

A good friend of mine who works for Real Avid had this on display at his booth at the Shot Show today. Very well thought out and quite versatile. There are interchangeable jaws with different materials and ways of hooking flex cable with lights and magnifiers to the base. My first thought was I can forget about building a checkering cradle as this does it all. The ball head locks up real tight but there is a drag on it that allows centering, levelling and rotation. It has many other options that I won't go into here. This is not meant to be a plug for the product just thought it might interest many of the forum members.

What do they want for it ($)?

Just my opinion based on the pictures, but I have serious doubts it is strong enough and solid enough to fill my requirements for gun work. Looks to be made of cast aluminum, with a steel ball and socket pedestal. But, maybe it is heavier and more massive than it appears to be in the pics. Its advertised that it will handle 100 ft./lbs. of torque. That's not much. Might be fine for checkering but it's not enough for holding a fine action or set of barrels safely, IMO.

I have a small cast aluminum vise with a similar steel ball socket base for swiveling, and it is just not solid enough for most gun work. I have it mounted on a block of a 2 X 6, and when I do use it for tiny things I clamp the block into my big woodworking vise on the front of the workbench. But, when it comes to working on an action or set of barrels the big post vise always get the nod.

It looks like it’s made for doing work on AR’s and pistols. Probably very handy and looks to be well thought out for that purpose.
For heavy work that needs to move around , it’s hard to beat a small vise mounted on a Wilton pow-r-arm. No way would I give up my Wilton bullet vise for the subject vise.

Suggested MRSP $300. Yes its not made for real heavy gun work but it is very sturdy. The demo had an AR mounted on it and it seemed very sturdy although I didn't crank it around to see just how sturdy. I'm not sure of construction metal. Seems to be steel but I need a magnet to check and don't have one with me.

I won't knock it without having ever tried it, but I really don't think this vise would be a satisfactory substitute for a checkering cradle. However, I suppose it could serve as a rotating and swiveling base for the beam of a checkering cradle. From their website, it appears that the jaws are cast steel, and not aluminum as I thought from first looking at the pics. Most of the online reviews are pretty positive, and it seems like it has a lot of versatility. But I was disappointed to see that it is made in China. Not surprised, but disappointed. That makes the $300.00 price a bit hard to swallow. I guess what's very surprising is that we don't see more Chinese made guns than we do.

I don't know of any single vise that would be good for all aspects of gun work. I'm sure I own at least a dozen different vises, and am still looking for a good heavy vintage rear swivel jaw vise at a good price.

There was a nice discussion/debate on the most suitable vise for gun work in the DIY Gunsmithing forum a few years ago.

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=560228&page=1

I fail to see how this contraption could replace a Checkering cradle? This set up is very well thought out for marketing and sales, “ Does it all” but really is nothing new. Take your 300 bucks and buy a Wilton, or at least a good start on one. If you really want one of these, wait a few months an they will be clogging the E-bay pages for a buy now of $15 OBO.

I've been guilty of "new gun vice" many many times...
JR

You guy's first response it to sh#t on everything. No wonder this site is hardly what is once was. If that's the everyday first response you guys give, glad I don't live close to you.

Weird. Knowing the intended purpose, I see a bit too much plastic, both in the construction and controls. Those jaws cantilever quite a ways off of fairly slim guide rods, and screw. It would need a single stalk to swivel, but it's tall and offset, the whole thing looks a bit springy. Three hundred bucks doesn't seem to go as far as it used to, maybe this is one of those things to see up close? You are spot on about some people, though.