I think I bought this Wilton, brand, spanking, new, in about 1990:
I had finally sickened of going to auctions, and seeing cracked, stripped, bent handles, and every other form of abused vise at auctions, and them being bid to stupid levels of cost. My vise set me back $390, at that time, replacement is well north of 1K, now, and I have a good friend who regularly pleads with me to sell it to him.
The base is 1/4 wall, seamless, drawn over mandrel, 4140 hydraulic tubing, that was polished internally and externally, for some sort of large, two stage ram. I welded flanges on each end, drilled and tapped for the vise base, with a 1 hole drilled and tapped to put a pipe plug into the top. This allowed me to fill the base with spent lead shot and oil, making the entire mount dead blow. It is bolted to the concrete floor with multiple anchors.
The mount is far enough away from the bench that I didnt use the swivel feature. I can walk all the way around it. GET THE VISE OFF THE BENCH! No bench is sturdy enough. The newer Wiltons have a key way in the bottom of the tube, to hold the vise to .005 lateral movement when you are drawing it down. That is important. The older Wiltons dont have that, another reason to avoid auctions, and buy new.
If you dont have a decent vise, you have nothing. It is a foundation tool in any shop, and mine gets utilized for far more than just gunsmithing projects. Id be lost, without it.
Best,
Ted
