Ok, now that I’ve had a chance to partially disassemble:
Wilton dated their vises, this one is dated 3-47 so, fairly early for a Wilton (Wilton started building vises in 41).
The vise is definitely cast not forged, lots of casting lines; the ram and movable were cast as one piece.
Metal thickness on the tubular ram is .400, I was somewhat surprised that the moveable jaw is not solid, but hollow about the bottom 2/3. The best that I can tell, the fixed jaw is solid.
Reed vises I believe were forged, and have solid moveable jaws.
The lead screw measures .860, so pretty good size. Also surprising is the nut, it’s about 6 inches long. Longest nut I’ve seen on any vise. Probably designed to never wear out, as it would be a royal PITA to replace it.
Most other vise manufactures treated the nut as a sacrificial part, easily replaced.
So anyway, a good oiling and greasing of the lead screw, it’s back together. I’ve got to replace the jaw inserts, they are pretty beat, and gonna drill a small oil hole in the ram so I can squirt oil on that leadscrew occasionally.
My take is that there is nothing "magical" about a Wilton Bullet vise, and some components are actually built weaker/cheaper than other period vises. The shape is fairly novel as is the round ram. But a $1700 vise it isn't..at least not in my mind.
For those looking for a decent gunsmith bench vise, take a good look at the Reeds, Parker's, Rock Island etc. The Wilton are good, but not worth the premium.
