Barrel Vice Recommendation

[Marbles]

I'm going to give the Wallycooper Gunsmith Supplies vice on Ebay a try. It looks well made, and significantly cheaper than the SAC Bravo. He also has a Tikka specific external action wrench.

 

[kswaterfowl]

I'm going to give the Wallycooper Gunsmith Supplies vice on Ebay a try. It looks well made, and significantly cheaper than the SPC Bravo. He also has a Tikka specific external action wrench.

I have one of those, and I use it to take off factory barrels.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I'm going to give the Wallycooper Gunsmith Supplies vice on Ebay a try. It looks well made, and significantly cheaper than the SPC Bravo. He also has a Tikka specific external action wrench.

I recently bought a SAC Bravo (they had a sale a few months back) and before I did that one I looked into some and a couple differentiating points were noted on some boards. The SAC has tapered bushing as most barrels tend to taper, they even have one that is contoured to fit a tikka sporter well. The SAC has nubs on the bushings so they don't spin in the vice and keeps them centered for clamping forces. No idea how many barrels you plan to do but the SAC is a really nice product imho after using it (esp that tikka specific bushing, I can take a photo if you want but its contoured nicely), also if only doing one barrel I imagine the resale value on the known SAC with a good bushing is gonna be better. Just a thought.

I think the wally action wrench would be fine though.

 

[Marbles]

I recently bought a SAC Bravo (they had a sale a few months back) and before I did that one I looked into some and a couple differentiating points were noted on some boards. The SAC has tapered bushing as most barrels tend to taper, they even have one that is contoured to fit a tikka sporter well. The SAC has nubs on the bushings so they don't spin in the vice and keeps them centered for clamping forces. No idea how many barrels you plan to do but the SAC is a really nice product imho after using it (esp that tikka specific bushing, I can take a photo if you want but its contoured nicely), also if only doing one barrel I imagine the resale value on the known SAC with a good bushing is gonna be better. Just a thought.

I think the wally action wrench would be fine though.

If only doing one barrel, I would just pay someone. But I'm unlikely to use it more than twice a year, and some years not at all.

Out of curiosity, what is the OD of the SAC bushings?

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

If only doing one barrel, I would just pay someone. But I'm unlikely to use it more than twice a year, and some years not at all.

Out of curiosity, what is the OD of the SAC bushings?

Looks like ~ 1.44" not counting the alignment tabs.

Here's a photo showing how well the tikka one fits the taper of the tikka factory sporter barrel.

 

[huntsman22]

Used my cheap grizzly Bald Eagle vice to screw this Proof onto a Bighorn action tonight.

 

[lintond]

I got a PMA vise that allows you to rotate for different barrel sizes. Worked well on my recent barrel swap.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Squaretippinit01]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a functional yet affordable barrel vise? I’m replacing a factory Tikka barrel with a prefit PBB.

Local gunsmiths are quoting me >$200 for the job, so it has me thinking I should just look into buying the tools myself. Even if I don’t anticipate using them often, I’d breakeven in a couple of barrel replacements.

Alternatively, if anyone knows of an affordable smith in Dallas, TX, area, I’d appreciate the recommendation. Or if you’re in the area and are open to letting me use yours, I’d happily pay in beer or something similar!

Did you end up doing it yourself? What contour did you get? I’m planning on doing this with a PBB barrel as well in lite contour and wanted to see some fit up pics

 

[Kimber7man]

What torque wrench is recommended/used by most here? have the barrel vise and action wrench, just not the torque wrench..Thx.

 

[Marbles]

Any torque wrench that goes to 100 pounds will work. I recommend a split beam model as they are not finicky about storage. I have a Precision Instruments split beam.

Click torque wrenches will loose calibration if you don't remember to back them down to zero. If going cheap, I would get a beam wrench. For a barrel, a beam wrench is more than good enough.