Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Which torque driver?

I need a torque driver or wrench to tighten the receiver bolts on a Ruger Hawkeye in the recommended 50 - 90 inch/pounds range. Most drivers I see are in the neighborhood of $250 for torque drivers of 20-200 inch/pounds. Is this what I should expect? and for what brand?

I just picked up one of these: $50 + shipping

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0060796229551a.shtml

The range is 10 - 65 inch/lbs

Still not convinced though, I think I prefer regular hand tools.

I use this quite a bit in my shop. If I need more than this offers, I use a Craftsman Microtork.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=25706/Product/MAGNA_TIP_reg__ADJUSTABLE_TORQUE_HANDLE

Midway has one:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=718023

Also Harbor Freight has a 1/4" drive inch lb. torque wrench.

I use the Wheeler FAT wrench. It does the job for a great price. I guess you get what you pay for.

IMHO you can't expect much for less than $200. The problem is that it is not easy to check out a torque wrench's accuracy or repeatibility and the sellers of cheap Chinese tools know it. If they were tested properly, I suspect most of the cheap wrenches would be tossed into the trash. A real torque wrench has to made to very tight tolerances and with very good materials to be worth using. Otherwise it's just so much self-deception.

RAN

I like the Wheeler FatWrench because when it reaches the set torque it releases and feels like something broke, or the stock just split. I really like that.

Call Dave Manson at Dave Manson Precision Reamers (810-953-0732) He just got well made adjustable torque drivers, with confirmed and verified torque settings and adjustment range of 10 to 80 Inch/lbs. It's called ATD-10x80-CRS. It comes with 32 hex bits, case and the graph of actual torque vs scale setting comparison, which is always a good thing to know. This one is made in Taiwan, not in mainland China. Normally Dave would not sell stuff which is not made in the U.S., but that particular driver is nice and quite accurate, so I guess he's made an exception.