Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Vise for home use

I want to get a vise to use for working on my firearms and small fix it tasks around the house.

What do you recommend?

How long should the jaws be?

How wide should the jaws open?

Is something from Harbor Freight ok?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I am not a gunsmith but do tinker with my guns as well as use a vise for many other projects. I have had one from Harbor Freight for more than ten years and have never broken any part of it. It has 5" jaws. The model number has changed but here is the same vise now.

HF 5" vise with anvil

Also these are very helpful for holding easily damaged stuff.

Vise Jaws

You can also make your own jaw pads using plywood or aluminum and gluing on some thick leather .

Others may have different opinions on the type of vise but I have found this one very serviceable.

a wood worker's vice. jaws are lined with soft wood and replaceable. jaws open about 10", and work well for most projects. There is no anvil section, but is made to work with bench dogs for large projects. I get a lot of use out of mine.

I have one of the larger ones from harbor freight and it has worked well for 7 years.

I have a 6 in.wilton vise in my gun shop and have a 3 in set up so i can put in the larger one if needed.

The ones harbor has will do ok.

One of my oldest vices is for vises. I'd encourage you to consider buying a quality vintage vise. I wouldn't prioritize a built in anvil. Most vises with this feature are light homeowner type utility vises. A couple to look for are Wilton 350S or 400S. The Record Vises made in England are also good. A quality vise is a thing of beauty. Do you have a budget?

I have a Wilton on one bench in my shop, and a vintage Emmert Patternmaker's Vise on another bench. Both get used a lot, but for different applications. If cost is no object and you want the best vise for holding odd shaped objects, hunt down an Emmert. It's a essentially a hell-for-stout woodworking vise with flat 12" wide/6" deep cast steel jaws that articulate to conform to tapered objects (vertically and horizontally), and swivels vertically to allow getting at the work with rasps/files/planes at disparate angles to prevent having to contort oneself. They've been gone from the market for decades, I think, and command a premium at antique tool fairs because the cognoscente appreciate their extreme versatility. A nice one may well set you back the cost of a new deer rifle (or two) but they're worth every penny.

Another vise I use a helluva lot is one of those little Panavise's. Set's up anywhere, rotates 360 degrees, tilts through around 45 degrees, soft nylon jaw inserts. Perfect for holding small parts for filing, soldering, hand polishing, etc.

Truth be told, for occasional home hobbyist use, I don't see where a Harbor Freight vise wouldn't be a-ok. It's when you depend on a vise in the course of your livelihood that high quality/durability starts to matter, a lot.

I've got pattern maker vises by both Yost and Emmert.

If it matters to you:

The last home shop type Wilton I purchased was made in China. It seems like a decent vise, but it cost 2-3 times what a similar Chinese vise from, say, Harbor Freight would cost. Is Wilton quality better? I can't say for sure.

Caveat emptor - always.

Paul

I have a big Harbor Freight quality vise that's worked good enough for years. Also have a small Sears vise, like 4", mounted on a base that I can move about the bench. Very handy. Made various types of jaws as I needed them. Speaking of vises, I would consider an X-Y drill press vise essential for a drill press. You can make good holes with even a cheap one (like mine) with a little extra care.

Woodworker's vise seldom used but sometimes it's just the thing.

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I've been on the lookout for a Wilton vise for some time but unless I come across a deal I can't justify the cost vs my ability to fully utilize it or appreciate the quality of it. I'm an amateur at best in craftsmanship. I will look up the vises mentioned that are new to me and make a purchase soon. I had also been considering getting a woodworking vise as several mentioned and am now sure that I will get one. Many thanks for your help.

Please feel free to continue to offer your ideas and suggestions.

One nice advantage of a wood working vice is the lever that lets the vice slide out to the desired opening with out having to do it by turning the handle (at least on my Record).

The garage journal thread on vises is over 1,000 pages long. A huge amount of public knowledge was lost when photobucket went bits up.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44782

I buy vises, I make vises, I bought an old Eron vise on Ebay today.

But for gunsmithing the whole gun, I have a modified CTK gun vise so it is stiff and can be clamped to a shoulder vise in a 300 pound woodworking bench.

https://www.amazon.com/CTK-Company-Ultimate-Gun-Vise/dp/B000W75L32

The vise thread on Practical Machinist is uber! Several of my vices are posted there.

Clarkm and Kingston thank you very much for the information and links.

A woodworkers vise is likely to be your most useful for doing work around the house. Very versatile. A patternmakers vise is unnecessarily heavy, bulky, clumsy and expensive.

Thanks for all of the information. I'm getting one of the Harbor Freight vises.

When I was trying to change barrels with a bench vise, I broke vise after vise.
There seems to be a difference between cast iron and cast steel.

This is why a used Columbian or Wilton or ... on Ebay is so much more expensive than a new Chinese vise.
https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/vises-anvils.html


Then I got a Columbian vise from Boeing surplus and have been unable to break it in 15 years.
I now make my own barrel vises and action wrenches from rolled steel.
But I use the Colombian every day for other things.

I think there is more than one vise that gets called a patternmakers vise. Here is one that isn't bulky and clumsy: Patternmaker's or Gunstock carving vise - Woodcraft.com. Not that this is the best general purpose vise for gunsmith work though, but it isn't too bulky, etc.

I think maybe this one is the type you were referring to though: Wood River Pattern Maker's Vise - Amazon.com

Don't know that I would trust a Harbor Freight vise. Even though the cheaper Wilton's are made in China, I think they probably have more stringent quality control than cheaper chi-com built vises that look the same. I could be wrong though.