Viper Benchrest Barrel Vise

[Brian in Montana]

Well... I may be the only person in history who has broken a Wheeler Barrel Vise - long story, but involves a protracted fight with a factory Tikka T3. I've read the Viper barrel vise is solid and actually an upgrade from the old-school Wheeler. Anybody used one?

I'm not a gunsmith, but I've rebarreled a half dozen rifles with pre-fits. I don't use a barrel vise a lot, but I want something that will be adequate for stubborn job like Tikkas. And don't want to break the bank on it. Thoughts? Recommendations?

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I have the PMA Gen 2 which is a slight revision of the viper to my understanding. I've only broke loose one factory tikka barrel with it and used it to swap barrels on actions that have already had barrels removed by others. It works but I wouldn't bet on not marring a finish, at least how i've done it thus far.

The SAC Bravo vise with specific inserts is what I would have got were it in stock when i was buying. It looks like a better mousetrap with the specific inserts but it's also twice the cost.

There are some similar versions listed on ebay that look pretty nice and some others in the works specifically for tikkas like the one from buffalo creek machine. I think they are tweaking the final product on this one:

 

[BobT1105]

I don’t know if you’ve made your choice yet but if you managed to break the Wheeler vise then I would guess it’s probably technique. I have rebarreled perhaps a hundred or so rifles, many of them using a Wheeler. I have used a few other vises also. I think we had 4 or 5 different ones in the shop I worked in. My procedure was to soak the barrel shank area overnight with Kroil, inside and out, and if the receiver was drilled for bases I would fill the screw holes also. The next day I would degrease the barrel shank with acetone. Using shims of leather, lead or brass annealed to a dead soft state and powdered sugar on both sides of the shims clamp the barrel in the vise and torque it evenly as tight as I thought the vise would stand. I would then attach the action wrench using a thin leather shim and more powdered sugar and torque it to around 125 foot pounds. Then using a 4 pound brass hammer I made specifically for the job I would hit the end of the action wrench handle as hard as I could swing. Usually one whack did the trick. In addition to the aforementioned Wheeler, I have used vises from Brownells, a Short Action Customs, a Viper and another commercial one who’s name escapes me along with a couple of shop made ones. The Viper is a pretty nice vise but I think it’s a little light for removing factory barrels, the rest of them will get the job done. In all the barrels I’ve removed over the years I can only think of a couple that didn’t succumb to the above process. If the barrel you’re removing is not something you want to keep then you can just make a cut .010 or so in front of the action with a parting tool on a lathe and they will unscrew easily.