My Memorial Weekend Gun Project - Pics Included

[engineer40]

I woke up Saturday morning and really wanted to glass bed that rifle that I've been procrastinating on. Then I realized; that's right, I still don't have a gun vise. I've only been wanting one for over a year. But it seems like the budget keeps skipping it to purchase other gun paraphernalia.

So check out what I made completely of stuff I just had laying around the house anyways. I got a total of $6 into this baby and that's just because I bought some spray paint and those felt pads you use on the bottom of furniture (so my wife won't get mad at me if I set it on the table, etc).

I don't consider myself a "handy" guy and usually my projects end up being rushed and only done half arsed. But this turned out great! My wife even said, "You built that?" And it holds rifles VERY tight!

Started with some old boards that I found under a pile of leaves in the back yard.

Found some various glues in the kitchen junk drawer.

Found some C-clamps I had in the garage. If you need to purchase these, I believe I only paid $3 a piece at Harbor Freight a while back.
Took some measurements of a few of my rifles, put some drawings onto paper... It looked legit so I put it together.

Purposely had these chucks of 2x4 closer at the base. I wedged the c-clamps in between so they were held in place before I even put in the lag screws or the epoxy.

From pictures I saw on Amazon of gun vises, it appeared the spots where the rifles are held are at an angle like \ /
So I cut window shims and used wood glue to put a couple together to form the \ /

Here is the final product. I cut up an old mouse pad I found in a drawer that I hadn't used in many years. I used the mouse pad for the areas where the rifles would touch the vise.
"Primer, Caulk, and Paint... Make a carpenter what he ain't!"

View to show how straight this little baby holds the rifles.

Overall I'm happy with the cost, the looks, and how tight it can hold a firearm. What do you guys think?

 

[jackem]

Very nice!

 

[4bycamper]

Very Clever!

 

[ant12hony]

You must be a "handy" man cause I doubt that I would have thought of that!!

 

[Barrelnut]

Wow! Very Nice.

What is the paint color? The paint just sets the whole thing off. I'm headed out side to see if I can find any boards under the leaves right now.

 

[engineer40]

If anyone is planning to do a similar project, my main concern was the rigidity of the clamps. Besides the 6x 3inch lag screws holding pressure on the c-clamps per side I did a few main things. Look where the arrows are pointing in the picture. This entire area is filled with the epoxy that is rated at 3,300psi bonding. I also sanded off the finish on the c-clamps to give the epoxy a good metal surface to bond to. Also near where the arrows are pointing I drilled a few holes into each vertical 2x4 and made sure the epoxy filled the holes also to give it more strength.

I did a couple other things too, like the wood glue in addition to the screws along the base.... But the majority of my effort was put into making sure that epoxy had a great surface to mount to on both the wood and the metal.

This is very rigid and doesn't budge at all. I have the feeling the 2x4's would come apart before these c-clamps let go. It will last a long time. Hope this helps!

 

[engineer40]

Very nice!

Very Clever!

You must be a "handy" man cause I doubt that I would have thought of that!!

Wow! Very Nice.

What is the paint color? The paint just sets the whole thing off. I'm headed out side to see if I can find any boards under the leaves right now.

Thanks everyone!

Here is the paint I used. And I agree, it was a good choice! Besides grey they have a green color too that looks eerily similar to a high end rifle stock finish I saw one time... I'm just saying...

 

[FearNoWind]

Looks pretty good. I have a couple of suggestions.
The base appears to me to be lacking in lateral stability. Wonder if a wider base would be advantageous.
Next time you build this one you might want to consider putting rabbeted edges on the vertical elements so the clamp sets snugly in a notch and you have the added strength of gluing the facing sides of those two piece components.

 

[just browsing]

Sure beats the hell out of the $200 a certain company wants for their plastic ***. Nicely done good sir!!

 

[engineer40]

Looks pretty good. I have a couple of suggestions.
The base appears to me to be lacking in lateral stability. Wonder if a wider base would be advantageous.
Next time you build this one you might want to consider putting rabbeted edges on the vertical elements so the clamp sets snugly in a notch and you have the added strength of gluing the facing sides of those two piece components.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure there are many things that could have been done to make this better. I believe you are talking about 2 spots, the base of the 2x4's to the 2x6 and where the c-clamps attach.

I promise, those clamps are in there tight. I pulled on them dang hard quite a lot before I painted it.

The vertical 2x4's are attached through the bottom with 3 inch screws. On top of that I used Wood glue. Not sure if you've ever used wood glue, but it bonds pretty tough. Used on the boards before I screwed them in and then around the perimeter.

I'm not planning on doing any rebarrel jobs with this vise. I yanked and jarred this thing around good before painting. I'm pretty sure it will last me a long time for what I will be using it for; scope mounting, rifle cleaning, glass bedding, etc... But yes, I absolutely agree, there are probably a lot of things that would have made it even tougher. But then I would have to give up my cool story about building it using stuff I had laying around the house and a $6 spray paint job.

 

[engineer40]

Well I have to say... This little vise I made is stronger than I even thought it would be.

I clamped a barreled action into it yesterday. And with a cutting die I threaded the barrel for a muzzle brake!

It sincerely did not even budge 1 millimeter. No flex, no movement. When I was torquing on it with the die it stayed exactly where it needed to be.

Before yesterday I was impressed with how the vise turned out looks wise. And I was fairly confident it would hold together fine.

Now I'm very confident this is stronger than most plastic rifle vises you could buy from a store. And more ridged!

(Again I'm not a "handy" person. My projects don't usually turn out as intended. But dang it feels good when you think of something in your mind; spend the time to create it; and it works as you wanted it to).

 

[Barrelnut]

Tagging for a future project!

 

[Rick Richard]

Nicely done indeed!

 

[Straight Shooter]

I have some old 2x4s I can send you. Will send money for the parts and pay you $40 and a $10 tip. Ya can't beat that.

Great job.