M14 Barrel Vise *Update* How To Make Your Own!

Travis Bickle

Travis Bickle

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Those of us who still have love for the M14!

Anyone know/recommend a decent barrel vise clamp for the m14?
I'm tuning up another and I need to index the barrel.
I have used home made ones in the past with flat steel plates and hard wood jigs.
This worked on the last 2 I did. This one needs a bit more torque. I have some heavy duty bar steel and a buddy who can help me bore and cut it to make a two part jig.
Can anyone recomend me a pre made one thats around the 150 CAD mark. Does this even exist?
If not I'm going to just pay my buddy for his time on the torch/drill press.
Any leads appreciated.
 
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There’s an outfit in the US that markets a Garand barrel vise and receiver wrench set... $120 USD for the set.

They don’t have an E-store, last time I saw their products it was on fea-bay....

Send me a email and I’ll send you the details if your interested.

John
 
So an update on this.
I found a trailer hitch in my garage I don't need that I had laying around forever. I took some dimensions with calipers and lo and behold the holes were exactly the diam of the upper barrel portion forward of the chamber.
I measured the bottom and took a reading of close enough to 1-1/8th inch would do to cup the underside.
Took it to the machine shop on the base and had them bore the one hole out to 1-1/8th" and then cut both ends off and cut across the diam of holes.
Locked the ####er in a vice, 1-5/8 $30 crescent wrench with a square steel tube slipped over for leverage and BAM barrel indexed!! :rockOn:

Best part is now I actually have 2 of them lol

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I would say knowing this now, any flat piece of bar stock square steel could be used.
Bore two holes and cut down the diameter and end up with TWO barrel vice clamps by default.
Any machine shop could do this in 10 mins for a medium regular I'm sure.
It's 100% effective. You don't need fancy bolt through assy etc as long as you have accesa to a good medium sized vice mounted to a heavy table (she takes some torque to get moving)
The large hole was 1 and 1/8th bored out
Smaller hole was 7/8th of an inch
Hitch was about 3/4" thick
If I had to make another I'd prefer to use a thicker piece of steel probably no more than 1 and 1/4" though otherwise it would interfere with the clamping because of barrel dimensions but this did work 100% effective first time. Job done in 5 mins.
 
Here is a barrel vise I have used for many years. Two pieces of 1 1/2" square steel, clamp with 7/8" bolts, split aluminum bushings are 1 1/2" OD. Clamp it in a large vise. I have made various bushings over the years, for use with a variety of barrels.
For a M-1 or M-14, use one larger and one smaller bushing half.

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tiriaq said:
Here is a barrel vise I have used for many years. Two pieces of 1 1/2" square steel, clamp with 7/8" bolts, split aluminum bushings are 1 1/2" OD. Clamp it in a large vise. I have made various bushings over the years, for use with a variety of barrels.
For a M-1 or M-14, use one larger and one smaller bushing half.

View attachment 273300
Click to expand...

Nice.
Oh the things I would invent/create if I had a proper shop setup! One day.....one day...
 
I made and sold a few of these. Had to charge more than I thought they were worth, to cover the materials, postage and my time, so I stopped making them. I have a power hacksaw to cut the pieces to length. Clamp together and drill the holes for the bolts. Mount in lathe with a cardboard shim between the blocks. Drill and bore to 1 1/2". Cut off slices of 1 1/2" aluminum. Drill and bore as appropriate for the barrel. Split. The purpose of the cardboard shim is to allow the blocks to clamp up tight.
I have a salt shaker with powdered rosin to sprinkle on the bushings before clamping. Barrels don't slip.
 
tiriaq said:
Here is a barrel vise I have used for many years. Two pieces of 1 1/2" square steel, clamp with 7/8" bolts, split aluminum bushings are 1 1/2" OD. Clamp it in a large vise. I have made various bushings over the years, for use with a variety of barrels.
For a M-1 or M-14, use one larger and one smaller bushing half.

View attachment 273300
Click to expand...

very simllar to my vice and bushings.
Mine is a bit more robust , made from 2x2" tool steel and the bottom is wider and has holes for 3/4" diameter mounting bolts so I can bolt it to my bench. For clamping to a bench I use a section of 2.5" channel and bolt it to that than clamp to the table.
I purchased my vice from a university machine shop in the US for a fraction of the offerings of places like brownells. I did make a few different bushing sets so I can use it for more than just M14 barrels though. It came with standard GI bushings and med/hvy barrel bushings.


home made tools are cool, well done Travis
 
Generally speaking, it is time well spent making jigs and fixtures. With proper tooling, a job can be done quickly and accurately, with minimal risk of damaging parts.
It took time and effort for Travis Bickle to make his vise setup - and the indexing job was completed accurately and easily.
 
I gotta get on this. I have a bunch of blocks of steel just waiting to be drilled and cut and a m14 in need of an index. This thread is very inspiring and might just be the kick on the butt I need to get this done! Thanks!
 
You need a receiver wrench.
For M-1, M-14 style rifles, there are purpose made wrenches that are contoured to clamp on the receiver ring. Or, a large open ended wrench of the correct size can be used. Or, a wrench for flat sided receivers can be clamped to the receiver ring, one jaw on top, the other on the bottom.
For other types of rifles, other styles of wrenches are used.
The receiver wrench must fit well; otherwise damage may be done to the receiver.
 
ipscgraz said:
I am impressed.

if i can show my lack of knowledge, once you have the barrel secured in a vice, what do you use to rotate the receiver to get it off or tighten?
Click to expand...

At the m14 clinic I attended we just taped up the receivers and used the open end of a 1 3/4" wrench which had the opposite end cut off to accommodate a Looooong cheater bar. A bunch of us lined up with our barrelled receivers and one by one we indexed our barrels (using parallel bars and a spare set of eyeballs watching for alignment) we simply backed off the receiver ever so slightly. No one had any issues and we all went home with indexed barrels. A purpose built wrench would be best but the above method worked for us.
 
receiver wrench can be easily made with a 6 or 7" section of 1x1 aluminum or brass and a piece of channel the appropriate size for the top and a 30 to 40 inch section of 1x1 heavy wall tubing and another section of channel for the bottom as a built in torque bar. Drill 5/8" holes just wider than the receiver and get some appropriate length structural steel bolts and washers.
Drill 2 5/8 holes just wider than the receiver through the pieces so they all line up.
Bolt it together with a carboard shim on top and the channel sections go on top of and below the torque bar.
presto , you have an M14, M1 garand receiver wrench/torque bar in one.
can be used for other actions with similar dimensions as well

first time I seen this design was when lazerus2000 brought one out to my 3rd or 4th clinic and he had made it with scrap material he had laying around.
If that guy can make a receiver wrench anyone can right?
LOL
 
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That sounds very much like the flat receiver wrench I made for 94 Winchesters, single shots, etc. Two bars of 1"x1" steel one drilled, the other drilled and tapped for clamping bolts. I used 1/2" Allen head bolts. One bar is longer than the other, and is turned down so that a piece of pipe will slip over it, for a cheater. It works on M-1/M-14 rifles by placing one flat on top, the other underneath, with protective shims. I also have a commercial wrench fitted for the receivers. I've not used the open end wrench system.
 
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