Gun Vise

[Kevin_d77]

I'm looking for an effective way to work, assemble and clean my guns. Problem is, I don't have a dedicated work area where I can install a traditional style vise right now. Does anyone have any opinions on products like the Tipton Best Gun Vise or something similar? I have some room to work, just not permanent room for now.

Thanks for the help!

[CowTowner]

I'm a cheapskate. So I bought the MTM gun vise.
http://www.mtmcase-gard.com/products...-cleaning.html

[saitek]

simuler the the preceding post ,but we have been using this for about 10-12 year's you can set it up any were you can set it ,it has a minimal foot print .

[Unclenick]

I have the original Tipton as well as a couple of MTM Portable Rifle Maintenance Centers with built-in slide-top supply tray that is shaped to sit on the top of their Shooter's Accessory Box to be stored or carried as a unit. The latter combination might be a good choice for limited space. Sinclair has it on this page, item #749-010-334, but the illustrating photo is wrong. The correct illustration would be the MTM Portable Rifle Maintenance Center #574-101-000 sitting on top of their Shooter Accessory Box #574-101-000. The two nest together and there is an opening in the Maintenance Center that allows the Accessory Box handle to be reached through it to carry the pair.

The vertical rifle supports on the Maintenance Center have a couple of cleaning rod supports, though you will want to add rubber bands to these to keep the rods from jumping ship if you carry it to a range. The only other issue I've had is the rubber feet falling off the Maintenance Center. Just glue them in with some rubber cement or some silicone caulk. The Silicone GE makes for sealing and gluing Plexiglass windows to frames is the best adhesive for this I've found, if you happen to have some anyway. Very slow to set, but terrific adhesion to smooth, flexible surfaces. Degrease the parts first.

Overall the above item is a good way to keep a number items stored together. The only limitation is that if you want to be sure no dripping bore cleaner gets through from the receiver area when the Maintenance Center is sitting by itself on a table, you will want a rag over that handle opening.

If I were buying today, rather than get a second Maintenance center, I would probably get MTM'sTactical Range Box (click on second thumbnail under the photo to see it in use) because I have an AR-15. The mag well fork on this box is designed to support that gun without using a cleaning link (second thumnail below main image) to keep the lower from pivoting closed on your finger, as you require with the standard Tipton or the MTM's.

The sliding jaw of the Tipton's Best vice may also eliminate the cleaning link requirement. It would also be the better choice if you have a short barrel rifle. My Tipton is more rigid than the MTM units and stays put on the table better, but it's bigger to store an doesn't have nearly as much total storage space.

Whatever system you get, I'll make a couple of recommendations on the assumption you have to use a common area of the house and have a significant other who objects to strange odors coming from your cleaning work and doesn't like the odd patch falling on an eating surface.

Get a patch catcher for the muzzles of your guns. I use this one because it goes on and off faster than Tipton's gadget and I don't drink soda pop to have as catch bottles for the Tipton, but if you do, that might be convenient for disposal purposes.

Use Boretech Eliminator as your bore cleaner. It's about the only bore cleaner I've used that is close to being odorless and, IMHO, is the best general purpose (both carbon and copper) gun cleaner made. You can read this review. A stronger carbon cleaner is needed on some occasions, and that review covers Slip 2000's carbon cleaner, too. Since it was written (2006), Boretech has also come out with a carbon-only cleaner that works very well, too. So does KG-1. Gunzilla is also good on difficult carbon if you let it sit a day or two, but none are as low in odor as the Boretech products.

If you use Eliminator, you will want plastic jags, or Boretech Proof Positive jags, or nickel-plated jags. Eliminator attacks copper so fast that a brass jag turns a patch blue in the time it takes to push it through your bore, so a brass jag will make it look like there's still copper in the bore when there isn't. That may seem like extra effort, but I find avoiding spousal olfactory sensitivity a worthwhile good peace making effort. Mine can detect Hoppe's No.9 or ammonia creeping up from the basement in about the time it takes to open the bottle and wet the patch, but Eliminator never raises any objections.

If you take your cleaning gear to the range, wet the bore with Eliminator before you leave and while the gun is still a little warm. I use a pump spray for this, then insert a chamber plug and neoprene stopper in the muzzle to protect the bedding and the gun case. By the time I get home the bore is basically clean. It just needs one or two wet patches and a dry patch to get the loosened crud washed out.

[Kevin_d77]

Wow! Thank you guys a bunch. That is great information!

And yes, the boss does not have the same affinity for Hoppe's #9 that I do. Just bought some Hoppe's Elite to replace it.

Does the kit you mention have support for pistols as well? I am currently building an AR but mostly have pistols so that feature is important.

[Unclenick]

Fortunately, there's generally no need of artificial support when cleaning handguns. One of the organic supports on either side of your upper torso will usually do all that's required. My self-loaders get field stripped for cleaning, and I'd feel a little silly putting their light little barrels in a big vice for cleaning, anyway.

You can rest a scoped revolver's barrel in one of the rifle barrel notches if you need to let solvent soak in and don't want the scope lying on a surface where solvents may drip. I've done that using Wipe-Out's No-Lead product on my Redhawk. It takes about an hour for that stuff to work and turn the lead to black farge that patches out. That's longer than I want to hold onto the gun. But absent a scope, I don't think keeping a revolver upright has any particular advantage over laying it on its side while solvent soaks in.

There are several inexpensive plastic trays with short lips sold for catching oil when working on cars, and are solvent resistant and keep handgun parts corralled while you clean them. There are also several solvent and oil resistant mats you can buy for the purpose, and one like this can be trimmed to custom fit one of the rifle cleaning stands or vices.

[Kevin_d77]

In reference to the pistols, it was more about being able to do things like springs or sights I was worried about, not so much the cleaning aspect of it.

[Unclenick]

For springs, in general, I have a cardboard box with two arm holes, like a sandblasting cabinet and an open top, and set it on the bench and lay a sheet of Plexiglass over the top so I can see into it. This way when springs take off I capture them.

The only spring that comes to mind that I use a vice for is the 1911 mainspring, and there I use a standard cast iron tool vice with soft jaws. There are other operations where a vice is useful: Drilling and tapping for scope rings; filing work; narrowing or lowering the rails on a self loader in tuning slide fit. But all those operations require something stronger and more rigid than any plastic vice I've ever seen. So I don't think you'll get much handgun mileage out of the rifle rests or vices already discussed.