I sprang for a Tipton Ultra Gun Vise this past week and took it out of the box and put it together today. When you take it out of the box it appears to be assembled and is in a manner of speaking but all the parts are on it upside down; I guess they did that so in would fit in a certain sized box snugly. Then I proceeded to mount a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x50 AO scope to my Savage 111 Long Range Hunter in 300 WIN MAG. To do that, I mounted the rifle in the vise and then got out the Wheeler F.A.T. Wrench (Firearm Accurizing Torque Wrench) and its accompanying Professional Reticle Leveling System and got down to it. Sounds fancy but all it is is a torque driver kit and a couple of levels for the rifle (one in a clamp that goes on the barrel). Anyway, as I said I got down to mounting the scope onto the rifle.
I have to say it was a pleasure doing it the right way for a change. The vise held the gun firmly and steadily and was truly like an extra pair of hands. The levels assured I put the scope on the rifle level to it left to right. The torque wrench - really more of a screwdriver assured I did not over or under tighten the mounting screws of the scope base an scope rings. Doing it this way made it much easier to have the scope line up on the horizontal plane left to right and thus to have the horizontal reticle level with the gun in those directions. Normally I'd just put on the rail, then the bottom rings and tighten them about as tight as I could get them without stripping the screws, then would put the scope into the bottom rings and put on the top rings leaving enough leeway for the scope to turn by hand pressure to try to get it level by eye. It almost never quite worked all that well and the reticle was almost always off just a bit. Doing it with the two levels assured it is almost if not completely level. I'll be mounting more glass onto my rifles because my old eyes don't have the eagle vision (20-15 distance vision through my 40s) they had once upon a younger time. Of course, that could get expensive since I have several guns on which I like to mount scopes and even the less expensive ones of any decent quality got for about $200-$300. Better quality = higher prices and that can be much higher; although, I will limits it to no more than around $400 for any given scope at the very most but most should fall into the lower range I mentioned. I'll just have to take my time in getting the scopes an the mounting them as I acquire them.
As for that Tipton Ultra Gun Vise, I had never seen one before but has seen several of the Tipton Best Gun Vise. After seeing a video on YouTube wherein it was explained that the plastic body seemed really cheap and flimsy, and after reading some forum posts to that same effect and having seen and handled them before _ i decided the better made Ultra was the way to go. It too is made of mostly plastic bt the plastic parts are heavy and seemingly durable and in no way are flimsy. I have to say, I don't know why I never picked up a gun vise before. This one is going to make cleaning my rifles and pistols and easier chore, it will also make small repairs that much easier than using just my hands to hold a gun while also trying to work on it.
All the best,
Glenn B
I have to say it was a pleasure doing it the right way for a change. The vise held the gun firmly and steadily and was truly like an extra pair of hands. The levels assured I put the scope on the rifle level to it left to right. The torque wrench - really more of a screwdriver assured I did not over or under tighten the mounting screws of the scope base an scope rings. Doing it this way made it much easier to have the scope line up on the horizontal plane left to right and thus to have the horizontal reticle level with the gun in those directions. Normally I'd just put on the rail, then the bottom rings and tighten them about as tight as I could get them without stripping the screws, then would put the scope into the bottom rings and put on the top rings leaving enough leeway for the scope to turn by hand pressure to try to get it level by eye. It almost never quite worked all that well and the reticle was almost always off just a bit. Doing it with the two levels assured it is almost if not completely level. I'll be mounting more glass onto my rifles because my old eyes don't have the eagle vision (20-15 distance vision through my 40s) they had once upon a younger time. Of course, that could get expensive since I have several guns on which I like to mount scopes and even the less expensive ones of any decent quality got for about $200-$300. Better quality = higher prices and that can be much higher; although, I will limits it to no more than around $400 for any given scope at the very most but most should fall into the lower range I mentioned. I'll just have to take my time in getting the scopes an the mounting them as I acquire them.
As for that Tipton Ultra Gun Vise, I had never seen one before but has seen several of the Tipton Best Gun Vise. After seeing a video on YouTube wherein it was explained that the plastic body seemed really cheap and flimsy, and after reading some forum posts to that same effect and having seen and handled them before _ i decided the better made Ultra was the way to go. It too is made of mostly plastic bt the plastic parts are heavy and seemingly durable and in no way are flimsy. I have to say, I don't know why I never picked up a gun vise before. This one is going to make cleaning my rifles and pistols and easier chore, it will also make small repairs that much easier than using just my hands to hold a gun while also trying to work on it.
All the best,
Glenn B
1 comment:
I've always wondered about those Glenn. I've always used plain home made shooting bags filled with lead shot. I've only had one gun that could consistently go sub-MOA... but the bags seemed to do the trick.
Now I am wondering if that gizmo might improve things a bit...?
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