AR10 upper Receiver vise block

[IM_JOHNNYV]

Hi Guys,

Was playing around in the garage last night and made an upper receiver vise block for installing and removing barrels on AR 10's. You can see it here......

[Livnoutdoors6.8]

Good work! looks like it will do the job well!

[unforgiven]

Brother Johnny you do nice work,impressive and accurate. <thumbsup>

[mineralman55]

Those are some neat home made tools. Maybe something for me to do someday when I'm really bored :-)

[IM_JOHNNYV]

Those are some neat home made tools. Maybe something for me to do someday when I'm really bored :-)

You need not be bored, just Thrifty.......... :)

[tex45acp]

Well the way the election has gone and how the government is pushing gun control again, he might have a market looking for just such tooling in the near future, if he is interested in making and selling sets of them. That is some really good looking work by the way!!

[Matt.Cross]

It all looks nice and rigid and very well thought out. I'm starting to get the machining itch again. I need me a shop real bad.  <munch>

[98Z5V]

How does it do, in removing a barrel nut?  No offense, but I see it breaking/cracking an upper receiver, in the locations noted below (red arrows).  Been there, done that, and broke receivers with a setup like that.  Only when removing barrel nuts, though. 

The counter-clockwise stress on the receiver when working a tight barrel nut - it can split an upper right at the front of the ejection port, right down to the bottom of the upper.

Have you tried to remove tight barrel nuts with this setup yet?  Installing barrel nuts with something like this will be more than adequate.

[IM_JOHNNYV]

I have removed stubborn barrel nuts with this setup. The question here is "how tight is tight"? I suppose if it took 300 ft.lb. to crack it loose, something else might give, but under normal conditions, no problem....

My setup incorporates an alignment bar that goes through the upper receiver, adding more bearing surface than just an upper and lower block setup could afford.

In my setup, the alignment bar supports the points indicated by the red arrows, thus adding more bearing surface and allowing removal of stubborn barrel nuts. Another plus with this setup is you can't over-tighten the vise because you are clamping the picatinny rail, not the receiver body.

In a setup without an alignment bar, (such as the Armalite® unit), the points indicated by the red arrows are not being supported internally, and the receiver could easily crack while removing a stubborn barrel nut, or worse yet, you could accidentally crush the receiver by simply over-tightening the vise.

[98Z5V]

Makes perfect sense, man!  <thumbsup>

[IM_JOHNNYV]

BTW, I forgot to mention that this setup also works on AR15's by simply changing the alignment bar. Here's a better look at the components

[Robocop1051]

Couldn't you use the bolt carrier (minus the bolt) as the insert?

[IM_JOHNNYV]

Couldn't you use the bolt carrier (minus the bolt) as the insert?

Not really. The vise clamping block needs to be as close as possible to the front of the receiver for maximum support. Using the carrier for alignment puts the vise clamping block too far to the rear of the receiver which will create problems. Also, the carrier itself does not offer the 360º internal support as does the alignment bar.

[Robocop1051]

Good to know <thumbsup>

Thanks

[unforgiven]

Great info brother Johnny <thumbsup>

[SPBCTS]

This is very cool stuff. I wish I had your machining skills. I have the lathe and a mill and am learning...but self taught at 54 leaves a bit to be desired.

[IM_JOHNNYV]

SPBCTS,

It's never too late to learn brother. Projects such as this are very basic and if you have, as you say "the lathe and a mill" your more than half way there. If I can ever help you out, give me a holler.