Homemade barrel vise

I had a couple of Ruger Blackhawks/Super Blackhawks that had had their barrels rotate in the frame, enough so that I was out of right windage.

I took a 3"x3" block of hardwood and measured off 2 1/2", then located a line at 1 1/4". I first drilled through the block with a 7/8" dia spade bit, centering the hole in the 2 1/2" block. I sawed through the hole first, then cut off the remainder. This left me with two halves with a barrel channel.

Using Brownell's glass bedding gel, I coated the barrel well with release agent, and also two galvanized steel shims, 1/8" x 1" x 4" long. I mixed up the glass bed compound, using the black dye to define wood from epoxy. I clamped the two halves, separated by the shims, in place on the barrel, leaving about 3/8" gap from the frame. (The cylinder, grips, ejector housing and base pin had already been removed.)

When the epoxy was dry, I separated the two halves, knocking the shims off in so doing. I had a near-perfect fit of a Ruger barrel.

Removing the release agent from the barrel (It strips off like plastic wrap.) I coated the glass surfaced channel with powdered rosin and clamped the gun into my vise. I added a C-clamp above the vise jaws for extra holding power. I inserted a long billet of oak, about three feet long and 2" x 2" as a lever. Exerting pressure gently, I rotated the frame until it was lined up with the front sight.

I did two guns this way, a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum and my .45 set up like a Super Blackhawk.

After re-assembling, I took both guns to the range and resighted them. The rear sights are now centered again.

Oh, yeah, after re-aligning, I set the barrels with penetrating Loc-Tite.

Bob Wright