Yet Another Kibler Longrifles Kit Build...

[troy2000]

The Southern Mountain Rifle kit I ordered from Kibler Longrifles has shipped; it should arrive in a couple of days. Meanwhile I've been clearing a workbench for it, getting the necessary tools together, sharpening my chisels, etc. One thing I was lacking is a proper gun maker's vise, with soft swivel jaws.

So I decided to modify my favorite old beast of a bench vise, using whatever I had laying around the shop. I drilled and tapped the tops of its jaws for 3/8" bolts, cut up a scrap chunk of Douglas fir 4x4 for the swivel jaws, and drilled half-inch holes in them. I slipped the bolts into pieces of vinyl tubing, ran them thru the jaws with washers at either end, and screwed the new jaws onto the top of the original ones. The vinyl bushings worked out well. They provide a little grab, to keep the jaws from swiveling about needlessly.

Right now, the opening between the jaws is only 2 1/4". If that turns out not to be enough when the gun gets here, I have plenty of meat I can cut off them to widen it. Finally I'll glue a layer of leather on the face of each jaw, and should be good to go.

3/8" sounds small, but those are grade 5 bolts. I'm sure they'll handle whatever clamping pressures are needed for working on the rifle. And as a bonus, I can grab a ratchet and socket, remove the wood jaws in a New York minute, and use the vise in its original configuration.

 

[Mulebrain]

I really like that idea, and it can save some bucks! I think the large vise I have I can just drill holes in the teeth part.

 

[troy2000]

I really like that idea, and it can save some bucks! I think the large vise I have I can just drill holes in the teeth part.

If you're talking about the serrated steel inserts most vise jaws have, they're probably going to be a whole lot harder to drill and tap than the cast iron behind them.

 

[Bob McBride]

Hey Troy, you might find you will need to cut the jaws back as it’s really handy to be able to hold the butt stock oriented flat with your vise for lock mortise work, driving barrel pins, etc. Any time I need a stock to lay flat I grab the middle of the butt. Anyplace else is always in the way. Nice work. Love it.

 

[troy2000]

Don't hold the color of the wood against me. I wanted something to hide grimy fingerprints, and scrounged for whatever was handy in my flammables cabinet. The choices were either linseed oil, a dab of fairly old shellac, or some dark walnut Danish oil left over from a rustic pine bench project. I went with the Danish oil....

 

[troy2000]

Hey Troy, you might find you will need to cut the jaws back as it’s really handy to be able to hold the butt stock oriented flat with your vise for lock mortise work, driving barrel pins, etc. Any time I need a stock to lay flat I grab the middle of the butt. Nice work. Love it.

I think you're right. Fortunately, I left a lot of wood.

 

[Flintandsteel]

What Bob said! Youre gonna need 4 to 5” easily to grip the angled areas on the butt. What you have is a great idea, but there are some great ones if you decide to buy. This one is not too expensive. Much larger capacity. You’ll need more than you think.

 

[Phil Coffins]

You’ve made a dandy vice and I believe in having vices! The nice part of a Kibler kit is you can near do one on your lap. Have fun.

 

[troy2000]

What Bob said! Youre gonna need 4 to 5” easily to grip the angled areas on the butt. What you have is a great idea, but there are some great ones if you decide to buy. This one is not too expensive. Much larger capacity. You’ll need more than you think.

I think I can cut up to 1 3/4" off each wood jaw if necessary. Adding that to the 2 1/2" max between the jaws in their current shape gives me six inches. I think I'm pretty safe... and despite the temptation, I'm not going anywhere with that reference to having six inches.

I looked at a lot of great vices online, and went with the diy option - partly because I'm cheap, partly because I was bored, and partly because it was 117 degrees outside my shop door and I wasn't about to go shopping.

My dream is to someday have a vise like Jim Kibler's, which on top of having swivel jaws pivots on an old shot put.

 

[troy2000]

You’ve made a dandy vice and I believe in having vices! The nice part of a Kibler kit is you can near do one on your lap. Have fun.

When people ooh and aah over my rifle, I plan to act all modest - and keep my mouth shut about how easy Jim's kits are to put together.

 

[Doc Ivory]

That's a great idea to modify your vice.
"Old trust", my vice might enjoy the same mod.
Great idea!

Good luck with the kit.

 

[TarponStalker]

Great idea. I’ve been trying to figure out a plan for my vise.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I made these for my vise, easy on and off, they have held a bunch of rifle builds.

 

[troy2000]

I made these for my vise, easy on and off, they have held a bunch of rifle builds.

They look well used. That's pretty good proof they work...

 

[Doc Ivory]

I made these for my vise, easy on and off, they have held a bunch of rifle builds.

Nicely done!

 

[troy2000]

OK... my Kibler kit was scheduled for delivery today, and it arrived at a USPS facility 170 miles from here about 3:00 AM Saturday. For the rest of the holiday weekend, the tracking app said it was 'in transit between facilities.' About 6:30 this morning (Tuesday), it was listed as a late delivery, but still on its way. At 9:23 AM according to the app, delivery failed because the package 'failed to fit into the mailbox.' I had it delivered at work, like I've done with purchases for twenty+ years, but apparently this particular genius of a mail guy (or gal; who knows?) not only failed to notice the call button and speaker at the gate, but was unable to honk his horn or holler to get the attention of people moving around inside the facility.

So I had to go pick it up at the Post Office after work - along with a tube of Prussian blue in a manila envelope that somehow 'failed delivery' Saturday (maybe he couldn't squeeze it into our humongous mailbox?), and a box from Amazon containing a set of gear wrenches and a small mortar and pestle, that apparently 'failed delivery' both Sunday and Monday - even though the place is manned 24/7.

As mentioned, I've been having stuff delivered at work for over twenty years. This is the first time the USPS hasn't come through with flying colors, and I hope it isn't the beginning of a new trend.

But it was hard to stay tee'd off after I opened the crate. The curly maple wood is going to be spectacular, with so much striping in the grain I'm going to have to try holding the contrast down a little when I finish it, instead of working to emphasize the stripes. I want beautiful, not gaudy. Of course, iron nitrate tends to do what it wants to do on a piece of wood, so I may not have much leeway. We'll see....

I was grateful for the sturdy plywood crate the kit was shipped in, because there were a couple of serious dings in the crate when it got here. I guess someone failed to notice the big red 'Fragile" sticker on the screwed-down lid.

I managed to fit the barrel and trigger set this evening, I have pic's of the opened crate, and of the stock with the barrel and trigger set in place, but it's almost my bed time. I'll try to upload and post those tomorrow...

 

[Doc Ivory]

Please don't get me started on the Post Office....

 

[troy2000]

Change of plans. I spent the day wrenching in a hot compressor building, and I'm feeling tired and stupid. Not a good idea to go near the rifle in that condition. So I sat here laying out a post on what I accomplished yesterday instead, complete with pics - and somehow bumped the wrong combination of keys, deleting it just as I was getting ready to post. Which I guess proves I was smart to stay away from the gun...

I think it's about bourbon thirty.

 

[Mulebrain]

Speaking of bourbon, this is whats in the cabin

 

[troy2000]

Speaking of bourbon, this is whats in the cabin

I generally just hang with Evan Williams. But he's not bad company...