Vent: I bought a cheap barrel vise from a flea market and it cost me a whole weekend

I was at a swap meet in Springfield and saw this barrel vise for forty bucks. The guy said it was a steal, and I figured for light work it would be fine. Tried to use it to swap a barrel on an old Mauser action last Saturday. The aluminum jaws were so soft they just deformed under pressure, and the whole thing started to twist. I spent hours trying to rig it with shims and extra clamps, but in the end I had to stop before I damaged the receiver. Wound up driving an hour to borrow a proper steel vise from a buddy on Sunday to finish the job. Lost my whole Saturday and a tank of gas. Has anyone else had a flea market tool bite them this bad? What's your rule for buying used tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivere306d ago

Honestly, forty bucks for a whole setup sounds like a decent gamble to me. Sometimes you just get unlucky with a soft batch of metal.

derek9396d agoMost Upvoted

Forty bucks for a whole setup? What are you even buying, paper clips? That price screams junk metal from the start. No gamble, just a sure way to waste cash.