I’ve had one of your Total Vise Sportsman Gun Vises and accessories for several years now. It is by far the best vise I have ever used due to its stability and ability to move into many positions.
I was looking for a way to quickly and easily mount my firearms that have an arca rail on the chassis to the Total Vise without the need to apply pressure to the sides of the chassis inside the vise jaws. I got the idea from Area 419s Orange Vise with custom jaw set to grab and hold arca rails.
I came up with an idea that worked better than I expected. I mounted an arca rail clamp (from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085NR4J33/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to a 8” piece of modified oak 2×4 that I routed to allow the base of the clamp to be flush with the top of the wood. I then clamp this wood and clamp into your standard Sportsman’s vise. It locks up very tight in the vise without much pressure on the screws. I can then open the clamp and place with arca chassis rifles on the top of the block and then tighten the clamp. The clamp is 110 mm long and grips the rifle chassis very tightly with only finger pressure on the clamp screw.
Benefits
- Your vise holds the oak wood block very securely (pine was too soft, and steel or aluminum may be better).
- The clamp held the chassis very tight with minimum pressure on the screw — this was very secure — as secure as tightening the chassis / stock directly in the vise without the block and clamp.
- It allows rifles with an arca chassis to be exchanged quickly.
- It prevents the need to apply pressure to the sides of the stock at the bedding area around the action that made me cautious.
- It allows regular stocked rifles to be exchanged with arca chassis rifles very quickly by just removing the block
- It allows use of the wonderful Total Sportsman’s Vise fully adjustable positioning.
To make it easy to exchange my regular rifle stocks with the block, I made the block approximately the same width as my average synthetic and wood stocks (1.75” W x 2.5” H x 8” L).
Given the rise in arca equipped stocks and chassis, I think that if you manufactured and sold a similar accessory to your system it may make your vise even more versatile.
Please feel free to use this information and attached pictures as needed.
