N/A Aigunsmithing Tools - Advice and Suggestions

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Ezana4CE

Ezana4CE

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Jan 15, 2021
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Instead of purchasing guns, I'm to the point where I'd like to acquire many things necessary to complete my setups and to maintain my equipment. I'm to the point where I'm more comfortable trying to work on my own airguns. Sending airguns off to professional shops seems to be a hit or miss affair. I've read online quarrels, horror stories, and then there is the mail-order ping pong game where you ship your gear in for service/warranty work, a tech claims they don't see anything wrong or claims to have done some work, but your gun is returned to you in the shape that you sent it off. Although some shops do great work, not all shops are thorough. With that said, I'd like to pick your brains on tools and accessories necessary to smith my own airguns. I'm ready to start purchasing quality tools that will last for however many years I have left in the hobby. Right now I'm looking at vises. The WorkIQ IQ Vise was recommended by @CoyoteGod and I stumbled upon Berry's Machine Vise for the same price. Both appear to be able to rotate 360º which is great.

Berry's vise https://palmettostatearmory.com/berry-s-machine-vise-complete-system-black-blue.html

WorkIQ's IQ Vise https://workiqtools.com/products/iq-vise

What other airgunsmith tools do you all recommend aside from the typical torque drivers, picks, punches, hex wrenches, padded pliers, spanners, strap wrenches, wooden dowels, bore scopes, etc? What sort of tools for restoring crowns would you all recommend? I saw @nervoustrig with a wooden clamping contraption to work on a barrel, maybe some sort of barrel vise. Is that something that you made?

A mini-lathe is in the cards eventually. I'm still not ready for that. C'mon, hit me with what comes to mind as far as answers and suggestions. Links and photos are welcomed. I probably won't recognize half of the things y'all suggest. If you're interested in doing some of these things for yourself and are just getting started or don't know where to start, jump in with your questions, but please try to remember the focus of this thread is TOOLS FOR AIRGUNSMITHING.
 
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If my shop burned down and I had to replace everything, this is the first thing I would buy. I use the ever-loving snot out of it.

IMG_6342.png


I think Grizzly makes a cheaper version of it.

Justin
 
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Ezana4CE said:
I saw @nervoustrig with a wooden clamping contraption to work on a barrel, maybe some sort of barrel vise. Is that something that you made?
Click to expand...
Yes sir, it's a shopmade lapping fixture.
1749880231301.png


The faceplate has a small amount of adjustment to center up the rod to the barrel to keep it from rubbing:
1749880362417.png
 
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There is no substitute for good tools. Never buy Mickey Mouse, inexpensive, non-professional tools thinking you are saving money. You are not. Buying tools of any description is a life time investment. I will further state that an old professional tool will always be better than a shiny new cheap special. At 81 years old, I have a lifetime of experience reinforcing this philosophy.
 
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I'm pretty minimalist. Cleaning barrels is almost always done with it on the rifle, using a pull-through, the gun either lying on a memory foam pad or in a basic rifle rest.

For light bore work such as sweeping felts with J-B back and forth to knock down surface fretting, I simply clamp the barrel lightly in my woodworking clamp. The jaws are wood so no concern about damaging the surface or even disturbing bluing or anything of that nature. Example clamping the thin tube of a old Crosman 310 pumper, preparing to resolder the barrel and tube:
1749914378331.png


Recrowning I usually do with the barrel clamped vertically in the same vise. Brass screw method described in my how-to guide.

A set of soft jaws for a bench vise is handy for other operations:
1749914559882.png
 
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While searching for new gear, I'm seeing some ads for tools that I already own. It's amazing how much some of this stuff costs now. Some of the sale prices are more than I remember paying in recent years. As another member suggested, buy quality tools. This IQ vise is a lot larger than it looks on line. It feels pretty solid.
 
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The following tools cover about 99% of my repair tasks.

I really like the Wera 354 line of metric Hex drivers:

Also the Wera 367 line for Torx drivers:

For older airguns and flat head screws I like the hollow ground Wheeler Gunsmithing Screwdriver Toolset:

I've found a slim set of wrenches come in very handy at times in tight places:

FixIt Sticks seems to make some higher end looking tools but I have no experience and they are expensive.

Portable, Precise, High-Performance Tools | Fix It Sticks

Fix It Sticks makes the portable, precise, high-performance modular tools you need to keep your firearms, bicycles and other gear running in the field.
store.fixitsticks.com store.fixitsticks.com
 
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Ezana4CE said:
Instead of purchasing guns, I'm to the point where I'd like to acquire many things necessary to complete my setups and to maintain my equipment. I'm to the point where I'm more comfortable trying to work on my own airguns. Sending airguns off to professional shops seems to be a hit or miss affair. I've read online quarrels, horror stories, and then there is the mail-order ping pong game where you ship your gear in for service/warranty work, a tech claims they don't see anything wrong or claims to have done some work, but your gun is returned to you in the shape that you sent it off. Although some shops do great work, not all shops are thorough. With that said, I'd like to pick your brains on tools and accessories necessary to smith my own airguns. I'm ready to start purchasing quality tools that will last for however many years I have left in the hobby. Right now I'm looking at vises. The WorkIQ IQ Vise was recommended by @CoyoteGod and I stumbled upon Berry's Machine Vise for the same price. Both appear to be able to rotate 360º which is great.

Berry's vise https://palmettostatearmory.com/berry-s-machine-vise-complete-system-black-blue.html

WorkIQ's IQ Vise https://workiqtools.com/products/iq-vise

What other airgunsmith tools do you all recommend aside from the typical torque drivers, picks, punches, hex wrenches, padded pliers, spanners, strap wrenches, wooden dowels, bore scopes, etc? What sort of tools for restoring crowns would you all recommend? I saw @nervoustrig with a wooden clamping contraption to work on a barrel, maybe some sort of barrel vise. Is that something that you made?

A mini-lathe is in the cards eventually. I'm still not ready for that. C'mon, hit me with what comes to mind as far as answers and suggestions. Links and photos are welcomed. I probably won't recognize half of the things y'all suggest. If you're interested in doing some of these things for yourself and are just getting started or don't know where to start, jump in with your questions, but please try to remember the focus of this thread is TOOLS FOR AIRGUNSMITHING.
Click to expand...
Midway had a good set of gunsmith screwdrivers (precision ground to fit ) so you do not mangle the slots
 
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beerthief said:
the phrase "you gut what you pay for " comes to mind , really it depends how much your going to use them .
I bought "the fat wrench" torque driver but the bits that come with it are crap in my o[inion , bought much better bits for it .
Click to expand...
@beerthief Understood, but the point of this thread is to discuss specific products and to name them so that myself and others who may come looking for similar things have a point of reference of quality options that experienced AGN members have used to their satisfaction. For example, of the type the screw drivers you’ve mentioned I’ve seen a few manufacturers that were recommended in the past, but the only ones that stand out in my mind are Gracie gun smithing drivers. Cost is relative. if something costs too much for someone reading here they have the option of asking about more affordable options and buying something within their budget. So lets work on getting some good information together here. Shared pictures and links to these products are desirable.

I agree about the Wheeler bits. I don’t always use them on airguns and scopes. Also I actually prefer Fix It Stick torque drivers to the FAT Wrench, but the FAT Wrench does the job. Are there any particular brand of bits that you recommend to use with torque drivers?
 
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I only bought the "fat " to use on Scope mounting . Gracie brand are good products , i would trust them for the long haul .
The bit set i bought were recommended by a friend in PB world , i would not recommend this set to any one hahaha I have stripped two of the smaller size bits.
 
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I have been racing RC cars for the last five years. If you want really good Allen wrenches and screw drivers that have replacement tips available it’s not a bad option. I am a tool freak and had separate tools for all my airguns and firearms. Now I am always raiding my RC tool kits for better tools than the gun stuff.
 
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Iowa Airgunner said:
I have been racing RC cars for the last five years. If you want really good Allen wrenches and screw drivers that have replacement tips available it’s not a bad option. I am a tool freak and had separate tools for all my airguns and firearms. Now I am always raiding my RC tool kits for better tools than the gun stuff.
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@Iowa Airgunner That’s very generous of you. What are the brand Names of the tips? Where can they be purchased?
 
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MIP or HURDY

If you go on e bay or Amazon look at RC tools. The sets are more for a particular car . But the wrenches are universal. And the MIP are particularly good. When you are working on a dirty Allen screw in a damaged race car that is scraped and filled with dirt you reallllly don’t want to strip out the screw. So having a very hard Allen at 1.5-2 mm is critical . But the tools are not cheap. You get what you pay for. That said a lot of people buy the cheap sets and replace the tips with MIP .

 
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