If you are a target shooter, hunter or former military, your firearm is a prized possession. It may well be one of your most expensive possessions (excluding your vehicle and house). If that is the case, its care and maintenance is of paramount importance. 

Whether you are a professional gunsmith or DIYer, a gun vise is an essential tool that should be on everyone's workbench. Therein lies the problem. Virtually all gun vises on the market do little more than hold the gun in a single plane, horizontal and you must work with that. We have several of those horizontal plane vises. Some on the bench, where they take up 20-30 inches of space while another is mounted on a floor stand which is truly a pain. Lastly, most of the vises on the market are made of plastic and critical components of plastic will eventually give way to the torque, becoming less stable/reliable.

We have made due with these vises for over thirty years, wishing that there was a better way to service our guns. Finally, the folks at REAL AVID came up with a solution, their Master Armorers Vise. All of the critical components which are subjected to pressure or torque are made of metal. Only the knobs on the controls are plastic. Not only is this vise smaller than most other vises, but the jaw assembly can be rotated a full 360 degrees around its vertical axis.

The reversible jaw sleeves are unique to this device. The foam pad sides are designed for a compression fit to securely grip guns and/or gun parts. The semi-rigid nylon sides are grooved to fit rifle barrels, picatinny rails and are ARCA-Swiss compatible. These features alone make the vise worth buying. When you add in that the Torq-lok™ pin (#4) allows tbe vertical assembly to be adjusted from 0 to 90 degrees for better access (still retaining the 360 rotation ability), you have a gun vise that is a “must have” for every DIYer out there.

If our description of the versatility of this vise is a bit confusing, please go to Dustin Sanchez’ video on the Real Avid website. In just minutes, Dustin illustrates how fast, efficient and easy this vise is to operate. https://www.realavid.com/product/master-gun-vise/

The numbered components of the Master Vise are as follows:

1. Reversible Steel Jaw Plates

2. Dual purpose locking pins (4)

3. Leveling knob with 6 degrees of micro adjustment of the vise jaws for leveling guns

This feature is not found on any other vise – it allows you to level the gun for scope installation

4. Torq-lok™ pin which locks the ball and socket joint for high torque applications

5. Speed-cam™ ball and socket locking lever

6. Articulating ball and socket joint

7. Quick adjust crank

8. Gun-fit™ reversible sleeves (soft foam on one side and nylon on the other)

Just make sure that your bench top is sturdy enough to withstand the torque AND be sure to bolt this vise securely to your bench. Recognizing the importance of the mount, Real Avid included the mounting hardware with the device. After securing the vise to your bench, you are ready to go. You can lubricate, clean and modify your gun with total stability/confidence.

This vise is so good that we expect to see copycats hitting the market in 2022, so make sure you get the original by REAL AVID. Now, our only problem is what to do with the old gun vises…any offers?