Anyone tell me about these Wilton bullet jaw inserts....

Buckgnarly · Jul 1, 2014

Got this from a CL deal today along with a Cman block 1/2 hp. It's a 8400 model, but I have never seen jaw inserts bolted from the outside. Custom, or did they come from Wilton this way? Anyone tell me anything else about it, I know little about these bullets other than what I see on here.

drivesitfar · Jul 1, 2014

pretty sure factory made and you have a nice Wilton bullet vise there. can you provide the width measurement of the jaws when closed so others that might see your thread can give you more information?

if you pull out the dynamic jaw all the way and wipe the grease off the slide you can usually see a date there. take a picture which might make it show up better or what date do you see? that is either the production date or the warranty expiration date which is 5 years after production.

good find

Buckgnarly · Jul 1, 2014

Jaws are 4" across....I'll check the slide in a bit....slide is real smooth. I searched the web and could not find any jaw inserts like that. It looks REAL clean if someone did it....so clean it looks factory.

Davefr · Jul 1, 2014

I'm guessing that's not factory. Those holes don't look like they're on a uniform plane that's parallel with the jaws.

In addition those holes make that part of the jaw weaker then they already are. (very succeptable to breaking off).

If it was factory, they quickly realized the design flaw.

You should never beat on machinist vise jaws but everyone does it anyway.

Buckgnarly · Jul 1, 2014

8-53 date stamped on the slide....that the production or warranty?

drivesitfar · Jul 1, 2014

did you happen to see an EXP in front of the date? I think they didn't start the 5 year expiration date until sometime in the 50's and then stopped in the 60's sometime when the vises stayed on the stores or company's shelves for a while and it wasn't a true 5 year warranty from purchase.

some on here at GJ say the expiration started in 1941 when Wilton started so first dates on vises would have been 1946. so if you have an Exp on your slide you have a 1947 vise and if not you either have a 1947 or a 1953 which is an awesome year for an old Wilton vise.

i'm not going to say Dave is wrong, but i know for a fact some of Wilton's vises had the screws in through the back of the jaws and I've seen the C2's and C3's in person that do. now if yours wasn't factory then we know where they might have gotten the idea if those are not original jaws. pictures of a few C3's that i found on a quick search for you to gaze at.

Buckgnarly · Jul 1, 2014

Nope, no exp on it. I did see a post on practical machinist that someone said Wilton did drill out from the inside to give more surface area for the jaw inserts....it is of course the internet though!

autopts · Jul 1, 2014

What happened there was called "A JAW REMOVAL GONE BAD" And I've done this a few times when drilling out a broken screw. Once that drill bit is thru the steel screw, in goes thru cast like a hot knife thru butter. He probably used a drill press and didn't even realize the drill was coming thru the back of the casting. Nice job though, new jaws may be hard to find.

autopts · Jul 1, 2014

One follow up, I'm not sure if those holes were re tapped to 5/16" or still OE 1/4" you could get the standard replacement jaws but would have to expand the countersink hole in front so a 5/16" nut would fit into it. Or if they are still held on with 1/4" screws, re tap to 5/16 and then you can use regular jaws that mount properly and fill the holes with JB.

rlitman · Jul 1, 2014

drivesitfar said:
i'm not going to say Dave is wrong, but i know for a fact some of Wilton's vises had the screws in through the back of the jaws

Some did, but not the 8400. Bigger ones in that series, yes.

Anyone tell me about these Wilton bullet jaw inserts....

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