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Homemade Nipple Wrench

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Sorry if this has been posted before by someone. I looked and couldn’t find anything about it. Anyway I read a post lately, (I can’t remember what MZ the post was about), about having a hard time finding a small enough wrench for intricate or small nipples or tight clearances. During the covid thing I was shooting alot and broke my pistol nipple wrench. Figured no biggie, just grab another. They were nonexistent on the internet. TOTW makes a good one but they were out with no back orders. I live in the middle of nowhere with no place to find anything. 150 miles from the nearest walmart for example. Dug through my stuff and found 6 wrenches but non would fit. Way too big. I am sure I didn’t invent this but made one out of a deep well 5mm 1/4” drive socket. It works fantastic! Carefully cut the grooves out parallel to the flats inside that grip the nut. Used a dremel with a good reenforced cut off wheel and then slowly took it down and cleaned it up with a diamond needle file. Anyway, I hope this can help someone!
 

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I have purchased nipple wrenches and made them and this is what I have found: Most will break if the nipple has been installed too tightly. A good nipple wrench is hard to find. The nipple wrench must be a close fit on the nipple to work well. Nipple and threads must be cleaned after removed. Use a grease or anti-seize when reinstalling nipples. Never overtighten nipples when installing.:thumb:;):)
 
It will most likely break on a stuck/hard to remove nipple - due to the soft metal.
Ted Cash ratchet style with replacement sized does well for 2-sided nipples.

I prefer 4-sided nipple flats and a 19th Century British style nipple wrench.
Made a spare nipple and wrench recently for a friend.

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Sadly, this hex drive impact tool is no longer available at Harbor Freight. A similar tool can be found on Amazon but it takes some searching. The tip for the nipple wrench was made from a 5 mm nut driver. It worked when I removed the nipples from one of those over torqued Italian percussion revolvers. Two dowels in the vise to set the cylinder in place. Only took a few taps with the impact tool to loosen the nipples.

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Part of the "Don't Force It, Get a Bigger Hammer" series of tools.
 
I’ve bought and made a few nipple wrenches for my revolvers, and found that the fingers can widen apart, eventually to the point where the wrench no longer works. My solution was to press on a small steel sleeve (ring) to keep the fingers from spreading. Works like a champ.
 

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