Jees, years ago I had photos of my garage vise posted here, and I simply can't find the file anymore. But, it is a Wilton 500 machinists vise, (about 80 lbs, if I remember corectly) bolted to a 4 1/2 ft section of 8"X 3/8ths 4140 drawn-over-mandrel (seamless) hydraulic tubing, that would have been used for builting a big hydraulic ram. I welded flanges on both ends to bolt the vise to the ram tube, and the ram tube to the floor, and filled it with about 150 lbs of spent shot, bought at my local range. This makes the whole unit "dead blow". I have, on occasion, mounted a scope with a set of Wilton soft padded aluminum jaws, pressed a U-joint, bent a section of pipe around it, or knocked a tie rod of a center link with it.
You simply can't have too much vise, although there are still two little Red Devils mounted to my bench, simply because it is sometimes nice to have more than one.
If there are good deals on the Wiltons, I haven't found them-mine was $300 about a decade ago. I attended auctions for a year, hoping to score one used, but, they sell for damn near new prices, so I bought one new. The jaws are about 5 inches wide, and it must open to 9 or 10 inches.
Best,
Ted
