A couple of months ago, I had some really bad groups and after getting Tacticool22's barrel nut wrench, realized it was due to a VERY loose barrel nut. After tightening it down, groups were much better and the shift was fixed. Since it was loose, I decided to remove it and clean it out per a recommendation from this board. There was a lot of crud that needed to be cleaned to it was sound advice.
Now, I need to get it back on and need a barrel vise block. I don't feel like buying one so I'd like to know what those of you that may have used a home made vise block have used. I had some cheap pieces of wood that cracked and am wondering if split 2x4 would be stronger? Should I route out the center? Any good ideas and redneck engineering that has worked well?