I picked up a rusty Columbian Vise D63 1/2 today. My questions are: Should this vise be Red? Looks like it was red or orange and then someone painted it green. Most all the paint is gone some I'm going to refurbish it. Can you take the split ring keeper off of the main screw without it breaking? This vise doesn't have screw on jaw plates, is there a way to date it? Is there any other information I should know about it but didn't ask? TYIA, Steve. Oh, it only cost $4.

Great buy!

Don't know about the vise, but those split rings are usually steel, and can be bent.  Without a picture it's hard to know for sure how to remove it, but the spreaders used on some snap rings might well do the job:

You don't have to get Snapon - that was just the picture that came up.  I don't know how much they cost; check at your local auto parts store.