Anyone messed around enough with shortening Speedfeed stocks?

[Cesiumsponge]

I'm picking up a Speedfeed II stock specifically because it's solid and has some good heft for a synthetic stock vs the other Speedfeeds or synthetic offerings which are hollow and light. I plan on chopping down the 14" LOP to 13" LOP and installing a Grovtec flush/swivel cup as a sling mounting point. A thin-walled stock wouldn't otherwise supported a threaded cup insert and I do not really want to try my hand at filling a hollow synthetic stock with epoxy and risk making a huge molten mess. This will be for a defensive shotgun.

I was curious if anyone knows if the cross section of a shortened Speedfeed II is similar or identical to the "youth" Speedfeed. I'm really hoping the recoil pad from the 13" LOP youth Speedfeed might transfer to a Speedfeed II shortened to the same LOP. but I'm not certain if the Speedfeed pads are as effective as highly regarded pads like Limbsavers (or perhaps who OEMs for SF). I am aware I will be cutting off the threaded inserts but these might be salvagable for a reinstall or I can purchase threaded inserts locally.

If not, has anyone done the same modification recall which grind-to-fit pads they ended up using? I'm considering the Limbsavers or Pachmayrs or Kickeez. If anyone has width/height dimensions with a 1" shorter SFII handy, I can take those and compare them with the templates these companies offer.

I really hate grinding up an aftermarket pad. The rubber always seems to tear on a belt sander, it makes a huge mess, and it is very stinky. I've done it before for a Sako rifle and it turned out great, but it took me an entire afternoon fitting it repeatedly because I'm a little OCD.

 

[AI&P Tactical]

Have not done that but have a suggestion. The Remington LE 13" LOP with R3pad can be had for $70 if you shop it. That pad alone is $35 and one of the best out there. Considering the amount of work and risk of damage to the stock for the project you are planning the LE stock would be a good option.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Hi JD. Do you have a Remington part number for the pad and stock? I was under an incorrect belief that there was only a 13" LOP Remington LE pistolgrip style stock. How does the LE version differ from the 13" LOP "youth" version I've seen floating around? That might be something I'll keep an eye out for. Thanks!

 

[Fred Fuller]

So everyone is on the same page with model numbers... http://www.speedfeedinc.com/products.html

The Speedfeed Youth Model (13" LOP, mine is several years old, don't know if they changed it) is a thinner-walled stock than the Speedfeed II, but it's still thicker than the standard Remington synthetic stock.

I've had Speedfeed II stocks shortened to 12.5" LOP (including the pad) and had KickEez pads put on them. IIRC there's still a shortened SFII in the parts box without a pad on it yet. I'll see if I can dig it out tomorrow...

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Very interesting Lee! Keep me posted if you get a chance to dig in the forbidden box of mystery and find that little treasure.

 

[Fred Fuller]

No joy - all the old Speedfeed II takeoffs I have in the stock bin are full factory size, I checked every one of them against a Remington synthetic takeoff to be sure. I seem to have used up all the ones that were shortened and had pads fitted already. Sorry to have misled you, I could have sworn there was one more left.

Did find one wood takeoff stock that had been shortened to 12 3/4" overall, to put on the old 870 Express I'm re-purposing, and swapped out the original field style forearm to an old birch Police forearm while I was at it. So I did get something out of the expedition, even if I didn't do you any good with all that digging around.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Picked up a used Speedfeed 2, chopped an inch off the end. Going to fill the remaining factory void (a fairly small void as the stock is mostly solid) with epoxy and get a grind-to-fit Kickeez. Will update on this side project as it progresses.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

This is simple and straightforward. Only took about 30 minutes in total from receiving the stock to having a shortened, epoxy-filled stock ready for a grind-to-fit recoil pad. I suspect once I get it mounted onto my project 870, the weight balance will feel quite nice, and the small weight penalty will be worth it. I didn't photo document the cutting of my stock, but the steps go:

• Mark 1" off stock to drop it from 14" LOP to 13" LOP (with 1" recoil pad in that calculation)
• Scribe line with my height gage all the way around the stock
• Cut with hacksaw, staying at least 1/16" away from the scribe line. Check often because hacksaws don't like to cut straight.
• File, then sand end of stock to scribe line.
• 10 minutes, done!

Here is the stock with the remnant 1" chunk that was cut off. The Speedfeed stock I received was poorly manufactured. I believe others have voiced this opinion of poor finish on the new Speedfeed stocks since Safariland took over. Lots of flashing on the stocks which needed to be sanded down. The holes for the recoil pad aren't even drilled on centerline! The receiver end needed a bit of cleaning up to look decent. Nothing wrong with fit, but the finish sucked.




Here is a shot of the rear of the stock, sanded flush so I have a surface to reference off of when I fill it with epoxy.




This is the cavity on the Speedfeed II series stock after cutting off an inch from the end. You can tell this series of synthetic stock has VERY thick walls and is nearly solid. There is no worry of the plastic breaking on this stuff compared to other synthetics. The cavity is in fact, quite small while most synthetic stocks are mostly hollow with thin <1/16" walls which sounds tinny when you rap your knuckles on them.




I cut off a short length of cardboard tubing and use that as my epoxy form to prevent it from squishing into the cavity required to drop in the long stock/receiver bolt. The tubing was larger than the shouldered recess which the bolt rests so I put a plastic sleeve that dropped into the recess of the factory stock, sitting flush against the shoulder. This allowed me to keep the cardboard tube centered properly. I'm glad I did because a little epoxy squished past the cardboard tube at the bottom. The plastic prevented it from filling the cavity. I later reamed out the hole with a drill to clean it up.




I used Rectorseal EP-400 epoxy, a 4oz serving of two-part epoxy putty which must be kneaded together well to activate. It dries hard in 10-15 minutes.




I suggest kneading only small amounts at a time because it gets hard after about 5 minutes, unless you can work super fast. 4oz was just enough to finish my stock.




It took me about 15 minutes, working in three sessions to push in the epoxy, pound it a bit with the head of a nail to make sure any voids were filled




Five minutes after the stock was packed, the epoxy was hard enough to work with tools. The heat generated was warm, but not extreme. I ground off the large chunks of excess on a grinder, filed a bit off, then proceeded to sand the epoxy flush with the stock.


Now waiting for my Kickeez recoil pad to shape.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Here is the recoil pad fitment. I'm sure a pro that does this has a much better, streamlined version but this is my first time and I think it turned out reasonably well.

Step one is to trace the outline. I've seen a lot of folks simply wrap the stock with tape and sand with the recoil pad installed on the buttstock. After a few beers, I don't trust myself to do that so I screwed it on, used a scribe to trace the buttstock cross section onto the underside of the recoil pad, and used that as a guide, checking often.



Here is a shot of the recoil pad being roughed out. I highly suggest the trick of sticking it in a cold freezer to firm up the rubber before sanding. The Kickeez pad I selected has two compounds...an ultra squishy 1/4" layer next to the plastic and the rest being a standard compound. I found that the super squishy stuff tears very easily, being next-to-impossible to sand unless it's firmed up by a good freezing. This means you'll have to freeze it, do some sanding, then freeze it again to firm up the material. Repeat until you're roughed in.


A photo of the progress. It's slow, but methodical.


Here, I have to change the sanding angle so the bottom angled sweep of the buttstock is matched on the recoil pad. It takes a bit of free-sanding to blend it in. Mine isn't perfect. It doesn't really bother me that it's not perfect. It might matter on some fancy trap gun but mine is going to get banged around.


Final sanding is done with 220 grit sandpaper wetted with WD-40 as lubrication. I still have to drop the pad in the freezer to firm it up but this allows me to get the recoil pad cross section flush with the buttstock.


Here is the finished product!

 

[siglite]

That is outstanding Cesiumsponge.

 

[Fred Fuller]

VERY nice job. Should be pretty solid too, a Speedfeed II even without the epoxy fill is dang tough.

If you do a first wrap on the stock with a bright colored tape that won't pull the stock finish off when removed (like blue painters tape) and then put a couple of layers of protective tape over that, you can grind the pad mounted on the stock and know when you're getting 'close.' It might be easier to maintain the angles on the pad that way too.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

I actually considered that method and I was tempted to try it. Whatever molds that Speedfeed uses now stinks as the surface texture varied in texture and consistency. I ended up sanding the surface of the stock and using scotchbrite on a jitterbug sander to give it a more even finish.

Either way it was a fun experience and didn't really require more than a few basic power and hand tools and an afternoon.