Grind To Fit Recoil Pad

[Gadzooks Mike]

I have a 12 gauge NEF (now H&R, I think) Pardner shotgun on which I'd like to put a decent recoil pad. I have a slip-on, and it's ugly. Yeah, it works, but... well, it might be a cheapo Pardner shotgun, but it's MY cheapo Pardner shotgun and I don't like ugly. Anyway, I want a recoil pad that screws on and looks nice. Can't find one ready made for that gun, of course, so I'm looking at some of the grind-to-fit models.

Has anyone fitten one of these recoil pads? Easy/Difficult to do? Any recommendations of which brand? If you've done one for a Pardner, that would be most excellent, but if you've done ANY fitting of these things, your comments would be appreciated.

To help with this, I do woodworking as a hobby and have a belt/disc sander and bench grinder, etc. and I'm not a novice to making wooden things fit together at least. No, I don't want a wooden recoil pad, thank you.

 

[MichaelK]

I installed Pachmayr pads on several guns, because I have long arms. Here's a pic of a Mauser I put a pad on.

I did this with a circular sanding pad mounted in an electric drill. If you have a band sander it will be even easier. It however will be very messy. The rubber crumbs go everywhere and this is deffinately a garage-only kind of project. Make sure you put several layers of plastic tape around the stock to protect the finish. Once you get the pad sanded down to the level of the tape, you go very slow, pulling off layer by layer till you meet the wood. I did the final finishing with a hand file.
Good luck,
Michael

 

[Gadzooks Mike]

That will work. Thank you, Michael!

 

[Drail]

It is helpful to place the pad in the freezer for awhile before you grind/sand on it. Makes for a cleaner cut. As it heats up while sanding an ice pack will bring it back down quickly. Some materials will start to tear or smear if they get warm enough.

 

[highorder]

Has anyone fitten one of these recoil pads? Easy/Difficult to do? Any recommendations of which brand? If you've done one for a Pardner, that would be most excellent, but if you've done ANY fitting of these things, your comments would be appreciated.

Wow. I was just about to post a whole huge thread on the subject!

I just finished a Limbsaver grind-to-fit pad yesterday.


I got the pad from ebay for $30.99 with free shipping.

Random bullet points:

• I used a 4x36" table-top belt sander with an 80 grit belt, per the instructions. I set up outside on the patio, and brought in lots of good light. A drop cloth or polyfilm on the table would have been a good idea. This is a messy job.
  
  
• The instructions say to keep the belt wet with WD40. I did, it works, and its necessary. It stops the belt from grabbing and tearing the pad, and keeps the heat down to a minimum. It also created a slurry of carbon particles in a WD40 carrier. It's a huge mess.
  
  
• I cut 1" off my stock to make room for the pad, and screwed the pad to the piece I cut off. It made a perfect template to get very close to finished.
  
  
• I considered keeping a bowl of ice-water nearby to keep the pad firm, but I didn't bother. It probably would have helped, but wasn't necessary.
  
  
• I installed the pad on the stock, which was wrapped in blue painters tape, to finish the grind with a 120 grit belt. I would have used a 180 grit if I had one, but the 120 left a great finish. (still using WD40, crucial for good finish.
  
  
• I dinged the stock twice with the 120 belt, but the stock is stripped and getting a new oil finish anyway. No biggie.
  
  All in all, it was "easy" but you have to take your time, and use plenty of WD40. The pad looks great, and I'm sure it will shoot better than the thin plastic it replaced.
  
  I'll get some pics up when I get a chance, likely this weekend. Sorry in advance for the delay.
  
  Questions, Comments?

 

[rcmodel]

You will have the best luck using a belt sander or bench mounted sander/grinder only if you have a pad fitting jig to hold the pad at the correct angles all the time while it is off the stock.
Otherwise, you are going to get into the stock sooner or later and mess things up.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=9152/Product/RECOIL_PAD_FITTING_JIG

I have had good luck using a hand-held disk sander and eyeballing it as I work. I use a Fordon flex-shaft grinder with a disk-sander pad mounted.
Be sure and put a couple layers of masking tape on the stock to protect it from slips.

Once you get the pad down to the level of the tape, take off the tape and finish working it down to the level of the stock with a fine-cut file.

rc

 

[Zeke/PA]

Normally, because the shotgun pads are thick, a portion of the stock must be cut off to maintain the "length of pull".
After attaching the new pad, a belt or disk sander is ideal for final fitting.
Carefull not to gouge the stock.
In fact, some masking or duct tape applied on the stock is a big help.
Try to folow the contours of the stock when viewd from all directions.

 

[highorder]

I did forget to mention; with the Limbsaver pad, the soft rubber is mounted to a hard nylon plate. The nylon grinds very easily, and you have to take care to press lightly and consistantly to remove rubber and nylon. If you press hard enough to grind the nylon plate, the rubber will rebound after you remove pressure and stand "proud" over the nylon.

Take your time, and use plenty of lubrication. As I said, it draws the heat out of the work, and allows the belt to "cut" rubber instead of grabbing and tearing/melting.

 

[greyling22]

I used a pachymayr pad recently. I didn't read the directions and catch the bit about the wd-40, that would have made a better finish. hiporder is right, my rubber rebounded some on me and I never got that perfect fit I was hoping for.
and lastly, I used a chop saw to cut my stock square in stead of slightly curved, and the pad didn't sit exactly snug against the wood. I saw some gapping on the bottom. so I took the pad off, whipped up some jb weld and put a small bit on each end of the stock, applied the pad and set the gun on the pad. Wipe off the excess and I had a perfect fit. it should come off if I need to some day. I didn't use THAT much jb. the colors matched pretty well.

 

[Gadzooks Mike]

I should be ok with the stock, as it fits pretty well WITH the current slip-on pad, too short without it. Going to have to lay in some supplies, though. I'm about out of WD-40, having used most of what I had restoring an old Ideal hand tool, and I'm due for a new disk and belt for the sander, so I'll just get two of each.

Thanks for all the tips and hints, folks! Much appreciated, and I'll post a pic when I get this project finished.

 

[CZguy]

I have used this jig from Midway for several years and am pleased with it.

With this system you screw the pad on the gun, then mark what needs to be removed, and then mount the pad on the jig. Then you grind of what you need without getting near your stock. As RC said in post #6 you will mess up the stock unless you use a jig, sooner or later.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=658338