Fitting a recoil pad

[Branxhunter]

For quite a few years I have wanted to strip the 'bowling ball' finish off my Rem700 BDL stock to see what might be lurking underneath, but the one thing holding me back has been the buttplate.

It has one of those horrible plastic things that are guaranteed to slip on a hard floor if the rifle is stood up against a wall, and also slips while I am driving around spotlighting (butt against my left thigh, muzzle out the drivers window with forend resting in the crook of my right arm as it operates the spotlight.

The plan has always been to replace with a Pachmayr RP250 rubber pad, however the butt end is curved and would require trimming to provide a square flat surface - something I was not confident of being able to do given the equipment (and concentration, and finesse, and attention to detail, etc, etc) I have at my disposal.

This problem was resolved recently by a local builder/furniture maker who trimmed the butt for me no charge, so I fitted the pad and started the grind to fit last night. My set-up is pretty basic - mount my belt sander upside down in the bench vice and use a steady hand!


The pad fitted up:

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The high tech set-up:

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Go carefully!

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Nearly there:

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(99.21 KiB) Not downloaded yet

I left it there for the night as I need better light to finish the job. It is easy to go a little too deep or a little too wide and gouge the butt. I will lave the recoil pad very slightly proud of the wood and bring it down level by hand when I sand the butt after the stock finish is stripped off.

Marcus





Marcus

[deekay]

Put a couple of layers of masking tape around the stock & sand the plate down until you start sanding the masking tape. You won't damage the stock.

[Camel]

Looking good so far, and listen to deekay

[stinkitup]

Looking good!

Did my first one this year as well. However mine was an adjustable one and the actual pad was fine but the plastic plate needed trimming. I used a file then course sandpaper and finally some very fine paper and some autosol to polish and it came up a treat.

Seems your on the right track with a slowly slowly track sand check sand check will be worth it when finished that is for sure!

[bimbo]

good stuff, as someone else suggested run a few wraps of masking take around the stock right up to the recoil pad and that was once you start to hit the tape you know your getting close and can swap to either a finer grit belt or move to hand sanding or file

[B4408]

Branxhunter, I did the same with the belt sander, works a treat and you can concentrate on holding the stock at the right angle. A linisher would be nice. As the others have said, wrapping it in masking or duct tape is the way to go.

Should come up looking good.

Bruce

[trevort]

(and concentration, and finesse, and attention to detail, etc, etc)

I read this and thought you were talking about me until I realized you forgot "complete lack of practical skills"

I would share your wish to peel off that varnish and have at it with some oil. Could be something nice lurking in there!

[Camel]

If there is a next time, you could try screwing the pad onto the stock, then tracing around the stock with a scribe, removing then grinding the pad down to the scribe line, re-fitting and removing to test and just keep taking little bits off at a time. Still a good idea to mask the stock though

[Branxhunter]

If there is a next time, you could try screwing the pad onto the stock, then tracing around the stock with a scribe, removing then grinding the pad down to the scribe line, re-fitting and removing to test and just keep taking little bits off at a time. Still a good idea to mask the stock though

This would be fine for the top and sides, but not the bottom. You need the pad mounted on the stock to ensure that you grind the pad bottom edge on the correct angle.

There will be another two pads to fit after this one - pen on the Hatcher stock for the Sako, one on the replacement stock I picked up to replace the one on the Anschutz .222.

Marcus

[Ned Kelly]

G'Day all,
Brownells has videos of lots of things like this on the USA site
Hope this helps.
Cheerio Ned