Wow, recoil pads are a Royal PITA

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Bought a Rem 700 "Mountain Rifle DM" in .280 rem (off here) - no recoil pad. Rem 700s are the most popular, ubiquitous rifle in America; should be no problem at all, right? What could be easier?

Searched Midway, Brownell's, Natchez, Southwest SS, BassPro, Cabela's, etc.

No recoil pad for a Mountain Rifle DM.

Don't want to get a grind-to-fit; it's a beautiful rifle and it deserves a beautifully fitted pad.

OK, well it looks a lot like a CDL (checkered walnut w/ebony accents) - so earch online again.

No recoil pad at all for a CDL - I mean no Simms Limbsaver, no Pachmayer, no TruGlo, no Kick-Eez - NOTHING! NOWHERE! Nothing at ALL for a Cee Dee Ell, fercripessake!!!!!!!!!

OK, maybe it's the same as a BDL Wood. Go to BassPro, H&H, Academy. Buy a $40 Simms for "Wood - ADL/BDL" at BassPro. Academy and H&H have jack squat (synthetic stocks only). Go home. Nope - way too short, like 1/2".

Take back to BassPro.

Go online and look again.

Found lots of synthetic stock choices. No. Found wood stock choices. Choose flat or curved. That's easy; it's flat. Choose among 2 sizes; one is slightly wider and longer than the other. Cabela's is the ONLY place that carries this, and Cabela's puts way more detailed spec. info on its website than even Midway or Brownell's which I find very weird.

Order the longer one from Cabela's, since the one I got from BassPro was way too short.

Wait. Get new one. Try to put it on. OK, this longer one is STILL too short by about 1/8th", but it's close enough that it doesn't look horrible, and what choice do I have - there's nothing even close at Midway or Brownells or MidSouth or Natchez, so I'm going to make it work. Oh, and not only is it too short, it's also too wide. So this precision fit is really a grind to fit.

Couple hours, and lots of dremeling/sanding later, with black crap all over my hands, face, body, floor, clothing, and desk, it looks "ok" but not great.

I have a newfound respect for what 'smiths go through - hey smiths, charge us out the butt; you deserve it!

Lesson learned is this: Even though grind-to-fits are a given PITA, at least you know from the get go that you can make it work without having to return it; this "precision fit" (which didn't) could not be made to fit perfectly (too short), so only option was to send it back and get a grind to fit, and didn't want to wait.

Jiminy, I'd hate to have to find a pad for an "off" brand!

 

[mr ed]

thats why gunsmiths use a B-Square recoil pad jig and a disc sander-takes 20 min.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

So you're saying smiths nearly always use grind-to-fits, and disregard "precision fits"?

 

[dennishoddy]

So you're saying smiths nearly always use grind-to-fits, and disregard "precision fits"?

Thats what my preferred gunsmith does. I just got my Model 12 Win back from him yesterday. I put a custom buttstock on it with lazer engraving, and could not find a buttplate to save my life. Looked for over a year at gunshows, before finally submitting to the grind to fit. He did it really well, but I should have got it to him before the sanding and refinishing of the stock. It would have been a perfect fit then. He also uses the disc pads.

 

[Rob72]

Kick-Eeze is really the best I've tried, and you can get by with a much thinner pad. As above, 99% are grind to fit.

 

[POSITIVE DISCONTENT]

Vest with a gel pad? I hate to shave a beautiful stock....

 

[mr ed]

No 2 "wood" stocks are exactly the same.
If you order a recoil pad or buttplate from Rem or Win. or any other company
it comes as a "Blank" that must be ground to fit.
At the factory they are ground to fit before the final finish is put on, then removed and numbered to match the stock then reinstalled after final finishing.
(numbered with a grease pencil that is usually removed is why you may never see a number)

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I didn't shave this Rem stock; just added a bit of LOP to it. Took off the 1/4" (approx) rubber butt plate, and added a 1" (approx) recoil pad.

I have in the past sawed about an inch off a Marlin 1895 levergun. The precision fit in that case turned out nicely actually (rare amateur gunsmithing complete success), but yes it was hard on the psyche to saw that beautiful chunk of wood off.

Thanks for the info, mr. ed an others - in the future I will look to grind to fits exclusively, most likely.