I'm going to chop a bit off the stock of my Mark X .30-06 and put on a recoil pad. Any particular recommendations re. quality, durability and ease of installation?

I did this with a shotgun a few years ago and it turned out OK--but someone gave me the pad and I don't even know what kind it was. It was hard as heck to file, though.

John

I have had the best luck with Pachmayr (probably misspelled). Before you chop your stock, I believe pachmayr makes pre-fit pads from their deccelerator line. Might be worth trying one before cutting. These are only about one inch thick. There are other threads here about fitting a pad, so I won't go into that, I will only say to use automotive grade masking tape when filing/sanding.

I don't have my catalog here but I saw the pre-fit pads--I don't think they make one for the "generic" stock of the Mark X Mauser.

I have used a umber of pads including the Pach Decelerator and I think the Kick-eeze pad beats them all hands down for recoil reduction. They are made from sorbethane which is very easy to shape and really works well on the recoil end. I have one sporting clays gun with over 40,000 rounds through it and the pad looks like new. They come in a variety of thicknesses all the way up to 1 1/2" (on my 300 Ultra) and are available through Brownells.

John,

I would like to suggest that you consider a Pachmayr Decelerator Sporting Clays 1 inch black recoil pad.

The Decelerator has a rubber compound that absorbs recoil better than the standard rubber pads. Also, the Sporting Clays model has an insert in the heel area of the pad that keeps it from getting hung up on your clothes as you shoulder your rifle.

Good Hunting !

John Frazer,
I have the pad Pumba is suggesting on my 510 JAB. Won't snag on the shirt with fast mounting. Works for recoil ease real well, and has got to be more durable than the Kick-eeze. (Going for 1001 Arabian posts)

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Good huntin' and shootin',
RAB

Kickeeze Sorbathane - hands down the best there is.

A tip on shaping: It's easier to work with if ya put it in the freezer overnight before sanding to shape.

I used and liked the Kickeeze pads for awhile but I got a lot of them back with chunks torn out of them, so I went to the Pachmyer.....

One thing I have noticed is that none of the pads grind well these days except the London Guns pads and they are two hard for most folks...I use them on all my guns, but I don't like recoil pads because like Jack Belk always said, a pad gives the gun a 1" run at your shoulder....

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Right again Ray. I have a Kick-eeze pad with a chunk torn out of it. That's why I went back to Pachmayr. I especially like the sporting clays model with that hard plastic plate on the heel, as recommended by Pumba. With hard use in the field the Kick-eeze won't hold up.

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Good huntin' and shootin',
RAB

[This message has been edited by R. A. Berry (edited 06-26-2001).]

OKAY, OKAY,

Recoil pads are supposed to look good! And here I thought they were supposed to lessen felt recoil.

Like Ray said that Jack Belk said, most recoil pads just give the gun a running start. There is nothing worse than those damned Pachmayr Decelerators.
Kinda like a deadblow hammer.

If you want to soften the blow use a Kickeeze. If you want it to look good use a solid rubber butt pad.

As for snagging on your clothes while mounting the gun, proper technique is better than any specially shaped or slick pad.

What do you guys do to your guns anyway? I have had a Kickeeze on my S&W pump 12 guage for about ten years. I shoot sporting clays with it once a week and carry it hunting pheasants and drag it around in the boat and duck blind 80 to 100 days a year. Definately beat up, but no worse than my gun.

If you have to replace one every year or two, so what, what is the cost compared to a $3,000 custom rifle?

Also, I probably wouldn't put one on a customers rifle if I had to replace it at my expense after every hunting trip.

Just figured out how to put in the smiley faces. Now I'll see if I can add the signature.

[This message has been edited by Ol' Sarge (edited 06-26-2001).]

I have never seen a replaced recoil pad that I could live with....some are real real close but when you finish the wood and pad together, and this applies to metal and wood also, it is perfection when properly done and nothing added on later looks right, at least to my eyes, I don't care out beat up and scratched up a custom rifle is it always looks fine, but when you add any one part it becomes less than desirable IMHO....Maybe just a personal quirk?

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Ray is 'Spot on' about changing pads. The last thing you want to have to do is change a pad on a $3K rifle. To do it right, you have to refinish the gunstock. I said to do it RIGHT. One of the last things I do on a stock job is seal the wood at the end of the stock with top notch automotive two part polyurethane (2 to 3 coats), and then mount the pad. Once I know it fits flush all the way around, and is real tight, I get a chair with short legs and sit at the belt sander so I can see between the stock and the sander belt, and sand the pad to fit the stock. Invaribly, some stock wood is gonna go away, maybe ten thousandths or so, but the finish is for sure toast if it is a replacement pad.
Maybe I missed something, but I know of no way to do a perfect pad job without wrecking the finish...
After I sand the pad to a perfect fit, I do not take the pad off again, as it will not go back to a perfect fit.
When finished with the belt sander, use a fine grade paper on a block to finish up,you should not be able to snag a fingernail on an edge, then armour all to pretty it up, but only AFTER the finish is on the wood.

Hello,
While you are going to the trouble, you might consider getting one of the "adjustable" pads, I have seen them in Sinclair's. Lets you incrementally move the stock up or down, left or right, depending on how your body is shaped. With that amount of tuning, it can not help but fit better. I am thinking of getting one myself.

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Safety & Ethics,Accuracy, Velocity, Energy
Joe M

I tried to stay out of this but here I go jumping in again when I promised myself I would not.

Some years I only install 25 or 30 kick pads in my shop, some years I would guess about 40. So here is what works for me and what I have observed coming from experience.

Pachmayr Decellerator Pads are very good pads, I have a lot of requests for them and I get good feed back from customers.

However a few years ago the trap shooters discoverd Kick-Eez pads and I started installing them. They are made from sorbothane, the same material used to pad articial limbs. I read somewhere recently that 60 % of the kick pads on the trap shooting circuits are Kick-Eez. I have never installed a Kick-Eez that the customer brought back and complained about it not working well or any pieces breaking off.

When you read the directions enclosed with the pad they are very specific to tell you after shaping the pad the edges at the back must be rounded off slightly or their warranty will be voided. I round them lightly similar to the Pachmayr old english and they look very good on a classic designed rifle.

They shape very easy if you use a sharp 60 grit disc sander. You can do fine sanding on them with 320 grit paper with a backing and plain water.

These pads are available regular design or sporting clays with the top 1/4 beveled and slick for no snag mounting. Or you can use the regular pad and order some Slick-Eez which can be painted on the upper 1/4 with a brush for a slick no snag mount, it is clear and dries to a rubbery slick surface, works good.

When installing pads on a customers finished or new gun if I were to try to shape it on the gun I would eventually scar the stock no matter how careful I was and I would challenge anyone to make a repair on an expensive gun that could not be found. Nor could I make any money spending that much time repairing what I messed up. I use a jig which allows me to shape the pad off the stock on the disc sander to about .010 " over size, then I block sand with 320 grit paper. My guage that tells me when it is as close as possible is when I can not snag it with a finger nail. This is almost always a lot closer than the factory puts em on. I believe most efficient profession shops use a good pad jig now.

This theory of a gun getting a running start to kick you if you use a pad has some merit if you are talking about the old rubber ventilated pads, they will collapse and then WHAM. However the sorbothane that's used in Kick-Eez does not do that. It's more like a firm or heavy duty shock on a vehicle. Your shoulder aint shaped like that hard buttplate however sorbothane will conform to your bodys shape distribute the recoil much better.

I'm not saying you guys are using the wrong brand of kick pad. I still install a lot of differant pads, it's the customer's call...........However I am saying that if you have not tried Kick-Eez you are missing out.

One other thought and I'll get off the soap box. I recently aquired a Ruger 77 RSM in 416 Rigby. As you know Rugers pad is hard rubber. By using a pad jig I was able to fit a Kick-Eez pad to the same length of pull and if I ever want to sell or trade the gun I can reinstall the original pad for more value since the gun would be original again.

Hi -

I would like to try out the Kick-eez but cant find any local dealers. Does anybody know any dealers in Scandinavia ?

Hi Menander

I'm sorry, but I've never found a source for the Kick-EEZ in Scandinavia (had to pick mine up on visits to the US).

However, look for "Absorb-all" recoil pads which I have seen here (Ume�, Sweden) in the local gunstore. They are made of the same material (Sorbothane). see www.sorbothane.com and follow the links to "shock and vibration absorbing products" or something like that.

Hold on, I just visited the site to verify it, and Sorbothane is made by a Swedish company! I didn't know that. I'll bet if you contacted them you could find a dealer. If you do, please let me know for the future! (I have a 358 Norma Magnum which should be ready to shoot in few weeks and I think I might want a recoil pad... :-0

John P. Ball

Craftsman,

Thanks for speaking up! I had a Decelerator until Winchester sent my rifle back with a different stock after a repair.

I tried a triple-magnum on the replacement stock. I will get a Kick-Eez for it, as the triple magnum is just a running start!

Did you make that jig or buy it? How does it work?

Don

Don G

Brownells sells two very good pad jigs. The B & R is an adjustable triangle in which the pad screws to the bottom and the top of the triangle is suspended from a bracket which is bolted to the power sander table.

The B Square is a small jig which the pad attaches to and the angle is also adjustable. Both jigs are approx 50.00.

To use you cut the stock to proper LOP and sand the butt flat with coarse sand paper backed by a wood block untill it is perfectly flat, check carefully with a straight edge.

Then attach the pad to the stock, take a fine sharp scribe and polish the sides so it wont scratch the finish on the stock and scribe a line around the stock to the pad. Remove the pad and attach to the jig, hold the jig against the butt and adjust the jig angle with a small square so it is square to the toe line of the stock and lock the jig. Go to the sander and grind down to the line and go lightly untill the line just starts to disapear. Do the toe and half the sides.Then go back to the stock and adjust the jig so the square agrees with the comb of the stock. Go back to the sander and repeat the other half of the pad. Remove pad from the jig, use some 320 grit paper backed by a sanding block and water and sand radially around the pad to blend your grind lines. Temporarily attach pad and check your fit, use a pencil to mark the high spots and finish sanding. You can switch to 400 grit at this point if you want. When you are satisfied with the fit take your sanding block and water and sand a light radius to the back sharp edges of the pad. Look at the Pachmayr Old English pad for a pattern.

The B&R triangle shaped jig only has to be set once and you can shape the entire pad in one session. It requires a bracket mounted to the power sander table that needs to be adjusted closely.

My jig is shop made but considering the time invested to make it I would have been better off to have just bought one.

If you ever use a jig you wont do it the old way again. Saves a lot of grey hair from risk of damage to a stock.

Craftsman,

Thanks for the detailed reply. It is people like you who make this site as popular and worthwhile as it is. I appreciate your time and effort, and I'm sure many others have taken notes, too.

Don

You all need to become trapshooters. Our smiths are very good at grinding pads. They have jigs that you use so you dont mess up anything. The pad and the stock are flush togther.

Take a look at these:

www.trapdude.com

They are new and absorb recoil better than anypad, including kickeez. They may not look good as good, but they work way better.

Ray- please email me and I will give you the email of a dealer of Trapdude pads and he will send you one to try, and if you dont like it, send it back less shipping.

scoutsniper36@hotmail.com

But ofcourse I still think leather covered are the best. I wouldnt use a trapdude on a hunting gun, but for long sessions at the range they will help more then any other pad.