Just curious whether this has happened to anyone else.

I have a rifle with an Answer Products recoil pad that was put on it about 15 years ago.

I had it stored in one of those grey, poly-something rifle socks, tucked away in my safe.

I took it out the other day, and the back, rubber-like surface of the pad had melted into the sock. Just turned to a sticky, black goop. Weird.

Neither the rifle nor the sock had been exposed to any solvents. And I have stored other rifles in the same socks and none of them has been similarly affected.

But now I'm worried about using the socks.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

I had a shotgun that did that many years ago, it was kept in it's case that it came with.
The rubber had simply dissolved and turned into tar like substance.
I was told that an exposure to gun oil could have been the cause, it only needs one exposure and it is absorbed and continues doing damage over time.
I don't ever recall putting gun oil anywhere near the recoil pad, though.

This may have been what has caused your problem.

Cheers.

Poorly cured or formulated rubber will degrade with time and do this. Limsaver pads used to do this fairly often. I think that they fixed that issue, though.

I've replaced several unknown manufacture red recoil pads from the 70's and 80's that turned to sludge.

Jeremy

Yes, it is due to bad rubber, and if you have ever worked with pads from the 1800s and early 1900s, they turn to flat pieces of concrete.

quote:

Originally posted by farbedo:
Poorly cured or formulated rubber will degrade with time and do this. Limsaver pads used to do this fairly often. I think that they fixed that issue, though.

I've replaced several unknown manufacture red recoil pads from the 70's and 80's that turned to sludge.

Jeremy

Yup! My Remington 280 had a factory Limbsaver pad on it. One day I went to take it out of the safe and it had melted to the carpet. Tore the carpet pulling the rifle loose! Remington replaced the pad free as there was a recall on it.

Thanks, gentlemen.

I never saw anything like it before. Black gooey tar. I had to toss the rifle sock.

It's nice to know it wasn't the sock that caused it.

Limbsaver had a well publicized issue with their pads doing the same thing several years ago. Lots of issues with messed up gun safes and messed up carpet. I have avoided Limbsavers ever since even though they maintain the problem was rectified.

Yes I have, and with different rifles.

Why it happens I have no idea, as all rifles are stored in air conditioned places.

It might be due to bad rubber??

I put a NOS Limbsaver on a 1903 Springfield with a custom stock and it melted in a gun cabinet. Never saw anything like it, it was a sticky damn mess.

In Alberta it is still not uncommon to see stocks with a 4 inch, hard, red plastic ring on the back of the buttstocks. They are left there by the: "Red-Rubber-Duckie-Recoil-Pad". Back in the 60s and 70s we had a chain store in Alberta called Macleods. Macleods is actually still in business but is now called True Value Hardware. Well, back in the day they were one of those hardware stores that would carry damned near everything the farmer could want and they always had a fairly good supply of common, bargain priced ammunition, firearms and sporting goods. One farmer favorite was the Red-Rubber-Duckie-Recoil-Pad with the red rubber ducky emblem on the back. It was popular because it was a slip on jobby and it cost something like $4.95, so every farmer and kid in the country had one on their Lee Enfield and shotty gun. After being on the gun for about 3 years the solvent in the pads would leach into the stock finish and mutate to form a hardened plastic ring on the stock that was impervious to everything but a chainsaw. The recoil pad part was a different material and it would rot off after about 5 years leaving the plastic ring permanently affixed to the gun stock. I have tried to peal them off several times over the years but the material actually soaks right into the stock like a tree grows around a bicycle or an and old tire. You can't actually remove them without ripping out chunks of wood. Much stronger than any modern made epoxy, but the cure time is like, three years. I'll post a picture next time one comes in.

And now you know the legend of the Red-Rubber-Duckie-Recoil-Pad !

No bullshit !

It's the rubber itself not gun oil or anything else ! It was rare until China ruled the world. Known to car people since the 1950s ! Polyurethane and it's still doing it as I just replaced the seats in my F-150 ! As there are so many AR members there should be some who are rubber engineers who could explain what happens .

[QUOTE]Originally posted by speerchucker30x378:
...................... Much stronger than any modern made epoxy,
but the cure time is like, three years. I'll post a picture next time one comes in.........
And now you know the legend of the Red-Rubber-Duckie-Recoil-Pad !



Wow, Three year cure time seems very reasonable for such extraordinary performance !!!! hahaha
bb

Just so you know. The Red-Rubber-Duckie-Recoil-Pads had: "MADE IN MICHIGAN" proudly stamped on the back right under the red ducky's head. So to all of you guys in Michigan. We're watching you and we're gonna get even some day!

I had that same thing happen with a pair of Redwing boots when the rubber soles just melted into a gooey mess. The boots were about 5 years old and hadn't been worn in 6 months and they were in the garage next to my 20 year old gum boots that weren't affected.

I had a pair of fairly high dollar Ecco hiking boots. When new they burned my foot--felt chemically hot. Left on shelf thinking it would go away. Couple years later the soles were melted. Contacted Ecco and their customer service was great. Apparently they were aware that there had been a bad batch of rubber. They provided a postage paid mailer to return them, examination by them determined it was their fault and they provided free replacement of equal value.