Gentlemen,

Thoughts please. I have recently acquired an Alex Martin Sidelock 12 and it has a leather covered recoil pad. I really like the leather covered pad, and have always felt that even a Silvers pad just looks stuck on. One of my rifles needs a longer pad, and the other two have rubber pads. I am thinking about leather covering them. But a rifle is frequently stood on its butt when out in the field and will take more abuse than a shotgun. Is a leather pad going to take the use of a rifle. All are of course wooden stocked, and whilst they are good rifles they are hunting rifles so are used, but not abused.

How think leather should you use. I have some think upholstery leather - 0.75mm thick, or should I go thinner goat or pigskin.

Thanks for you ideas and thoughts.

I like leather covered pads because they don't slip from your shoulder. They will wear over several year's time but can be replaced. I don't store rifles with leather pads standing upright on them. The only down side to a leather pad is that it will soak up rain. I had one rifle that stayed wet or damp for eight days straight. I had to get the stock finish "refreshed" but the old leather pad covering was fine once it dried out.

You must treat your leather pad just like you treat anything made of fine leather. Proper cleaning and oiling of a firearm includes applying leather preservative to the leather pad.

Sorry, I can't advise regarding material. I have always had mine done for me. But I do recommend them.

I don'tlike leather covered pads for ALL the reasons that GR so well puts above. Also I actually think a nice bit of true orange or red rubber with a black spacer looks fine.

Here in UK we mix linseed oil with shellac (or French polish). 50/50. We apply it with a finger tip to a standard Silver's type rubber pad to slick it up. Doesn't harm the rubber.

It is cheaper than a leather covered pad and can be renewed with the touch of a finger. I have used it for years. It'll work well enough.

Leather covered pads last for years but not forever. The same holds true for uncovered pads.

The true sporting gentleman sends his piece back to the factory after each shooting season for a complete overhaul and repair as necessary. So, they only needed to last one season.
For the rest of us, use leather pads you see fit. They are made from the same thing as good boot soles are; how long do they last and get replaced?

They can be a nice touch. My, my does my photography of this gun suck.

Hmmm...The advantage, according to gentlemen bird shooters is that a leather covered pad is for the precise reason that it DOES NOT stick, but slides to the shoulder with minimum of fuss.

Use a product called "Saddle Lac" on leather covered pads, and they will not be so likely to soak up moisture.

A good thickness is 1.5 oz leather, about .028 (+ -) Pigskin is traditional, goat skin will stretch from WA to Iowa, so is a good choice for the first timer, just doesn't have the nice pattern of pigskin.

There's a nice video from Midway on making a leather pad. Contact cement, rubber bands and push pins. Don't forget to wet the leather first.

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The true sporting gentleman sends his piece back to the factory after each shooting season for a complete overhaul and repair as necessary. So, they only needed to last one season.

DPCD...LOL! But a TRUE gentleman has his (shot) gun stocked to fit him and doesn't have someone else's "hand me down" with an extension stuck on it!

The problem with all these pads is that, to some, they just like you can't afford to have the gun re-stocked! Whereas at least, IMHO a red or orange pad looks as if you put in on to reduce felt recoil. Like this bloke. Don't know who he is. But clearly too tight-walleted to have his gun re-stocked. But that's also self evident as apparently he's the sort of man whose great-grandfather could only afford Purdey guns.



But, joking aside, the REAL problem with pads is that they usually weigh in hard rubber more than the same size extension piece if made of wood. Which is why "Brit" gameshooters didn't really like them on best guns. Fine on rifles, bolt action or even side by side or on heavy duck guns but on best guns they negate all that expensive work and effort and done to get the "half weight" cetred between the two hands.

As all that effort (and effort = time = money) in making chopperlump barrels and getting the barrel wall thicknesses down to as thin as (sensibly) possible was wasted. As was getting a nice slim shallow action, stocked to the fences, as on Holland's guns which really set the trend as you then unbalanced the lot by sticking nearly a quarter of a pound of rubber pad on the butt end.

We typically use Pig skin and it works well. Built a rifle for a fellow in Zambia last year who was Muslim so couldn't use the pork-pad. We used Lamb skin instead and it installed so nice. Seemed a little fragile, or thin, to me but I haven't heard anything negative back from him as to its endurance.

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We typically use pig skin and it works well.

+1. Absolutely! Naturally waterproof. All my cartridge bags are pig skin. They don't make them now. Far, far better than cow leather.

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Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Hmmm...The advantage, according to gentlemen bird shooters is that a leather covered pad is for the precise reason that it DOES NOT stick, but slides to the shoulder with minimum of fuss.

Well, Duane, it depends on what you are comparing it to - wood, horn, steel, plastic, soft rubber, or hard rubber and as applied to shotguns or rifles. Those are mounted differently. The OP was asking about a rifle pad.

I want my shotgun butt to be able to come up to shoulder quickly and move as needed as I swing left, right, up, down at a moving target. Conversely, I don't want my rifle butt to move at all once it is in place. That's why military butt plates are checkered.

I prefer leather pads on rifles and buttstock wood or plastic plates on shotguns. But tastes and preferences differ.

Thanks Gents, lots of food for thought. No for colour, do I go black leather or a dark brown?

Grenadier: I'm not about to get into a study of buttplates, but it should be noted that most shotguns sans buttplates are checkered wood