Pardon what may be a lengthy post with the photos, but it's fairly slow today. The past few days I puttered through a project I had in mind for some time and think it turned out OK.

Have a real nice 410 SxS ejector that's close to 100 years old. LOP is right at 14 3/16" but still too short so I decided to make a pad that follows the contours and attaches with fairly small screws to allow minimum repairs if I ever want to hide the screw holes. I used three layers of leather for the pad (trial fit and resting on a 4th layer not used).


Here's the back of the pad stiffened with epoxyed fiberglass.

Final touch up sanding underway.

Pad sitting on the cover leather ready for the first attempt. My skeptical observer seems to know I'm about to get a refresher course in things that can go wrong with contact cement.

Second attempt worked pretty well with no creases at either toe or heel.

Here's the installed pad waiting for the home made plugs.

End view of the new pad.

And side view.

I actually use my 28ga RBL DT, along with this 410 for almost all my sporting clay shooting anymore. Scores suffer a bit, but it's a lot more fun, and I've got built in excuses...

Emory

I'm extremely impressed with your results. It looks great.

I would like to see some photos and an explanation of how the the black leather was attached to the pad.

Very nice job!

Pad looks great! Thats a handsome helper you have there!

Great job of not sacrificing the original butt. Your beginning photos had me worried, but you pulled it off with grace. Is this your first pad covering? If so, or otherwise, what leather and weight of leather did you use?



Good on ya,

Stephen

I'd have a hard time drilling even those two small holes into the butt of that stock. I don't know what model or make it is, but it just doesn't seem right to drill into it when Pachmyer and others make slip-on pads that won't cause permanent damage. Don't get me wrong, its your gun and it turned out quite nicely, but I don't think I could have done that to a checkered butt. Well done.

gzig5, Your concerns regarding drilling that old stock are spot on. Even as I was configuring the pad to the butt, I was not sure whether I would use it as an insert to a tailored slip on I would make, or for the detachable pad I went with. I used a slip on with that 410 for about a year and wasn't satisfied with the spongy feel and overall fit. I checked the fit of a Galazan but it was a little sloppy side to side. Plus the stock had noticable discoloration where the prior owner apparently had left a slip on pad in place for an extended time. I'm convinced I have the right type and age wood so that if/when I want to repair those end grain holes they would not be discernable --- still feel a bit guilty about drilling them...

Jason, I didn't take pictures of the gluing and fitting process. I first try to stretch the cover leather over the top and down around sides, heel and toe. This was fairly thin split pigskin that stretches a lot. I press the stretched leather against the pad edges to mark limits of contact for glue application purposes. I've covered maybe 4-5 conventional pads in the past and generally used contact cement entirely. Regular pads with a flat plate seem to be easier than the curved surface I made for this one. I find I need to use squares of waxed paper as shields to keep from having glue make contact before I want it. I start contact along the mid point of each side, then work toward the heel first making similar progress along each side. You have to increasingly pull back toward the mid point to compress the leather at the edge so no creases remain at the ends. The toe is tougher for me because the radius is sharper and the pad has an overhang. I trim the skirt to about 3/8" all around. I then cut fold down pieces; maybe 3" along each side, then much shorter around each end. The end pieces are notched to take off excess leather with several becoming "pie wedges". It does take a little practice... I suspect there are some here who could give more qualified advice.

Good luck,
Emory

Very well done, but anyone could have done just as well if they had that dog to supervise their work. Right?