Recoil pads hardening with age

[Albany Mountain]

Have an older rifle in 300 Win mag that is probably 45 years old. The recoil pad has little grip on it anymore and slips alot off the shoulder. Any one soften one up or perhaps siping the face of it (like they do to tires)?

Any of the newer pads have a huge advantage with staying put???? and can handle magnums?

 

[huffmanite]

Have brought home some older rifles from a gun show or pawn shop with such a recoil pad.....all red rubber type. Can't say if it made any great improvement, but I used a somewhat coarse sandpaper on it to remove the glaze/outer layer and then applied an Armor All type product to it.

 

[Outrider27]

Softening of rubber compounds, or increasing traction without softening them, is a black art discussed quietly in back rooms in auto racing circles, but discussed and practiced openly in serious kart racing circles (a cart is a handy device you push around in a store to hold your purchases, a kart is for racing), where much of the real expertise in tire prepping with chemicals lies. The simplest thing for a first try is simply to wipe the face of the pad with WD40 a couple of time over a 24 hour period; this helps restore some of what has left the pad over the years. The next step, if that doesn't work, is to drop by your local auto body shop (unless you want to spend about $15 at discount for a quart) and ask if they have any Acrysol, and if so, would they mind smearing a few drops on the working face of the pad. Acrysol will clean and open up the pores in the rubber and will often restore old rubber surfaces to like new. After about 24 hours, reapply the WD a couple of times (let it dry in between applications) and see where that gets you after another 24 hours or so with the more open pores from the Acrysol treatment. If that doesn't get you where you want to be, you need to find a serious go kart racer, as the compounds used in the various tire prep systems (you will need one that increases traction without softening, like Liquid Speed LS1 or TS1 or only softens a small amount with each successive application, like Liquid Speed LS2 or TS2) cost in the $22 to $30 a quart range, and you only need enough to saturate a Qtip once or twice, just like with the Acrysol. Anyhow, that's the simple version of how to chemically treat rubber surfaces to restore or improve traction. Late model, modified and sprint car racers will deny they know anything about such purpose compounded tire treatment chemicals as the Liquid Speed, Track Tack, Hot Lap, etc. lines (unless approached quietly, far from the race track). ;D

 

[madderg]

Replace it with a Morgan pad, either straight or curved. The pad itself is replaceable, and it's an easy job.

 

[Dans40X]

R & R-
Remove & Replace w/ current production pad that is ground/fit...... properly!

 

[Albany Mountain]

You come from high recoil cold country. Any suggestions??

 

[Bigguy1951]

I just replaced the recoil pad on my Win model 70 300 with a limbsaver pad and could not believe how nice it is to shoot now. Huge difference.

 

[Dans40X]

My preference is a Pachmayr Presentation 500B(.450" thickness) for many applications, except the 50BMG's where a 1" thick Pachmayr Magnum pad is fit/installed.

As mentioned above,but haven't tried/fit one on a 50 stock is the LimbSaver pads.

I dislike the cushioned "Magnum" pads as they seem to move around uncontrollably from recoil.

If recoil is an issue,a "Weed Burner" may be the solution!

 

[Albany Mountain]

I can handle the recoil but with some clothing and positions it slips downward and back during recoil. Results aren't favorable.

 

[effendude]

I have also heard of smiths working on vintage rifles and shotguns who simply hollow out the interior of the existing pad so most of the harder material is removed. The remaining "cushion" helps soften recoil. May not be the ultimate solution, but it keeps the rifle in original condition.

scott

 

[ericbc7]

My bt-99 has a red rubber pad that is now as hard as a rock. It's about 30 years old and if I still shot competitively I would replace it with a kickeeze or other

 

[LHSmith]

I've had the opposite problem......some of my Remington 700 LVSF pads "melted" into my gun safes carpeting.

 

[justinp61]

I just replaced the recoil pad on my Win model 70 300 with a limbsaver pad and could not believe how nice it is to shoot now. Huge difference.

I have a couple of these on heavy recoiling shotguns, makes a big difference.

 

[ChrisNZ]

I've had the opposite problem......some of my Remington 700 LVSF pads "melted" into my gun safes carpeting.

Same with my VS .223.
As it's only there for anti-slip, I might replace it soon with a basic thin (solid) pad.

 

[huffmanite]

I have also heard of smiths working on vintage rifles and shotguns who simply hollow out the interior of the existing pad so most of the harder material is removed. The remaining "cushion" helps soften recoil. May not be the ultimate solution, but it keeps the rifle in original condition.

scott

Made a stock for a .308 rifle a few years ago. Happen to have a very old red rubber recoil pad with waffles in it....has a ram head emblem with Black Sheep under it. Anyway, it was hard as a brick, with very little give in it. Did the sanding on it to remove the surface glaze of the hardened rubber and then applied armor all. Like I mentioned before in earlier post, this helped very little.

As in post I quoted, would remove the waffle, using an exacto knife. I then used the foam/rubber cut from a cheapo sandal/flip flop to fill the space where waffle had been......this did make a difference

 

[dogdude]

Get a Limbsaver grind to fit pad. Just put on 3 last week, 1'' thick.. big difference !!