No where did I say I was cutting off an original stock and putting on a pad. I did say I was giving him the original stock plus a bedded stock with a pad.
There are loads of pre 64 stocks in about any configuration (except the one you need at the time) on eBay; Classic low comb or Monte Carlo, pads added in a myriad of LOP's, mid 50's with nice checkering, and later uglies with plastic buttplates and tiny machine cut checkering patterns, and of course unmolested aluminum buttplate jewels from the mid 50's, but you have to want one of them, as they are awfully proud of them.
Years ago, before the internet, pre 64 Win parts were hard to find. Now they are everywhere, but there are countless M70's being disassembled and parted out; many for no good reason except the mighty dollar. It used to be you would buy a badly butchered example to rob parts to fix a more valuable one. I do my best to reassemble pre 64 model 70's.
I do want to know just how they, the featherweights, did come from Winchester in 1955 and 1956. I know there was quite a gap on the first post 64's to facilitate floating of the then new hammer forged barrels. I never noticed a gap on the featherweights, but did check them with a sliver of thin cellophane upon reading that in Roger Rules book. I am not recoil shy, but a good pad does reduce felt recoil for sure.
