Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Butt Plate Question for Rifle

I may be in need of a custom butt plate for an old custom stocked Savage Rifle.
Can anyone recommend someone that makes and fits them?
I was thinking maybe a steel Niedner style or possibly an old fashioned looking horn one. Maybe a fancy one with a trapdoor. Or?
I know it will get costly!
Any thoughts or comments are welcome.
Thank you in advance,
Ed

What's on it now? If it's a recoil pad bear in mind that you'll lose some length of pull by removing it to install a steel butt plate. If it already has a butt plate, how is it configured? That'll tell you what you're up against in terms of installing a different one. Personally I like Niedner butt plates and pre-64 Winchester steel plates, but both of them are a little tricky to install properly because they have curvature, a widow's peak, and are concave internally which adds up to a lot of time on the part of a craftsman, and that equals money.

Keep in mind that not all metal butt plates are capable of being cut down to fit an existing stock butt. If it is oversized to the butt you may not be able to trim the edges down to match the butt due to margins around the edges or other features that will look odd if the plate is modified. Also, if the stock is larger than the plate, the entire butt stock will have to be shaped to fit the contour of the butt plate to make it look right.

Either way, it isn't an easy fix unless you plan on replacing the buttstock (on a two piece stock) or the entire stock . In the end it might be easier and less time consuming to have someone make you a custom piece to fit your existing stock.

An ill fitting plastic plate is on an older custom stock with a germanic style. Ideally, I'd like a nice horn plate made to fit if I can find someone to do it. Or a classic Niedner style steel plate could work. Ideas?

Bringing this back up . On Rimfirecentral.com is a young man named Evan Koch IIRC who does beautiful stock work and he did a gorgeous hardwood butt plate for a member there with checkering fitted to his stock. I'll see if I can find a link to the pics.

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/custom-myrtle-brno-mod-1-stock.1241215/#post-12617707

My mistake- after rereading the thread Evan posted, I realized the butt stock is polished horn with checkering...

Personally I don't like Neidner buttplates, too narrow and sharp. I prefer pre 64 Win Mod 70 steel plates but I also like this one https://www.cparifles.com/collections/buttplates/products/single-shot-checkered-steel-buttplate

However, whatever you decide, you need to do some serious measuring as Sheister pointed out. You stock may not be the right size for these plates.
Phil

Thank you Fellas.
I think I'll be all good. I found a Michigan gunsmith that I'll send the butt stock to and he will make and fit a custom horn plate for me.
Thanks for the input,
Ed