Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Heating Bakelite buttplate to bend??

I picked up a Rem model 31 in trade 1937 manufacture. At some point in time someone repaired a broken toe of stock by adding a hunk of walnut. Actually fairly nice work obvious because grain doesn't match, but looks good enough. But when I got it it also has a poorly fitted Browning buttplate with philips screws...yuuch!
So, I have an older Remington reddish brown buttplate I'm calling bakelite but maybe just early plastic, I believe its fairly old.
Buttplate has a bit more curve than stock and when I plugged and redrilled holes for this buttplate, the curve is a tad too great for me to correct by just torqueing down screw with fear of just breaking plate. Someone suggested boiling in water to soften (?) and then attach. Another said to heat with heat gun while on firearm and slowly try turning screw to bend plate down. Not sure about these techniques so thought I'd ask here. Any ideas? Tips or tricks? Also I will need to trim plate a bit, not much. Any special type of sandpaper to use? Thinking fine grit, maybe oxide? Looking for some advice so I can better my odds of not ruining this old plate. Gun is just a shooter, but want to make it look a little better. Thanks guys, Nick

I might try both actually but, we know boiling water is about 212º F and a heat gun will get a lot hotter. Both ideas sound legitimate to me. I'd be cautious of the heat gun possibly over softening and shrinking the plate... Use a lot of discretion if using the heat gun.

To trim the plate try taping the stock with painters tape laid smooth and use a fine file on the plate. The file should glide right over the tape... Go easy !

First off it's probably not Bakelite, rather hard rubber.

I would try the boiling water trick first, definitely not the heat gun if the plate remains on the gun when you do it, you'll likely mess up the wood finish in the process.

Have you searched for repro butt plates? If not check out N.C.Ordnance, Inc. They probably have the plate you need. (Google is your friend....)

+1 on the painters tape, when removing do so with the grain not across the grain to avoid lifting the finish. When filing use a smooth cut file and don't try to remove too much material at a time, slow and easy. When you scuff the tape with the file stop and apply fresh tape. Final shaping I like to use wet or dry paper with an art gum eraser as a sanding block, 240 grit then 320 to finish. If you like you can polish the edge with Flitz or Simichrome polish on a cleaning patch, buff with a microfiber cloth and you're done.

Ah, a chance to use something from my old chemistry courses!

<Geek mode ON> If it really is Bakelite (phenol-formaldehyde resin), it simply cannot be reshaped by heat because it is a thermoset, not a thermosetting plastic. <Geek mode OFF>

Fortunately there is an easy way to test if something is Bakelite and it isn't risky.

Hold the buttplate under your running hot water tap for 30 or 40 sec, then smell it. I'm not kidding!

If it is Bakelite it will be unaffected except that it will smell pretty strongly of phenol which to me is sickeningly sweet and tarry (some may think paint remover or varnish).

Other plastics won't start smelling AT ALL with this mild level of heating will not do this - and they probably CAN be reshaped with a bit of heat.

/John

I would probably remove just enough wood to fit
the plate to the stock.

Thanks for the tips. Gonna try hot water sniff to see what that tells me if anything. Dont think its hard rubber but I could be wrong.
Thanks Nick

vintage gun grips
These guys make reproductions