Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Best way to fit a recoil pad without ugly holes in the end of it?

I’ve done this a few times and have the Wheeler/Miles Gilbert Jig. The grinding and fitting is not the problem. It’s the holes for the screws. The darn jig screws tears em up. I know how to make a small incision with an exacto and how to insert the installation screws using soap and no problem with them. But the darn screws that attach the pad to the jig. The real long machine screws. Those always seem to tear up the pad to some degree. How can I reduce or eliminate this?

You can use a razer blade and make slits where the screws go. Be sure and put some oil on your screwdriver or the pad will grab and it will mar the pad.

I lube the screws and the screwdriver with Armorall.

I don't let Armorall (and WD-40) anywhere near my work area. The silicone in the stuff will play billy hell with any finish work - one solitary molecule of the stuff will create a fisheye, and once it contacts wood there's no getting rid of it.

Always used an X-acto knife to make an x shaped cut in the pad, push the screw from the back to find the location of the cut. Lube the screw and the screwdriver shaft with vaseline. Been doing it this way for more than 40yrs. with no complaints. When the screwdriver is withdrawn the cuts close and become nearly invisible.

I essentially do the same with liquid dish soap. Must not be using enough or using the right kind. Again, it's the machine screws of the grinding jig that seem to do the damage.

Did you realize that ArmorAll is actually regularly mixed with Tru Oil for finishing gun stocks?

Get shorter screws ,you don't need to have them sticking way out anyway, just long enough to hold and lube them up with paste wax before sticking them in the hole in the pad.

I wonder if you could flatten or round the jig screw thread crest, and polish them to reduce scarring.

Bruce

That’s a good idea. The jig screws shouldn’t be threaded full length to begin with. The threads are only needed on the bottom half. It would do less damage if the top half of the screws were smooth.

And that trick isn't getting much air time anymore either. And it's not just woodworkers who blanche at the thought of Armorall - ask any autobody guy what he thinks of people who constantly spray Armorall on everything. Besides, I'm not a believer in Truoil as a finish anyway - it's gained popularity simply because it's staring you in the face in every gun shop peg board in the country, not because it's God's gift to wood finishing.

Good luck with that.

It does not take long for that finish to fail... then the recovery is "special."

Never been brave enough to try it. Just know about it. I just use a few light coats of truoil and have been satisfied.

I sell large electrical equipment. One of my customers is Toyota. They have a very strict policy of no silicone on their property for just the reason that Gnoahhh said. An employee innocently brought a can into the plant one time and it messed up the whole paint process. It cost them a fortune.

When I've used tru-oil, I put on many coats. (I need to go back to school on finishing rifle stocks). The first one I did that way was under the watchful eye of the head of Remington's custom shop. The last stock I did, I used many coats of boiled linseed oil and boy did it ever darken the stock.

There's been more than a few threads on finishing stocks here in this forum and there's been some very good advice. Before I do another stock, I'll look into the archives here. I think I did one or two with Spar Varnish, does that name sound right???

I have never heard of ArmorAll for a stock. I've used it a couple of times on a dash of a pickup but I wasn't impressed. I'm with Gnoahh regarding WD40. I go so far to say that I wouldn't use WD40 on a cattle gate. I think it was designed for water displacement not a lubricant.

I couldn't checker a stock to save my life. But I'd try it if it meant a bear hunt on Kodiak with 458Win or a Cape hunt in Texas or Africa.

Use vaseline on the threads. This thread went way off the tracks. No one uses armor all mixed with tru oil. I didn't think this thread was about stock refinishing, but you can cut tru oil by mixing in mineral spirits. All the so called "gunsmiths" here and no one is giving you a straight answer.. This schidt really isn't that hard.

I was never real happy with the x-cut method and made a long, small diameter hole punch to cut a small (about 1/8") round hole for the screw to pass through. Stick it through from the back of the pad, one tap with a hammer and done!

To me, two small round holes look better than the x-cut especially after the screws have been in and out a few times.

Who does an x-cut?
That's a recipe for ugly.
The corners at the intersection are bound to show, probably tear eventually.


A slit just enough longer that the diameter of the head allows the screw
to go through. Then seals up. Many times you need to squeeze the
pad to reveal it.

I like that idea! I too have always been bothered by the X cut and its raggedy-ness after the pad's been off and on a few times. For screw lube I too have used vaseline and/or dishwashing liquid - didn't seem to matter much which one was used.

I swear the next one I install I'm gonna epoxy it on as long as there's no through bolt to contend with. Let the next poor SOB worry with refinishing the stock with it on, I won't be around to care. Kidding, of course, but I have thought about it. (And that is indeed a royal PIA. I refinished/checkered a Weatherby Vanguard stock for a buddy here on the fire whose pad was epoxied on, whether by the factory or by a previous owner, and it wasn't fun.)

As far as diluting finishing oil with solvents, that's an old wive's tale too. The solvent doesn't carry the oil with it any deeper into the wood than the oil itself is prepared to go. That's been proven enough times by people smarter than me about this stuff. All it does is makes for more applications necessary in the finishing protocols.

Have you thought of re-engineering the jig to use smaller diameter screws, or at least reduce/re-shape the screw heads if those are what's dragging the rubber? Dunno, I've never used one of those jigs - when I've installed pads I masked off the wood with a couple layers of masking tape and ground the rubber by eye on my 12" disc sander getting it close and finishing with sanding blocks, taking it down flush at the same time I sanded the wood. Always on raw stocks, but once on a previously finished stock which was a real heart-in-mouth experience but it turned out fine.

When removing the pad I NEVER back the screws thru the x-cut, doing so and not expecting the x-cuts to look shabby is foolish. Duh !

Well of course, duh. But sometimes screws do need to come all the way out, such as when previous duffers buggered up the screw heads. I had one once that somebody completely rounded out the phillips head screw slots (requiring the services of Mr. Bandsaw in the end) and more than one that the screw heads were so dodgy I prayed the whole time I beared down on the screwdriver in order to slooooowly get get them to back out. One can't in all conscience leave them captured in the pad for the next poor bastard to contend with. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've encountered more like that than completely virgin unmolested screw heads.

^^^THIS^^^
I have used (and suggested) the slit earlier in the post.

How about a pad with same rubber plugs.

http://www.kynochammunition.co.uk/silvers.html

USA

https://connecticutshotgun.co/s-w-silver-co-3-style-recoil-pad-orange/

Epoxy works too - no slits at all. None of mine have come off.

I just push the screws into the pad with a little lube on the head and screwdriver shank. For a thick pad I use two screwdrivers and never completely remove them or screws again until finishing. I do not use a jig. Tried one and didn't care for it.

Unfinished stock, I mount pad on stock, apply couple layers of tape and get it close on a belt sander, finish sand by hand to flush.

If stock is finished I put one layer of scotch tape and cover that with two layers of masking tape. I then get it very close and remove a layer of tape. Then get it closer with sand paper and block. Remove last layer of masking and very carefully hand sand to scotch tape. Never had any complaints.

I use screws long enough that the heads don't need to go through the rubber to hold the pad in the jig and large diameter fender washers that sit just snug enough on the surface of the pad.

When installing the regular screws to the stock, some lube on the heads and a small slit in the pad will result in a nearly invisible mark.

But I'm not a pro GS, just an amateur.

I agree on keeping petroleum and silicone away from rubber.

I round of any sharp edges on the screws, and use a lube like K-Y from the pharmacy dept.

Cue the jokes, but it works.

Where do you apply the lube?

I'm going try pegs and glue on my next one. Drill a 7/32" hole in the stock screw holes, make pegs to align the stock holes with the screw holes in the pad base and glue it on. I'm thinking Form-a-Gasket might be a good adhesive.

The problem I have is when I'm having to remove the pad a few times when painting and finishing composites. More that a couple of times and you stand a chance of those little slits getting buggered up or least scarred enough that they're noticeable. What I do with my stocks and if client doesn't mind, with others' stocks, is put the pad in the freezer (overnight if possible). Then I'll take a small drill - smaller than 1/8th but at least 1/16th and drill a hole from the back side out. If the hole is too large I wrap the drill in a few wraps of 1/2-in masking tape about 1/4-in from the end to keep it center-aligned as I drill. I've actually done this with a cordless Dremel which pretty damn slow but higher speed cuts easier. You'll end up with two small holes that don't look bad since the "look like they belong there" and if you do have to remove the pad, your drive won't tear up the pad material.

One other suggestion, I reduce the diameter of all my stock screws heads at least a 1/3 if not by half. I've never had any issues with the pads coming loose but it saves alot of wear and tear on the recoil pad. You NEVER want to permanently attach recoil pad. If you need to take it off, you'll have to saw it off and often that involves damage to the stock . . . and then you end up bringing to an old grouchy SOB like me to fix it.

I've always just poked a round hole for the screw and lubed the screw and the hole with Vasaline Petroleum Jelly.

Somehow, I don't think we're still talking about recoil pad installation...... 🤔