Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Glue for recoil pad on a Bansner or McMillan stock?

Going to glue a pachmayr decelerator on a bansner stock and wondering what glue or epoxy everyone is using for such a job.

Acra-Glass has worked as well as anything in the past. That said, I typically cut/sand a wood block that I epoxy into the stock cavity, and then screw the recoil pad to that. Yes, it adds a tad bit of weight, but makes future LOP changes a little easier.

Try Gorilla glue.. I've used it on some things I never thought it would work on and it worked perfectly. Worst that can happen is it falls off and you try something else...

Hopefully the kid will weigh in. I believe he said he usually used a superglue with great success.

10 minute epoxy is what I use, painter tape to hold it in place till it dries

Sand the end of the stock and the end of the pad flat, neither will be from the factory. Cut two 3/16” dowels about 2” long and sharpen one end. Put the dowels in the screw holes in the pad and push it into place on the end of the stock, the dowels will sink into the foam. Pull the pad off and use your thumb to push the dowels down into the foam until 1/4-3/8” is sticking up. These will keep the pad from slipping when you pull the tubing tight to hold everything in place while the glue dries.

Put a good amount of Loctite 416 on the pad and a little on the shell of the stock. Don’t dally around as it starts to set quickly. Using the dowels to locate the pad gently push it into place. Put a screwdriver or rod of some kind through the rear action screw hole and wrap surgical tubing around it and the pad to hold the pad in place while the glue sets.

In an hour or two it’ll be rock hard and ready to remove the tubing and grind the pad. Since you didn’t screw it on you won’t have any slots to worry about messing up the looks of the pad. I’ve done hundreds this way and never had one fall off.

^thank you.

Thank you. Lots of good ideas here.

Very useful. I can't ever seem to keep the pad from slipping after I smear the 416 everywhere. Thanks much.

I'd like to kick the ass of whoever works for mcmillan that glues these pads on!!!! Maybe you guys should ask them what they glue their pads on with.


There's a reason why that pad is still black and not red. Just sayin..

That's one helluva shooting bench !

Yeah, I'd love it if Mcmillan came and glued a nice soft cushion on the steel seat though. It gets mighty cold in the winter time!!! If they glued a seat on that sob, it would never come off!!!


I was shooting when it was 18 degrees the other day. But, yes, the benches are well made. 1" steel tops and very solid..

And at 18 degrees it would bring true meaning to freezing your ass off.

I use the clear 2 part Gorilla epoxy/glue.

Done quite a few stocks over the last 50 years and never found a reason to glue a pad on.

With a bolt rifle stock I can’t think of a good reason not to glue one on. On wood it helps seal the end grain if the proper glue is used. And I generally painted synthetics after the pad was glued on a ground, gives a perfect finish every time if your masking is done properly.
Also does away with the screw cuts in the face of the pad that can get buggered when installing, on synthetic stocks anyway. Plus you aren’t adding unnecessary weight to your blank by gluing a chunk of wood into it.

TheKid, I appreciate the tips. Picked up the dowels and ordered the Loctite 416 yesterday. Do you remove any foam around the edges of the stock to expose more surface area of the shell for the glue to adhere to?

mikestaten,

In answer to your question, that’s what I do. Use a dremel tool to hollow out about a 1/8” deep x 1/8” wide groove of the foam around the edge of the stock shell to expose more surface area for the epoxy to bond to.

I also carefully drill a few small shallow holes(1/16” deep is plenty)around the inside edge of the bottom surface of the pad base to create more surface area on the pad base for epoxy to bond to.

Important: Tightly wrap masking tape, 2 layers thick, around the bottom edge of the stock before gluing the pad on. This is invaluable for cleanup because you will get some epoxy ooze no matter how careful you are.

I use black Acra-Glas gel as the epoxy. That way the epoxy blends in with the color of the pad base and doesn’t show a glue line if your pad or stock edge isn’t perfectly flush where they meet.
I just stretch 2 pieces of blue masking tape over the pad and down the sides of the buttstock to hold the pad in place while the epoxy dries.
Use Q-tips dampened with alcohol to wipe away the majority of epoxy ooze at this point. After a couple hours the epoxy will have dried to the consistency of taffy. At this point you should be able to remove the rest of the epoxy ooze(Q-tips and alcohol again). The pad will be secure enough to not fall off but still pliable enough that small adjustments can be made to center the pad perfectly on the stock if it has slipped a little.

Let epoxy dry over night before use or final grinding of pad.

May be “over kill” but that’s the way I do it…..eliminates the need for any dowels or wood pieces in the stock.

Leftybolt