Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Lightest Recoil Pad

Looking for a light weight recoil pad. Limbsavers and such are nice, but they weight about a pound. They work great but looking for a lighter option

Been looking at making one out of foam rubber, but just have not found the right stuff.

Thoughts?

I've been very pleasantly surprised by pads made out of cheap flip-flops.

They look really nice, weigh next to nothing, and are easy to grind.

That's funny, exactly what my first thought was, but try finding flip flops in Alaska during the winter! Might ebay some. Thanks

$2 a pair at box stores in the South. Easy, light, and look pretty good.

Mere oz's

Flip flops and how to...so easy a caveman can do it...


http://24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5425217/1

What I will use on my next build.

http://www.kebcollc.com/cart/store.php?crn=208&rn=676&action=show_detail

Ed, very interesting, thanks for the link.

Yes, thanks for the link, I'll measure tonight to make sure I can use them

Building 2 .260's right no. Kind of funny, shooting for the lightest and heaviest rifles I own. First is a 260 I built to shoot F Class, could only make it to 16 pounds, savage action, bull barrel, heavily modified boyds thumbhole, plenty of bondo, steel in stock, lead in blind mag.Adjustable recoil pad using 2 pieces of 3/8 aluminum.

Second is another 260 and savage, vacuum bagged a carbon fiber stock, light contour barrel at 20, final weight is not in yet but original goal was right at 5-5 1/2 pounds for gun weight, this one is still in progress

Last time I looked, Brownell's sells foam pads that are supoose to be 1/2 inch and pretty durable. The ones have on my rifles are quite durable, but only measured 3/8th's not 1/2 inch. Try them.
What's really nice about them is they take weight off of the back of the rifle, which tends to shift the balance point forward. E

I've used a couple of these before....not sure on the weight.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=502909

Older post, pad wants to move as epoxy dries. Couple of finish nails to hold it in place as it dries then pull them when epoxy dries.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...e_Flip_Flop_Recoil_Pad_Clamp#Post2783894

trout248;
Thanks for posting the interesting question as the answers have been educational.

Awhile back - years now I see - I embarked on a project to see how light I could make a money pit 98 Mauser project.

Here's a link:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth.../3660460/98_Mauser_on_a_diet#Post3660460

Anyway, one of the easiest ways I found to chop just under 3oz off of the weight was to install a recoil pad from the good folks at Rocky Mountain Rifles in Dawson Creek, BC. Please note however that these pads are glue on only.

Here's a link to them:
http://www.rockymountainrifles.com/custom_work.php

As a by the way, I found out that they had the lightweight recoil pad blanks from another Canuck 'Fire member here - stocker - so thanks again sir for that tip.

If memory serves the recoil pad blanks from Rocky Mountain Rifles were under $20 each and were quite nice to grind really. While I'd not rate them quite as soft as a Decelerator, they are close to that in terms of recoil absorbing qualities go but I do understand that's subjective.

Here's the best photo I believe that I've got of the finished pad on my main walking around rifle. I was pleased with the overall look and think it doesn't look markedly different from the black Decelerators which have become the recoil pad of preference for my rifle work lately.


Hopefully that was some use to you or someone out there trout248. Good luck in your rifle build whichever way you decide.

Regards,
Dwayne

Man, Dwayne, I really LIKE that rig, just about my ideal rifle for our BC hunting.

What chambering, barrel, stock, etc?

I've had good luck throwing a 1" decelerator on a belt sander. Can remove most of the hard plastic and metal insert for a pretty significant wright savings. The flip flops work great to, i probably have a spare around I could mail you if you can't find one.