I'm starting a teardown of my shooter 1952 EG for cleaning and inspection purposes and can't see how the recoil pad comes off. Was this pad a stock item? Is it glued?

Definitely was not factory. Very possibly glued.

Sometimes the holes in the rubber for screws are extremely small and close back up quite tightly - hard to see/find. Are you planning to put the pad back on after you have completed your cleaning and inspection?

Not neccesarily. I'm 6'2" so going with a thicker pad to provide optimum fit is not out of the question. Which BTW, what should the length of pull be for someone my height? Also, the stock is in nice shape so not 100% sure I'd want to remove the pad if it's glued. That said, I'm not against digging into the pad to look for screws.

I tried to pull a pad off once that I thought was glued on. I didn't see any screw holes in the pad for screws. Sure enough, the pad was screwed on. I'm not saying some are just glued on. Take a close look about where the screws should be - pinch the pad a bit and press on it. If they are there, they are likely just small little slits. You might be able to open them enough to see them if you press on the pad in that area.

Recruit,You wont be able to "TEARDOWN" or clean much if you cant get the pad off. The screw that holds the buttstock on is under the pad and without taking the buttstock off you cant get at the bolt, and trigger,safety mechanism (SP) .Don

Typically a tiny slit is made in the rubber with a razor/scalpel or somesuch, right where the screw passes through. The screw and screwdriver are then slathered up with vaseline and poked through and turned in. (No jokes please! ) That prevents the rubber from tearing (again, no jokes), and the hole closes up tight when the screwdriver is withdrawn (God!). Locate the slit and duplicate the technique to remove.

Note: most screws used for pads for the last 50 years or more are phillips heads. I would try that first.

I'm looking, proding, squeezing and see no signs of screws so maybe its just glued on, IDK. I think a little scalpel work may in order to confirm. Although I'd prefer not to, I do want to be able to access the guns internals.

The pad on my 12 gauge has screws and they're hidden pretty well. I'll see what I can find through a little surgery on the 99. Can someone let me know the distance between screws for the hard buttplate on a standard EG? This should help if indeed screws are there.

try about 2 7/8's

gnoahhh has it right.

It is rare for a recoil pad to be glued on a wood stock (recoil pads on synthetics are often glued on though).

Take a Philips screwdriver greased with Vaseline and gently poke the pad along the centerline where the screws might be and see if it goes in.

If the original pad was done by somebody who knew what they were doing (i.e. as gnoahhh described), it is almost impossible to see ANY indication of where the holes are. You have to gently probe for the hole with a greased object.

And before any of you (half) wits pile on me: I never thought I would write a sentence like the last one above on the 'Fire -- at least a sentence that did not contain the words Tom264 or Ingwe...

John

If you are not keeping the pad, and intend to repace it. Give up on the poking and proding. Tear into that sucker. Cut the rubber off at the junction of the rubber and the hard plastic plate. If no screws are visable indicating that it is glued on, then the hard plastic can be carefully sanded off. Length of pull is kind of a hard to estimate height has some to do with it but so does build. If you have a rifle that fits you well measure it and shoot for a similar length on the project gun.

The original stock would have had a 13" pull. Savage went to a 13 1/2" in 1959.

Thanks guys. This thread has provided some humor while trying to figure this out.

I tried poking again but this time with a smaller phillips screwdriver. Bingo! Found one of the holes and the other 3 1/16" from the first. After some effort with the different size phillips, resorted to a straight screwdriver and that did the trick. Maybe straight screws were all that a PO had laying around at the time, who knows. Also, no glue either which was a relief.

The LOP measures at 13". My 12 gauge with pad is at 14 1/2" and feels a better fit. I'll probably shoot for about the same on the 99, perhaps even a smidge more.

glad you got it sorted out

[for an engineer thats quite a feat

Norm]

Thanks Norm! Carrying the engineer title is no easy task sometimes. If it helps, I started life working in a hardware store, garages, machine shops, etc. Although I have a "cushy" office job now, I still work on cars and dirtbikes regularly. It's what I enjoy.

14.5" LOP is quite long for a rifle. Aiming and pointing involve slightly different parameters, especially if a scope is involve with the rifle.

Yep, there is also the issue of heavy clothing requiring a shorter LOP if you happen to hunt up north.

weeelll you,ve started on 99s ,so now tou can enjoy more