tjcnole

I have a Remington 7600 with a laminate stock. It currently has a plastic butt plate on the stock. I want to replace it with a rubber recoil pad, R3 or Limbsaver probably. I want to trim the stock to keep the overall length the same. I'm looking for any pointers on how to trim the stock without scarring it up. To make it fit right I will probably have get get a grind to fit pad and I don't have any experience doing that either. [/align]

MagnumMan308

The trick to both is maskingtape.

Use maskingtape to lay out the line where you want to cut the stock, this will keep the finish of the stock from cracking when you saw. Likewise, when you sand down the pad, simply screw it to the butt, and lay down a few layers of masking tape for the first few inches of stock. When your beltsander starts hitting the tape, you've ground the pad enough.

bigbulls

Take it to a gunsmith.

It is waaaaaaaaay to easy to screw up a stock or recoil pad when grinding one to fit a stock. Then you are out even more money. And honestly unless you have been doing it for years you reallyneed a recoil pad jig to get the angles perfect with the stock.

I charge $45 for the labor of cutting the stock to the desired length, squaring it up, grinding the recoil pad to fit and then finishing the recoil pad to look like it came on the gun whenit was new. Usually it looks better than one that would come on many guns new.

It is worth the additional $45. This way you won't need to buy another stock or multiple recoil pads when the first couple get mucked up cause it is very easy to grind too much and get the angles wrong or backwards.

bugsNbows

+1 to what bigbulls said.

RugerM77.270

To keep from causing the stock from cracking and splintering only cut it half way through on one side then flip it over and meet the cut from the other side. The splintering happens as the blade exits the opposite side of the wood.

As for the butt pad they showed this on Midway's tips last night on the Outdoor Channel. Put the pad on the gun and trace the outline then use a grinder or sander to trim it out. put it back on and finish up by hand.

DM

Sounds easy doesn't it?

I've done a pile of them, and it isn't, if you want them to look right... Did theytell you how to keep all the angles right, on that show??

It's doable, but it isn't easy the first several times...

DM

bigbulls

I love shows like that and all of the "do it yourself" articles in the gun mags. It helps keep gunsmiths in business fixing all of the "It looked so easy on T.V." mess ups.

RugerM77.270

THe guy wanted to do it himself so all I did was tell him the do it yourself tip I saw. I never claimed it was a perfect way of doing things. To be honest I wouldn't try it myself, I would take it to a professional.