Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Use the right tool
Last weekend I decided to attempt a recoil pad install on my daughter's new shotgun. Her new Citori had the original 14 1/4" length of pull (LOP), which is rather long for a 5'6" 13 year old. She shoots very well with my 14" LOP 1958 Superposed, so I removed the original 1" pad from her gun and intended to install a 3/4" pad........shortening the length without cutting the stock.
Although I've been shooting for over 20 years, I've only recently started attempting to do my own gunsmithing. Perhaps I should rephrase that.....it's only recently that I've started doing my own gunsmithing and not had it look like a neanderthall did the work with a large hammer and a sharp rock. My only previous attempt at installing a recoil pad was about 2 months ago when I updated the pad on my old Ithaca model 37. I did the shaping with a rotary rasp on a cordless drill and the result was.....well.......ok, the result was really crappy. I looked through my latest Brownells catalog and found some pad shaping jigs that were intended for use with a belt sander. I don't have a belt sander, but I do have a sanding block and lots of time. So on Saturday night I scribed the outline of the stock onto the new pad, and, in true redneck fashion, opened a beer and went to work with a stack of sandpaper and a pocket knife. Four hours later I had cramps in both forearms and this thing that might someday be a recoil pad. I decided that on Monday I would pay the $50 and have a gunsmith do it. Maybe he'd let me watch.........
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I had finished mowing the yard and trimming the bushes and was straightening up the garage when my eyes fell on my Ryobi bench grinder. Hmmmmm. It's not a belt sander, but I wonder how if it would work? Would it actually shape the pad or just rip big chunks off?
I rooted around in my "this might be useful someday" box and found an old recoil pad of rather dubious origin that I didn't mind destroying. I fired up the grinder and touched the pad to the 'fine' grinding wheel. Holy crap. It worked perfectly.
I quickly snatched up the thing that I had created the previous night and scampered over to the grinder. Less than 15 minutes later I had a completed pad that fit as well as the original pad. Not perfect, but presentable. If I had started with the grinder and not wasted 4 hours screwing around with sandpaper I would have had a better finished product, but this one is just fine.
This is one of those things that makes me twitch: I'm happy that I figured out how to do it, but I'm pissed that it took me so long to figure it out. Maybe next time I'll spend more time studying here before I start.
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Although I've been shooting for over 20 years, I've only recently started attempting to do my own gunsmithing. Perhaps I should rephrase that.....it's only recently that I've started doing my own gunsmithing and not had it look like a neanderthall did the work with a large hammer and a sharp rock. My only previous attempt at installing a recoil pad was about 2 months ago when I updated the pad on my old Ithaca model 37. I did the shaping with a rotary rasp on a cordless drill and the result was.....well.......ok, the result was really crappy. I looked through my latest Brownells catalog and found some pad shaping jigs that were intended for use with a belt sander. I don't have a belt sander, but I do have a sanding block and lots of time. So on Saturday night I scribed the outline of the stock onto the new pad, and, in true redneck fashion, opened a beer and went to work with a stack of sandpaper and a pocket knife. Four hours later I had cramps in both forearms and this thing that might someday be a recoil pad. I decided that on Monday I would pay the $50 and have a gunsmith do it. Maybe he'd let me watch.........
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I had finished mowing the yard and trimming the bushes and was straightening up the garage when my eyes fell on my Ryobi bench grinder. Hmmmmm. It's not a belt sander, but I wonder how if it would work? Would it actually shape the pad or just rip big chunks off?
I rooted around in my "this might be useful someday" box and found an old recoil pad of rather dubious origin that I didn't mind destroying. I fired up the grinder and touched the pad to the 'fine' grinding wheel. Holy crap. It worked perfectly.
I quickly snatched up the thing that I had created the previous night and scampered over to the grinder. Less than 15 minutes later I had a completed pad that fit as well as the original pad. Not perfect, but presentable. If I had started with the grinder and not wasted 4 hours screwing around with sandpaper I would have had a better finished product, but this one is just fine.
This is one of those things that makes me twitch: I'm happy that I figured out how to do it, but I'm pissed that it took me so long to figure it out. Maybe next time I'll spend more time studying here before I start.
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