doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How do I make a recoil pad slick'ern goose poo?

I hate recoil pads! But I bought a little English 16 bore that has an Old English pad. Grips anything it touches like velcro. I have a sloppy mount (and I ain't gonna change) so it grips my coat on the way up. I hate it! Any way to "unsticky" it without spending a lot of money? Appreciate your sage experience.

I have used Armor All. It won't negatively affect the pad like some petroleum products. Joe, even you shold have some in your garage!

Make sure the edges are sufficiently rounded and rub the pad down several times with Heritage wax or similar and a cotton cloth. Some people apply a leather facing, but that's a bit of work.

Change the pad to a Silvers pad (real, not a repro, if you go repro, use Griffin & Howe pad), have a g'smith/woodsmith like Dennis Earl Smith, Gunter Pfrommer, or in your neck of the woods, give Dave Wolf in Waco a call, have em' mount it and tell them you want it "polished","contoured" and the edges rounded, after you get it back rub it down with vaseline. I believe the way the pro's get em smooth as a babys behind is to freeze the pad and polish with fine sandpaper until the desired texture is achieved.

If it's one of the soft Decelerator pads, it is what it is. If it's the original harder compound, it should pick up enough dirt and the like through normal use to take the stick off it. In the original compound, they're nice pads and cause no trouble in the field on on the range.

There are several common ways of dealing with the problem. It depends on the material:
one can cover (or just face) in leather as Daryl suggests;
the old gunsmiths used to use a hot knife to melt and seal the surface, it gives it a hard gloss finish, maybe not a good idea if you are not sure of the material;
another old gunsmith's trick is to wipe on several thin coats of french polish, this does rub off in time but lasts for long enough given the ease of application.

Good suggestions all. But I've resorted to my old original method: vinyl electrical tape. It is super slick and has enough elasticity to bend around compound curves. And it looks pretty good. I've had a pad on a Sauer covered for a couple years and it's still fine. After hunting season I think I'll just send it to Yale for a solid .6" horn or plastic butt. Guess I'm just way too old fashioned but I just flat fail to see what use those rubber pads are in hunting conditons.

And I have at least twenty guns fitted with pieces of sanding disc stuck to the back of the pads and buttplates so they don't slide around for the second shot. To each his own.

You know, eightbore, what I like so much about shooting shotguns is there is no such thing as "the only right way". As you said, "to each his own". I shoot with my head stuck up like an ostrich and sometimes actually hit something. Others cram their heads down like they're butting heads and they often hit what they're shooting at. Some use a sustained lead, others a swing through. Me? I haven't the slightest idea--never think of it and couldn't care less. I just look at the target 'n shoot. And I'm happy. I avoid like the plague reading any "how to" stuff on shooting. Feeble as my brain is I'm sure I'd find out how I do everything wrong 'n it'd screw everything up worse than it is now.

P.S. I too have one shotgun with sandpaper glued on the butt--go figure.

You are in good company with the black vinyl tape trick- if it worked for the late Rudy Etchen, that's good enough for me. I mount my guns pretty much like in the H&H Ken Davies videos-and for incoming birds when standing at a post or peg, I do fairly well with that technique- This past waterfowl season I did some field 'lay-out' hunting for Canadas and Mallards- from those spring closed camo "bag blinds" similar to the angle in a layout boat-- The last time I shot divers from a layout rig was 20 years ago- and learned then that a slightly shorter LOP was best for that-and the black tape trick made the gun butt slip into my shoulder pocket easier- So I removed the std. black factory pad from my "POS-evil black shottygun" the Mossenburgher 12 835 Ulti-Mag and replaced it with a thin black pad, heavily taped on the edges- Not a M12 or even a good double, but the top tang safety is a good call- doubt if any of the birds now in my freezer knew the difference- Gene Hill also made a point of "altering" with tape a shotgun to fit your mounting and shooting style, and physical dimensions- and the gun fit that works on your side-by for Georgia quails may NOT always be the one that's best for duck and goose hunting--IMO