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My .45-70 Siamese Mauser should arrive from over east this week and will then go off to have the stock built. I am thinking of having a recoil pad fitted from the outset. I like the look of these traditional English pads from S.W Silver but they are practically rock hard.
Any suggestions?
These are pics of the rifle from the gunsmith. Barrel length is 24". The banded ramp front sight and barrel band swivel stud are from NECG. Rear sight is an XS and will be fitted with a Merit adjustable aperture. Front sight is the NECG sourdough.
When I worked for Westley Richards they put similar pads on their double rifles and bolt actions. I always thought they were not so much a recoil pad more of a boxing glove! If you're on the wrong end of it it then it will hurt! Still I suppose they are softer than steel!
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
It seems to me, but I could be disrembering this, that there are softer yet traditional pads. I don't shoot any of those really big kickers unless they belong to somebody else but it seems to me the surface area of the pad is more important than the "softness".
There are some good pads for large bore guns, such a Kick Killer and Limb Saver, that make the recoil more manageable.
Do you have a picture of your custom stock? Maybe your gunsmith can help you locate an effective pad that will also look good with your new stock.
BTW, an acquaintance of mine has a similar rifle and he handloads very stout .45-70 loads up near .458 mag velocities; he says it is a hoot to shoot, but I have yet to try it.
CRS, NRA Benefactor Member, TSRA, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center
Android Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/
"Addition of a recoil pad can make the shooter's life easier in three
ways. A pad will:
1) attenuate recoil 2) adjust stock length and 3) keep the gun from
slipping around.
Do recoil pads really absorb recoil? Yes and no. They may actually
increase it. Mathematically, the only way that adding a regular recoil
pad can reduce recoil is by adding weight. The solid pads, like the
Kick-eez, are quite heavy and a thick one can add half a pound. Normal
spacers weigh two full ounces each. The new lightweight ones are one
ounce. A thick pad and a bunch of spacers will certainly reduce some
mathematical recoil by adding weight, but they will also shift the
balance rearward. Your gun may, or may not, benefit from this change in
balance.
Other than the weight factor, a pad can only lower subjectively felt
recoil. It works the same way that a gas gun does by attenuating the
recoil pulse. As the pad compresses under the recoil, it turns the sharp
jab into more of a push. Mathematically, the area under the recoil curve
remains the same (Newton lives!), but the shape of the curve loses its
peak and you avoid abuse.
Thick, spongy recoil pads obviously do a better job of attenuation than
thin hard ones, but there is a price. As the recoil pad compresses, it
permits the comb of the stock to move rearward along the cheek bone.
This can increase "face slap" to an uncomfortable degree. A shooter
often has to choose between Scylla's rock of recoil and Charybdis'
whirlpool of face slap. Sorry Odysseus, but there it is in the Straits
of Messina. (Cast off of the stock will often only add to the face slap
misery, but we save that discussion for another time.)
In addition to increasing recoil attenuation, pads of different
thickness also offer the shooter an easy way to experiment with stock
length. Trial stock lengths are easy to achieve by the addition of a few
spacers. Trial pitch setting are also facilitated by inserting some shim
material between the pad and the stock at either the toe or heel,
depending on how you want to change the pitch. Increased pitch
(increasing the length of the stock at the top, or heel) can do a great
deal for keeping the stock up into the face and the barrels down, but
watch out for increased face slap. Decreasing pitch (increasing the
length of the stock at the bottom, or toe) will decrease face slap, but
may cause the gun to slip down the chest on firing. Most trap guns have
decreased pitch.
One additional advantage of a pad that should not be overlooked is that
its tactile rubber surface decreases slippage from the shoulder and
increases stability when the gun is placed in a gun rack or in a corner.
A wooden or plastic butt plate almost ensures that the gun will slip off
your shoulder or fall from the gun rack. There are more types of recoil
pads than ants in the pantry. There is bound to be something to suit you
cosmetically and functionally.
Some of the more popular pads are:
WEGO: solid hard rubber with a plastic upper insert. German made, it is
unyielding and hard as iron. What else did you expect? It does nothing
for recoil, but does nicely finish off the butt of the gun.
PACHMEYER OLDE ENGLISH: The olde favorite. Attractive, solid looking
outside, hollowed egg carton style inside, this pad is made of standard
materials and is average in performance.
PACHMEYER DECELERATOR: The current favorite, this pad has the good looks
of the Olde English, but is made of a space age polymer that offers
exceptional cushioning and very little rebound. The egg carton
construction and soft polymer cause some collapse on recoil and thus
possibly some increased face slap, but the hollow interior also makes
them relatively light weight for their size.
KICKEEZ: Made of solid, heavy space age Sorbothane (the same stuff they
put in running shoe orthotics), the Kickeez is the best recoil pad for
absorbing shock without collapsing enough to increase face slap. They
weigh a bit more than the hollowed Pachmeyer pads. The Kickeez pads have
one big advantage. Being solid, they can be readily shaped, unlike the
egg carton interior Decelerators. "
I've shot some "heavies", that I barely felt the recoil from - because the stock had a good, modern design, similar to the Lenard Brownell (custom stocker) designed Ruger M77 rifle stocks.
I've also had some "light" chambered rifles (.44 mag & .30-30) that slapped me silly because of the excessive tock drop and other poor design features.
If you're having the stock custom built, you have the opportunity (and choice) to have it shaped to easily handle even heavy .45-70 loads w/o a recoil pad.
There are several excellent books on gunstock design, like "The Checkering & Carving of Gunstocks" by Monty Kennedy, for instance.
