M71 Question

[Windjammer]

I have a Winchester M71 with a recoil pad on it. How can I tell if it is from the factory, or if someone installed it afterward?

[Gun Smith]

I'll take a stab at answering this. Yes, Winchester installed recoil pads on M.71's at the factory. Pachmar made them for Winchester. One way to determine if a factory fitted pad is present, is to see how good the fit is to the wood. I installed 100's of pads over the years, and the only way to make a perfect fit was to fit it to the wood and refinish the stock. If your pad fits perfectly and the stock has it's original finish, it was probably factory installed. I usually put one layer of masking tape on the stock and ground the pad to the tape. This left a very slight excess pad overhang that was acceptable. The worse guns to fit pads to were the Belgiun Browning shotguns. They had a beautiful laquer finish that was impossible to repair. And, boy, you didn't want to knick one of those. I got $3.50 to install a recoil pad then.

[RANisbet]

Problem with a recoil pad is that if it were not a factory original installation, it reduces the rifle collector value by anywhere from $500 to some big amount.
On top of that, there is no way to verify that a pad was factory installed, because all of the model 71 records were lost in a factory fire back in the 60s.
I have yet to find a collector that will pay the same for a rifle with a pad as for one without a pad. That said, your best judgement should prevail. If you want to pay collector value for a model 71 with a pad, then you better know that you may never recover what you pay for it.
Bottom line: Treat every model 71 with a pad as having an after-market modification unless you have a factory letter or other original factory document that specifies the factory installation.
In support of the assessment of where the pad was installed, you also need to check the length of pull. The factory tends to keep that standard, whether they install a pad or a metal butt plate. For the model 71s, the LOP was around 13-1/4 inches, but I think a few went to 13-1/2.

[Windjammer]

Thanks for your input, Ranisbet......

I firmly believe this is a factory installed recoil pad due the old gentleman that had the rifle. He was a local judge and a gun enthusiast. He had many special ordered guns. Several Colt SAA's, engraved S&W's,many unique guns that he special ordered.

The last gun he ordered, was a Holland & Holland .375 with a Ziess scope. He got it about 3 years before he died in 1991.

I only say this to say he had the finest guns that could be had. The most gun savvy person I've ever known. I was hoping there was a way to make certain this is a factory recoil pad.

[Windjammer]

Gun Smith.........If you could see some close-up pictures of the recoil pad, could you tell if it's a factory installation?