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The Bottom Line

This tool is a fixture or jig to allow the shaping of a recoil pad via sanding or grinding, to produce a custom fitted pad on a rifle or shotgun stock. It's simple and effective, and it's not hard to use. I used it to grind a Limb Saver pad to fit an old shotgun, and it did well. My biggest complaint is that I had to compress the pad to hold it securely, and that made the finished pad's sides concave.

Next time, I might try the other mounting method which is mentioned, though not illustrated, in the instructions... although that would make it impossible to see my reference marks while sanding.

Pros

• It works.
• Holds the recoil pad securely, and works well to reproduce the toe and comb lines.

Cons

• Made in China.
• In the process of sanding the comb, the base of this tool had to be sanded away (no big deal).

Description

• Jig or fixture for holding a recoil pad so it can be sanded or ground for a custom fit.
• Works for rifle or shotgun pads.
• Attach pad to stock's butt and scribe around stock.
• Set angles of comb and toe and attach pad to fixture.
• Grind the pad to fit using a belt or disc sander.
• Be careful not to squish the pad when you put it on the fixture.
• Mine says Miles Gilbert, new ones say Wheeler Engineering. Both are Battenfeld brands and both use item number 184528.
• Includes fixture with screws and washers, two hex (allen) wrenches, and instructions.
• MSRP $54.99 (use "Compare Prices" link to find it for less).

Recoil Pad Fixture 184528 Review

This is a simple product, and it works... but when I first read about how to use it, I had my doubts.

The reason for my reticence is that you mount the recoil pad with the rear end of the recoil pad against the jig. The rear of a good recoil pad is soft, and tightening the screws (to prevent the pad from moving around) will compress the pad. Which means that after you grind the pad and remove it from the jig, its sides will be concave.

The illustrated instructions mention the possibility of mounting the pad the other way around, with the hard flat plate against the jig. But there is no illustration of that method - and that would make it impossible to see the scribed mark while you're sanding. If you can't see the mark, you won't know when to stop sanding, which means you'll have a heck of a time producing an accurately-shaped recoil pad.

As it turned out, I was right to wonder about it, because my first attempt produced terrible results, with the sides of the pad very concave. I tried again with a new pad, and had better, but not perfect, results.

How it's Done

I wrote a much more thorough article on how to grind a custom-fitted recoil pad, but I'll give the short version here:

• Install recoil pad on rifle or shotgun stock; ensure fit; scribe outline of butt onto hard backing of recoil pad.
• Remove pad from stock.
• Set comb angle on fixture (jig) and adjust pitch screw.
• Set toe angle on fixture.
• Attach recoil pad to fixture.
• Sand the toe end and about halfway up the sides of the recoil pad using your scribed mark as reference.
• Adjust fixture to comb angle using the pitch screw.
• Sand the rest of the recoil pad to the scribed mark.
• Remove recoil pad from jig and install it on the stock.

Snags
The biggest snag I hit was already mentioned: the squishing of the pad. Do your best to avoid that at all costs, while still holding the pad securely to the fixture. I think a wider surface where the pad abuts the fixture would be best, and I may use a flat piece of steel or some large fender washers to provide that in the future.

The other problem wasn't major, but I suppose it could have been. When sanding the comb end of the recoil pad, the base of the fixture turned out to be too long, and had to be sanded away at the same time as the recoil pad. My sander handled that fairly well, but without a supply of new belts it might have been problematic. At any rate, it was minor for me.

Conclusion

This is a useful tool, but I'd love to see it made with a wider surface that would better stabilize the recoil pad without having to tighten the bolts too much. I like it, and I'll use it again.

- Russ Chastain



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