Recoil pad shrinking

[John M]

The recoil pad on my 45 70 All Weather is getting smaller. Is this a common problem normally I would take it back to the shop but they closed last year.

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[GFK]

That is interesting. Have you contacted Henry yet?

[Team Roper]

Did the pad get smaller or maybe the stock swelled.?

[BigAl52]

I have an A W 45-70 I will look at mine

[JEBar]

as part of felt recoil reduction mods to our CCH 45-70 we replaced Henry's OEM recoil pad .... there was nothing wrong with it, there were better options available .... with you being in Canada, it might be simpler to speak with a gunsmith about going with an aftermarket pad

[Rifletom]

Hmm.It doesn't look distorted, just shrunk a bit. Odd. Probably do as Jim mentioned. Al, how does yours look?
Jim, you silly goose; he's in New Zealand.

[JEBar]

Hmm.It doesn't look distorted, just shrunk a bit. Odd. Probably do as Jim mentioned. Al, how does yours look?
Jim, you silly goose; he's in New Zealand.

my ooooops .... with that being the case, I'd be even more prone to handle it without sending it back to Henry ...

[Team Roper]

I stuck a Limbsaver Air Tech recoil pad on my Marlin Guide Gun. Does wonder for the recoil. On the Limbsave sight you can print out templates to find the one that will fit your rifle.Just in case you want to go that route.

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[Yornoc3]

I'd be leaning toward the stock's swelling, rather than the pad shrinking. I've had that happen with walnut stocked duck guns, back in the days before we mostly went to synthetic stocks for wet applications. The wood under the pad appears to be unfinished (nothing odd about that, but, still, an all weather stock should be fully sealed, right?), so that certainly could allow higher humidity access to the raw wood. And sometimes the reverse happens, when a wood stock moves from a place in the humid SE to the arid West, and the pad gets looser (or bigger .

[John M]

It's kept in a safe with 32 other wood stocked guns. A light is on in the safe to keep it just a little above ambiant temp all the time. None of the other guns show swelling or shrinking. The wood under the pad looks clear sealed. I include photos if anyone is willing to measure there stock and pad.

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[fortyshooter]

Measure the pad OA size and post the numbers. Maybe others can compare to your pad.
Was it even all around when you bought the rifle?

[BigAl52]

Just checked mine this am and its still a perfect match on mine. No issues at all

[John M]

Mine was a perfect match but is now 1/8" under size.

[John M]

whatever the reason I had a grind to fit limbsaver at home and fitted it.

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[GFK]

Looks like nice work! But, it might be nice to close the loop with Henry, just in case it was not a one off situation.