Originally Posted By: Shawn_BI have done a number of pads kick-eez, pachmayer and Hi-Viz are nice to work with. A table top sander is ideal with fine sandpaper. If you have a belt sander you can also chuck it up in a vise upside down (sounds funny but that is what I did the first time. Drill out the old butt plate holes and fill with 1/4 inch oak dowel and wood glue. Mount the pad, true it up carefully, scribe the circumference of the butt into the pad with a real sharp scribe. Remove the pad and chalk that line with chalk and blow off the excess. At the toe end of the pad you'll clearly see where the bottom of the toe of the butt is but leave the entire bottom for now so that you'll have room to work the natural slope of the stock (make sure to get a long enough pad to do this. Many are around 5 inches so I usually shoot for a pad of 5.5 inches. The name of the game in this is that you only get one chance if you move too aggressively and remove too much pad you are done unless you have a smaller gun you can use this ruined pad on. Just grind up right to the very edge of the line and check your fit. If in doubt check your fit. There is a video on you tube on the Midway USA channel that is helpful. You will get 99% of the grinding done with the machine but the 1% left is the real work. Bolt the pad on when you are as close as you dare and wrap the butt along the edge of the pad with a single layer of duct tape carefully covering the wood. In the 3 pads I mentioned the base of the pad will grind off by hand with 100 grit fairly quickly, keep shaping until it’s flush with the tape. On the soft rubber part I use nothing more than 120 grit on a sanding block (kick-ezz will get surface tears if you get too aggressive. When you get everything looking pretty true switch the duct tape to masking tape but remember the duct tape is much more protective and the masking wont suffer sandpaper very long. Its really there as a height measure and a slight protectant. I then switch to scotch tape for the final base finish. The Toe I shape with my table top belt sander and I do it by eye. The fixture you can buy may be very helpful but I have developed my own system. This is just my way of doing things. My personal opinion is that Hi-Viz and Kick-eez come off the same assembly line since they work identical to me. I have no preference of these three the all work easily for me. Just stay with finer grits and take your time.
Shawn,
Good posting!!
I've only done one pad instal, and will let a gunsmith do any more that I need handled. I did get the job done right, but the time, effort and hard work required left me with nothing but admiration for people who do the job right. I used a belt sander and a B-Square Fixture on the one I did.
