OK, I know how a carpenter would handle this. I have two Shotguns, a Beretta AL2 & a Win 12. Both have stripped holes (too big now) for the screws attaching the recoil pads. I could use bigger screws or use small bits of wood & carpenter’s glue in the holes. The larger screws would make for larger holes in the pads. Both are old & brittle & the customer does not want to use new ones. The added wood & glue is my preference, but it seems a little Mickey Mouse on a stock. Any other ideas?
The wood plug method is pretty standard. You almost always need to plug the old holes and redrill the new ones when a new recoil pad is installed, unless the replacement is exactly the same as the old one.
Use good walnut dowel and good glue.
Bigger screws have bigger screw heads, which will make more damage to the rubber. -TL
Reply
Yes, exactly what I did. Thank you for responding so quickly. The Customer moved to a town in another state about 200 miles away. Interestingly enough, it’s my home town and I have a family get together tomorrow and I’m delivering the guns to him so I have time constraints. I never would have found the stripped screws if I hadn’t had to tighten the stock on the Beretta. That’s another interesting story in another post. I decided to check the Win after discovering the problem on the Beretta. I’ve learned another lesson. Check everything, even what you think you don’t have to.
More Info
For what it is worth, I keep a 3/8 hardwood dowel in the shop for this repair. Drill the hole in the stock out with a 3/8 wood spade bit, glue a piece of the dowel in using wood glue and let dry for a couple of hours. Cut the dowel off flush, can use a sander but best if you use a hand held trim saw to keep the stock flat. Fit the pad to mark the location of the hole and drill. As good as new and pretty quick.
And more
As a woodworking junkie, I always have cutoffs of hardwood dowels in the shop. I’d add that I use Elmer’s Carpenters glue, the yellowish one, and lately have been trying the Gorilla woodworking glue. I use Elmer’s because it’s water soluble and I clean up any that squeezes out with a damp paper towel. Jeff
Answer
You can also simply put release agent on the screws and fill the holes with epoxy. Let it set up then break the screws loose. I usually use wood dowels to fill the holes then re-drill. Sometimes a tooth pick and epoxy together installed in the hole then the screw screwed in will tighten the whole affair up and fill any excessive gaps. Ken
