[img:center][/img] Yay! I think I finally figured out how to post a photo. This French walnut stock is too short and so I need about a 3/4" extension. I can't decide if I should use horn or ebony. I think I am going with Madagascar ebony with a bit of figure in it which may blend with this very old and high quality French walnut. I think it will look better than a leather covered pad or a recoil pad. Any opinions?

A nice solid red pad is used on some of the finest guns in the world and would be very suitable on your gun also. Pads are good.
JR

I agree with John.

A S.W. Silver pad or a leather covered S.W. Silver pad. That wood looks too nice do anything else with.

I've had a couple of leather covered Pachmayer pads done & if I had it to do over I would use a genuine S.W. Silver pad covered in pigskin or an uncovered S.W. Silver pad.

The leather covered pads look very nice but they begin to look tacky quickly if you hunt where they have briars.

Definitely a pad. An extension of non matching wood would be very distracting. A butt graft done by one of the top men would be a decent third choice.

I'd have a hard time not just wearing a thicker jacket and leaving it as it is. That is pure perfection!

What about a wood extension colored/marked to match by Mark Larson? I presume (but do not know for sure) that he could do that.

I would be concerned about the weight of a Silvers pad.

Randy McCune's brother used to fashion butt plates out of contrasting wood, and they looked pretty good. Randy posts here as RMC and a thread search might turn up some pics that he had posted years ago.

Ebony or horn would look great, ebonite would even look good and be considered proper too. Horn is going to be the most expensive. Stock makers do not like working with horn and they hate checkering horn most of all. You've had work done by my pal in Logan, call him up and discuss :-)

Redoak:
As to Mark Larson; "He can do that."

Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE

I say that weight would be the first consideration unless this is a trap or skeet gun. Looks are secondary to performance.
danc

[img:center][/img] This horn butt plate I had done a couple of years ago by Paul Hodgins. The horn I purchased from our friend here, Joe Dobryzinski from Alaska. The horn was very nice and Paul did a fabulous job imho.

[img:center][/img] This gun, I had a silver's pad with a spacer placed because it needed an 'excessive' extension. Ignore the shiny junk, that's nail polish I put on the pad to slicken it up. I really don't like recoil pads on game guns, but with this one I felt I really had no choice. I like Mark Larson's work; however, he does not use an oil finish, so I would rather not have a lacquer finish on an English game gun. I certainly would go that route for another project, though. So, do you like the pad or the horn better? To me, I far and above prefer the horn. Also, horn and ebony can be hollowed out to balance the gun and save on weight.

I like the horn the best, then the ebonite. The Silvers pads with the steel plate in them are really heavy. Though they are not too bad on an eight pound goose gun.

Horn is my choice. To the point that I have also bought horn from Joe Dobryzinski for a variety of stocking projects I have plans for.

While it may be period and style correct, I really dislike the look of Silvers pads. But I know that's just me.

The horn plate looks nice but it's not .750" thick either which is what I think was initially discussed as the required increase in L.O.P.

I've seen several thick ebony plates installed to lengthen L.O.P. & I think a proper pad looks better.

The S.W. Silver pad is heavy however you can normally bore a couple of holes in the butt & remove enough weight to compensate.
If the butt has already been drilled for balance the Paychmayer red pad is a lighter alternative but doesn't look as nice to my eye.

A tough decision & it would almost be worth having your arms made shorter to avoid cutting that nice wood for a pad or butt plate.

Why would he have to cut the butt? He wants to add length right?? The butt you have pictured looks fairly square to me, wood removal to add length would be extremely minimal. Like almost none.
Buzz, ebonite would look good and be functional too.

I have 2 mid-grade box locks that came with wood extensions and checkered butts. The extensions are well done, and the color is close, but the grain does not really match.

I initially thought that I would have them restocked or butt grafted. But after hunting them, I find that I really do not see those extensions anymore.... I enjoy looking at the actions, at the engraving, and at the checkering, but the extensions just do not bother me. A pleasant surprise, actually.

Quality restocking would probably cost more than I paid for those guns. So I am enjoying them the way that they are.

LeFusil,

To state the obvious for you maybe I should have said something like "That is a beautiful stock with a checkered butt. It's never going to look any better than it does now & it would be almost worth having your arms made shorter to avoid having to cut that checkered butt off to square it up for the installation of a pad or butt plate extension."

Sorry that is kind of long winded but is there anything you don't understand about my statement now?

In reality you will likely loose about 3/16" getting the butt squared up but that is hardly the point & a gun that doesn't fit is useless to most people.

I am 6'4" "I feel your pain. " I got the thickest piece of horn I could find and still needed a spacer. I have another gun with an inch and a half silvers pad from CSMC and i think it looks nicer.
I also have a very nice buckle on leather pad/extender that works well.
Chaz

For 3/4" I might put a leather covered pad on it. I did one, but the pad is actually a very firm (almost hard) closed-cell foam, which adds almost no weight. I think I got it from Brown Precision, they used to use it (uncovered) on their synthetic stocked Mtn. rifles. Not sure if it is still avail.

Anything longer that an inch or 1 1/4", and I think a wood extension looks much better.

Sorry all. When I made my comment about horn, I forgot the OP needed to add 1 3/4 inches. That's a bit much for a piece of horn.

No, I need 1/2-3/4".

Translated to Canadian: Somewhere from 1/2" to 3/4"

Are you serious? If you are, you're an idiot. Don't try and dress me down either, that isn't gonna turn out well for you. What you stated sir, was most obvious, you said and I quote "A tough decision & it would almost be worth having your arms made shorter to avoid cutting that nice wood for a pad or butt plate." Everyone here can plainly understand what you implied with that statement, it's not code for chrissakes.
I simply stated and implied that there is no need at all to cut that nice piece of wood, simply squaring it up (because there is no obvious curvature to the butt) would involve taking very little if no wood from the ass end of Buzz's gun. Got it smart guy? If not, shoot me a pm and we'll discuss there.

Here's a piece of horn that I could use for this project. It's 13/16' thick and I have another piece that I believe is 7/8". Still not sure how I am going to proceed. I appreciate all the comments and opinions. [img:center][/img]

Crap. I was thinking about another gun/stock issue of trying to go from 14 to 15 3/4.

I too clearly haven't had enough coffee today. I was too busy chuckling about catching DaveK on a simple arithmetic error. Oh that pride sure does goeth before a fall!

How come nobody mentioned a leather slip on pad for this gun? Use it when you need it, take it off when you don't.

I hate pads, I have a few guns with them, but, not by choice.

Best,
Ted

Like galoshes?

When you need galoshes, you put 'em on-when you don't, take 'em off.

The stock looks pretty nice as is.

Best,
Ted

Well, yes but there has to be a more elegant solution for such a nice stock. A friend had a Purdey hammergun lengthened with ebony that was checkered and included toe and heel caps. It was a very handsome solution.

I am 6'1" with monkey arms. This is the best solution I have found for a large increase in LOP. It is cheap and the stock remains in the factory original configuration.

http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/PMR045

I think Brownell's just announced that they are stocking a line of relatively thin (0.600") hard rubber pads. Or you could use a Ruger rifle pad. Or a Winchester 1922 (I think) red pad with the Win markings ground off. It's not at all hard to add 1/2"-3/4". If you like horn, use the horn. I would not consider a lace-on or slip-on pad if I had other options. I have had a couple of short hammer guns fitted with the CSMC thin hard brown pads, and they look like like they belong there. Yours seems to be worthy of horn or ebony.

The wood on this gun has been cut down in the past. It is not the original length. It does have a checkered butt now at 14", but also has 2 screw holes that have been plugged. The gun is an old hammer gun from a 3rd tier (or maybe 4th?....Bozard) maker and really the stock is nicer than the gun. This wood should have been used on a higher quality gun IMO.

Here's a poor quality photo of the Bozard for those who are interested. To me, with the short stock this gun 'looks out of proportion'. It has 30" barrels. [img:center][/img]

That sheds a little different light on it. I was thinking it might be attached to a Holland, a Grant, or a Lang.
A piece of rosewood that is checkered always looks nice, as long as the dimensions are closer to those of a buttplate, rather than an extension.
I don't care for extensions, or pads. I have a few guns with pads, but, I'd never buy into an extension.


Best,
Ted