BRINGING NEW LIFE TO A OLD RECOIL PAD?

Just inherited a 65 year old 5E Ithaca trap --all original --But the Recoil pad is hard as a rock -- What to keep it all original --Is there anything you can soak it in? Or do to it to get some life back in it ?? Just want to shoot it in our antique club shoot once a year -- Got spoiled by the new pads made today

 

No there`s nothing you can do short of replacing it. Sorry

 

Replace it with a look a like replica pad to shoot it, and keep the original in which you can reinstall at any time you want.

 

GOOD IDEA

GB........................DLS

 

Most all recoil pads (with the exception of gooey pads, trap dudes and a couple of others) consist of a Buna/Nitrile co-polymer. When they are manufactured the softness (durometer) of the pad is determined by the amount of plasticizers the compounder incorporated into the material. Over time these plasticizers leach out of the material making it more dense and thus harder. There really is no way to put the "cat back in the bag" or inject the pad with anything that will bring it back to the original durometer.

Gooey pad and some others are urethane based and react quite the opposite. Urethane's are born a liquid and want to die a liquid. Over time this type of pad starts getting softer as the urethane starts to revert. They also get sticky and all types of things start sticking to them if you place the gun in various racks.

 

Thanks a lot for the tip ---They- DO- make a replica red sunburst pad! -- never would have thought -- Won't shot it a lot --It has a lot of family history

 

I don't know if this slows the hardening process, but storing any long gun with a recoil pad MUZZLE DOWN, at least helps avoid flattening out the recoil pad. This is too late for an old hardened pad, but the replica replacement would be the way to go then begin storing muzzle down. This also helps avoid lubricant seeping down from the action into the stock. Seems to have worked for me... Regards, Ed

 

Brownells has a good supply of Recoill pads even for Ithaca Shotguns including The 4 & 5 series Ithaca

GB...........................DLS

 

So is this another way of saying replace the pad ?

 

Would there be a problem shooting the old pad? Could it brake? Or just kick like hell? only shooting once a year - You talked me into ordering a replica pad but don't know if I can get it on for the shoot.

 

IMO, recoil pad is like windshield wiper, unless you put on some way out of line looking pad, it'll not ruin the gun's value.

 

I ran into this recently with a Parker I purchased. It has an old Jostam pad that’s hard as a rock. It looks fine but doesn’t move. The gun is a bit short for me in LOP. I simply slipped on my Galco leather pad. Problem solved. The LOP is now perfect and the leather pad looks great when shooting. Problem solved and I didn’t spend a penny. A good leather slip on pad is a great assessory to have if you enjoy shooting old shotguns.