Model 24|Winchester Shotguns|Forum|Winchester Collector

That looks so much better than the ventilated recoil pad. Good job!

Looks like it ought to, good job. I tried that job once with a repro red rubber recoil pad, it was a bit stressful and the pad had a couple of defects but most folks can’t tell. I can see the gouges but quite frankly would have missed them unless you mentioned them. Go shoot it!

Mike

A good sign.

Chuck, keep in mind I’ve never done a buttplate job. I don’t have a feel for how the plastic cuts. I’ve even considered using a sharp block plane if the material were amenable. It’s easier to clean off and resharpen a single blade than get the stuff out of a good file. There will be very little material to remove and I’d like to avoid power tools, if possible. 

The repro buttplate I have doesn’t overlap the wood very much at all, to the extent I’ve got to be very careful locating the screw holes. I was thinking about taping the buttplate on and then starting the holes with a VIX bit. 

Bill,

The Ballistol is non abrasive, but using it with a higher numbered grit paper, will naturally make it a wet abrasive, and effective buffing type of compound.

Anthony

Chuck said

Zebulon said
Chuck, keep in mind I’ve never done a buttplate job. I don’t have a feel for how the plastic cuts. I’ve even considered using a sharp block plane if the material were amenable. It’s easier to clean off and resharpen a single blade than get the stuff out of a good file. There will be very little material to remove and I’d like to avoid power tools, if possible. 
The repro buttplate I have doesn’t overlap the wood very much at all, to the extent I’ve got to be very careful locating the screw holes. I was thinking about taping the buttplate on and then starting the holes with a VIX bit. 
  

Mark the area that is too large.  Take the plate off the gun. Use some sandpaper, around 200 grit.  When you get it to size use 400 grit then polish.  Not sure what you need to do?  Are the holes already in the buttplate or are you having to drill your own?  Assuming the holes are in the buttplate.  Make a paper pattern of the butt stock and punch the holes in it.  Align the pattern on the wood and drill pilot holes.  The holes need to be about the size of the inner part of the screw.  The area that is not threaded.  You want the holes small enough that only the threads will cut into the stock.
  

Chuck,  the butt was not squared off for the thin recoil pad so it still has the proper draft for the curved buttplate. The original buttplate screw holes are long gone or filled and the holes for the pad are wrong for the plate. The repro plate is almost a perfect fit, overlapping in an arc at the heel maybe 1/4″ at the apex. The rest of it is proud of the stock less than 1/32″ — so hole location is critical. I’m reluctant to use anything but the plate itself as a drilling template and then start the holes with a self-centering bit. I would use a bit no larger than the screw shank. I’m.thinking green Gator.tape would hold it in place for my purpose. 

Bill

It’s funny, I suppose, that a man my age would have any interest in a break-open single barrel, full choked 16 gauge shotgun that I have no need for.  But I think I’ve figured it out.

You farm or country raised fellows – or those who had nearby public land or relatives with huntable land — were blessed with a legitimate “need” for a shotgun. Gulf Coast refinery towns had none. So, although I was gifted and enjoyed some nice fishing gear, no .410 or any small bore single barrel ever appeared under the Christmas tree.

But I did have the Gun Digest I bought with lawn mowing money. Of the shotguns to which a 13 year old boy might aspire through painfully accumulated gift money sent by clueless grandmothers and aunts, plus dollars earned by maintaining a couple of neighboring yards — the Winchester Model 37 was the One.

My shotgunning experience to date had consisted of  firing a distant uncle’s Model 97 once – which was more than enough because it was a 12 gauge with a steel.buttplate and no hearing protection. I knew I didn’t want a twelve gauge but was unsure what might be manageable. Gingerly, concealing the true purpose for my question, I asked Dad what gauge he had shot in his Louisiana youth at ducks and such. A sixteen gauge full choke automatic. (I never learned what it was and forgot to ask him before he passed away. Probably a Remington 11 but his own father had owned a Winchester 1911, so who knows.) 

The Model.37 project never bore fruit and I bought my own first shotgun at age 22 – an 870 Wingmaster 20.gauge because the Model 12 had been taken out of production a couple of years before.

But that’s why I will keep the Model 37 16 gauge given me recently by a dear friend who is starting his Long Goodbye. 

Zebulon said

Chuck,  the butt was not squared off for the thin recoil pad so it still has the proper draft for the curved buttplate. The original buttplate screw holes are long gone or filled and the holes for the pad are wrong for the plate. The repro plate is almost a perfect fit, overlapping in an arc at the heel maybe 1/4″ at the apex. The rest of it is proud of the stock less than 1/32″ — so hole location is critical. I’m reluctant to use anything but the plate itself as a drilling template and then start the holes with a self-centering bit. I would use a bit no larger than the screw shank. I’m.thinking green Gator.tape would hold it in place for my purpose. 

The spring loaded centering drills are what I have and would use too.  Just didn’t know you had them.