What's In Your Butt

[mc15426378]

Pulled the butt plate off my 32" A with #1 barrels and found a lightening hole, about 3"-3 1/2" in length. Looks old but no way to tell by whom or when it was done. Gun is barrel heavy so I might want to add some weight to the stock. Any suggestions as to what to use? I'd like whatever I do use to not be permanent.

Anyone else got anything interesting they found under their butts?

Mike

[MARSHFELLOW]

Laughed out loud Mike....about your title that is.

I just got a pile of trinkets and stuff and in there is a NIB recoil reducer, mercury i think, or something like that. Might slip right into your butt. Lemme know if it might suit ya.

tjw

[mc15426378]

Thanks Tom. Dropped you an email.

Mike

[jolly bill]

I got a Winchester model 61 .22 pump rifle that was made around 1935. I pulled the butt plate on that gun and in the hole thru the stock that accesses the nut for attaching the stock to the receiver was a bunch of "stuff".

I managed to pull it out and found wadded up in some old newspaper were two locks of very fine light brown hair and a 1935 Series One Dollar Silver Certificate. The newspaper was from the Denver Post July 1936.

I put it all back in the stock.

Jolly

[MARSHFELLOW]

Jolly, good thing you put it all back....it's like disturbing King Tut's tomb.

Only once did I pull anything out of a Fox butt.....just a gunsmith receipt from 1952.

I bought a Remington .300 Savage Model 81 rifle that was virtually as new. For some reason I pulled the bp and wrapped in an old piece of 1930's newspaper was an extra firing pin and spring. Kinda interesting that the guy who bought the gun obviously planned to do some serious hunting with the big heavy club and it never got used. (He probably got smart and bought a Savage M99 which is about 20X easier to carry).

tjw

[Silvers]

Mike, with the hole off center like that I'm thinking it was done after the gun left the factory. Possibly a recoil reducer gizzmo like the mercury type, or as a friend who shoots clays with me uses, roll(s) of nickels with electrical tape over them to make a tight fit.

If it were me I'd try to recut the hole to a larger dia and more centered, and put in a cylindrical lead plug as done by Fox. I've seen them anywhere from 1/2" diameter to about 7/8" dia. Experiment with the weight of the plug to get the gun to balance as you wish.

I once owned a Winchester '86 Lightweight in 33 WCF caliber. Its hard rubber buttplate had a small crack and I took it off to try a repair. Inside the stock hole was a chewing tobacco pouch with spare Lyman and Marble front sights with different beads, broken shell extractor, and a folded up page from a Winchester pocket catalog showing the parts breakdown. Apparently the chap was set for some remote hunting far away from brick chimneys. Gun had 20-some knife cut "kill marks" in the edge of the buttplate. I put everything back into the hole. Interesting gun! Silvers

[mc15426378]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll play with the weight using some different items.

If only these old gals could talk. Wouldn't that be a "hen" party?


Mike

[mike campbell]

If you want the max, just fill it with lead shot and put a piece of electrical tape over it. If that's too much, stuff some paper towel in first.

[vaturkey]

One gunsmith I know of loaded up a 12 gauge shotshell with lead shot and then placed that in the drilled out hole so it fit snugly. He said should it ever need to be pulled out at some point down the road, it would be a piece of cake. PS. I had (actually still have) a VH Parker made in 1900 that had the buttstock drilled and molten lead poured in there. Over the years I'm guess the wood constricted and the lead didn't and the buttstock cracked. The smith had a helluva time digging out all that molten lead to repair the buttstock. Did a good job, but the gun is certainly muzzle heavy now, but I shoot it for ducks and turkey's, so that doesn't bother me in the least.

[cargie32]

Mike, you might try some lead wool, as it is easy to work with and it packs tight and you can put a little in at a time and easy removed.

[terc]

From what I've read about this subject on other forums,be careful with lead. Over time time it will oxidize.The oxidation expands causing the stock to crack or split.
Dave

[eightbore]

OK, get ready to attack. This pertains to guns in your gun room, not ones you are ordering from the manufacturer. Here goes. Any hunting gun should be lighter, not heavier. If you don't know that, you haven't been hunting. If you find lead in the butt, take it out. It not only weighs a lot, it can crack your stock. If there is an empty hole in the butt, find the oldest newspaper you can find and the oldest hunting license you can find, and the oldest paper currency note you can find, and stuff it in there. It will drive the next owner up the proverbial wall, and you can tell your story years from now.

[birdawg]

I tend to agree with Bill, my butt is already heavy enough when I go hunting.

[mike campbell]

Any hunting gun should be lighter, not heavier.

'Ere ya go! I have a nice light, svelte 32" SW that I'll trade even up for one of them heavy old clunker behemoth HE's out there. Those things will never catch on anyway.