Butt pad material

    I found some stuff that seems to make a nice butt pad if you don't want to use the standard Riffe piece, or flip-flop section.


    The material is SBR rubber, which is the stuff that they make laboratory test tube stoppers out of. It seems to be a good balance of soft, tough, and workable. Best of all, it is relatively inexpensive. These laboratory stoppers are available in quite large sizes. I used the third from the largest size that I found in McMaster, which cost about $7. They have a slight taper, and this one is 3" diameter at the small end, 3-1/2" diameter at the large end, and 1-1/2" thick. I think that they are available through about 4-1/2" diameter.


    It saws easily, and can be sculpted quickly and neatly with a belt sander. A dremel will work for finer details. I mounted the pad by drilling four flat bottomed holes with a 3/8" Forstner bit, which you can get at Home Depot for about $4. I used 2" long, #8 stainless screws, and put a #6 finishing washer under the head of each screw. The finishing washer works great, because it bites out on the outside edge, and doesn't tend to pull through the rubber the way a flat washer does. I got the finishing washers at West Marine for about $0.09 each. The four screw mount feels very secure, and recessing the screw heads 1/4" was plenty deep to accomodate the compression of the rubber against my chest.


    I still need to shape it a little more for looks, but I have to say it is supremely comfortable. I think this is just the ticket for either hip or chest loading. I'll never use sandal sole again.


    Sorry for the large pics Dan. I mashed the wrong button. Feel free to resize if you want.




    Edited 2 times, last by Guest ().

    No, you can't polish it with steel wool. It might be possible to paint it or dip it in some sort of coating, if that coating were plyable enough not to crack with the normal deflection of the pad.

    That definitely looks nicer.


    What is the reason for it being concave? I figure since you're chest loading it should be flat. Maybe the extra mass on the outer edges compresses to flat when loading spreading out the pressure evenly.

    Quote from seahunter49

    . . .Maybe the extra mass on the outer edges compresses to flat when loading spreading out the pressure evenly.


    Exactly. I tried it flat at first, and I could feel a little more pressure in the center. Now it feels very uniform. Also, my dad buit a gun similar in size to mine, but a hip loader. So in playing around with the pad material, I wanted to see if it would be strong enough to keep the gun in place while hip loading. Haven't used it in the water, but it looks promising.

    Hmmm. My only real question would be how to sculpt out the mortise in the rubber. I haven't tried it on a router, but that might work. The hardest part would probably be safely holding and moving the small rubber piece. A dusting of flour or something similar might help it slide more easily on the table. If you could carve out a nice, snug mortise, maybe 3/4" deep, then I think it might work great.

    I could do it with a hole saw. The question would be how to get the material out. I could take it out roughly just by chiseling at it and finish the bottom of the hole with a dremel and a grinding disk. I'm still not confident using my router and I don't have a router table.

    I'm not sure how effectively it will chisel, since the rubber has some "give" to it.


    I have an extra stopper. If you want to give me the dimensions of your stock, I can mill out the mortise in about 5 minutes and see how it turns out. I would kind of like to know myself. If you like it, then you can take it from there.

    Thanks for the offer. When I said chisel I meant remove in a rough way, scrape, cut or whatever it takes :) Would it make sense to make the mortise round or is it the same amount of work as making it oval (shape of the stock)? I was thinking to shape the stock with a hole saw as is normal for conventional butt installation. And also make a round hole in the butt pad. It would keep the profile of the pad somewhat smaller still retaining functionality. In the case of a round joint it would be 1" in diameter. Also in case it doesn't work out I can then use the conventional butt pad.

    The Riffe butt pad has one hole and one screw as opposed to the JBL butt pad that has nothing but friction keeping it on. I was thinking that the same hole created by the hole saw can be used for the screw.

    Where you bought the material?. That looks good and comfy.. Can you post a bigger picture of that new project on that carbon gun you show the but off. I think that clear black color will look good underwater. Are you guys trying to paint the butt, to get some protection on the material or just to match it with the guns?

    I bought the material from www.mcmaster.com. I'm sure that it is available in sheet form as well, but the stoppers are a pretty cost effective way to buy a small piece. You would probably want one of the three larger sizes. The part numbers and sizes are:


    9545k81 - $6.03 3-17/32" diameter (small end) by 2-15/16" diameter (large end) by 1-17/32" thick
    9545k85 - $8.60 4-1/16" by 3-9/32" by 1-17/32 thick
    9545k87 - $13.71 5" by 3-17/32" by 1-31/32" thick


    The material is for laboratory stoppers, used in all kinds of chemical services, so I don't think that it requires a coating to protect it. Strictly for looks. It really doesn't look quite that gray, though. I'll try to post a pic without the flash to show the difference.


    The carbon fiber gun was one that Chad and I donated as a raffle prize to raise money for the FRA back in the spring. This was for a guy who like to freeshaft on scuba, if you are wondering about the extra shafts. Specs were:


    57" overall
    5/16" Delrin enclosed track
    Triple layered carbon fiber construction
    Super smooth Kitto M6 Trigger mechanism
    Custom delrin shaft holders
    Re-moldable handle grip on a solid Delrin frame
    Adjustable spring resetting line release
    Shaped rubber butt pad


    Here are a few more shots:




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