Remington 721 recoil pad - the butt plate is how big?

IronSights · Oct 17, 2020

Hey, folks.

I am taking my 30-06 chambered Remington 721 (1960s, I think, but haven't looked it up) out for deer next week with my friend who was in the marine corps. He's bigger than I am and says that the rifle is no fun to shoot as is, and I 100% agree. I've been looking over recoil pads to install, and I have 2 questions.

1) The stock has an aluminum plate on it. The plate alone measures about 6.125 x 1.625 inches in the largest parts. The stock is a little bit thicker and wider. The largest recoil pad I've seen is only 5.75 inches long. What gives? Does this old 721 have a freakishly large end to its stock, or am I missing something about how the pads/stock are measured?

2) I don't entirely understand length of pull (LOP), but I don't think I would mind adding an inch or so of length to the stock. As far as I can see, the stock hasn't been shortened. I see a lot of people cut their stock a bit shorter to maintain the same length of pull. I have not shot that many long guns (maybe 8 or 10), but I have never really felt like any of them put the trigger too far from my shoulder. Is this really a big deal? If I were to shorten the stock (I wouldn't on this rifle because the stock is pretty nice and has some hand-done decoration), I suppose it would make the end a little smaller top to bottom, but I would have to remove almost half of the stock to get it down to 5.7 inches.

IronSights · Oct 18, 2020

Uh... I just measured it again and must have had the wrong zero set on my calipers. Actual size is 5" tall and 1.425" wide at the widest and under 1" on the narrower end.

gmerkt · Oct 18, 2020

If the stock has an aluminum plate on it, that's original. If you don't shoot much, why not try a slip-on recoil pad? They make some pretty nice ones these days, a far cry from the old rubbery Pachmayr's of yore. Might not feel right if you have short arms because you are simply adding to, and not cutting of any material from the original stock to compensate for an addition. Some of the contemporary offerings of slip-ons come with several layers of padding so you can adjust how much pad is being added.

IronSights · Oct 18, 2020

gmerkt said:
If the stock has an aluminum plate on it, that's original. If you don't shoot much, why not try a slip-on recoil pad? They make some pretty nice ones these days, a far cry from the old rubbery Pachmayr's of yore. Might not feel right if you have short arms because you are simply adding to, and not cutting of any material from the original stock to compensate for an addition. Some of the contemporary offerings of slip-ons come with several layers of padding so you can adjust how much pad is being added.

Thanks for the suggestion. I ended up ordering one of the slip-on Pachmayr Decelerator pads. Helps having the right measurements... d'oh!

Thanks for the suggestion.